We watch. You know first.
The real story here is not what it seems. And most of the people telling it to you already decided what you're supposed to think.
Yes, it was horrible. A crazed gunman wreaked havoc on normal everyday Americans going about their lives. People who woke up that morning with no idea what was coming. That part is a tragedy, and I won't dress it up as anything else.
But look closer. Underneath all of it there was a hero. Not a cop. Not a SWAT team. A bystander with a gun.
Somebody who took the responsibility of protecting others onto his own shoulders. Nobody asked him to. Nobody deputized him. He just refused to stand there and watch.
Did he put the perpetrator down? No. Let's be honest about that. He didn't end it. But here is what he did do. He was there. He had his pistol, and he was not afraid to use it. And that presence, that willingness, distracted a killer from wreaking any more havoc than he already had. How many people went home that night because one man wasn't afraid to act? We'll never get an exact number. Doesn't matter. It was more than zero.
Ask yourself something. Do you want to be the person who freezes? Do you want to be the one who films it on a phone while somebody else does the bleeding? Or do you want to be the one who moves?
We need more people in this society who are not afraid to act. Not fewer. And every single law that makes it harder for that good man to carry pushes us the wrong direction.
Here is the whole thing in plain terms.
1. Bad people do bad things. Always have. A law on paper never stopped a single one of them. 2. The only thing that makes them second-guess is doubt. Real doubt. 3. That doubt comes from one place. Knowing that around every corner could be a good guy with a gun, ready to put them down.
That's it. That's the deterrent nobody in a fancy studio wants to talk about.
The Second Amendment exists for a reason. Not for hunting. Not for sport. It exists so that an average everyday American has the ability to stand between evil and the innocent when seconds count and help is minutes away.
That man with the pistol is the story. Not the gunman. Him.
So the next time somebody tells you an armed citizen never makes a difference, you point them right here. Facts are facts.
Be the one who acts.