5 Times Concealed Carry Holders Stopped Mass Shootings

Concealed carry holders are among the head of the pack when it comes to arguing against stricter gun control laws, but what benefit have they ever given the general public in terms of using their skill to keep others safe and prevent mass shootings?

Turns out, they do plenty.

In a new Washington Post piece, columnist Eugene Volokh pulled eight instances in which a concealed carry holder actually prevented the probable mass loss of life by stopping a trigger-happy gunman.

For deeper analysis on each of these, you should check out the full column here. But if you’re just looking for examples, here you go.

1. In April 2015, an Uber driver with a concealed carry permit shot 22-year-old gunman Everardo Custodio when Custodio opened fire on “a crowd of people in Logan Square,” the Chicago Tribune reports. The driver was not identified in the Tribune piece, but he was able to provide supporting documentation to police, who brought no charges. Everardo was struck in the shin, thigh, and lower back. There were no injuries or casualties to those he fired upon.

2. West Philadelphia, March 2015: An unidentified man heard gunshots inside a barber shop. Children were present when 40-year-old Warren Edwards got angry, started a fight, and pulled his gun. Edwards didn’t hit anyone, but the concealed carry holder entered the barber shop and shot Edwards in the chest. The gunman would die later, NBC10 notes. Police found no basis for charges.

3. Plymouth, Pennsylvania, 2012: William Allabaugh became enraged when a fight he engaged in resulted in him being ejected from the bar. He shot one dead and wounded another before approaching concealed carry holder Mark Ktytor, who was inside with the bar manager. At this point, Ktytor returned fire. Allabaugh would survive the shooting; so would a lot of other people due to the concealed carry holder shooting him, police claimed. WNEP notes that video evidence exonerated Ktytor.

4. Spartanburg, South Carolina, 2012: Jesse Gates, claiming he wanted to see his kids, came to a church armed with a shotgun and kicked in a door. A concealed carry holder, Aaron Guyton, was able to get the drop on Gates, who was forced to surrender his gun to other parishioners once he realized that there was the very real possibility of him being shot, FoxCarolina notes.

5. Winnemucca, Nevada, 2008: Thirty-year-old Ernesto Villagomez entered a bar filled with 300 people and shot two dead while injuring two others before one of the patrons at the bar, a concealed carry holder, pulled his gun and shot Villagomez dead, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.

There have been a number of media outlets this week echoing President Barack Obama’s statement that states with tougher gun laws have fewer mass shootings — check this Slate piece as one example — but correlation is not always usually causation.

If a state has the most members of Mensa living within its borders, for example, that doesn’t necessarily mean that state has the best education system.

There is no better example of the other side of this argument than Chicago, which prides itself on having some of the toughest gun laws in the United States, yet is cursed with the highest number of gun-related homicides.

For more instances of concealed carry permit holders stopping potential mass shootings, you should definitely check out Volokh’s full piece.

Not only does he provide more examples of civilian heroes in action, but he also explores some of the possibilities as to why there aren’t more examples.

For example, if there were fewer “gun free zones,” would there be more law-abiding gun owners available to take down a shooter?

What do you think, readers? Does the country need tougher gun laws or more concealed carry holders, and which would be more effective?

[Image via ShutterStock]