Here is another one for all of your anti-gun friends who say, “Just show me one time, when a so-called ‘good guy with a gun,’ made a difference in one of these mass shootings…”
Keith Thomas Kinnunen, 43, slipped into the Sunday service at the West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, TX, wearing a long black wig, a fake beard and a bulky jacket.
“We’ve helped him on several occasions with food,” Minister Britt Farmer told the press. “He gets mad when we won’t give him cash. He’s been here on multiple occasions.”
During Communion, Kinnunen pulled out a modified, 12-gauge shotgun with a pistol grip and started shooting. Killed were Deacon Anton “Tony” Wallace, 64, who was holding a silver Communion tray, and Richard White, 67, who yelled “Drop it!” as he reached for his own pistol. Deacon Wallace, who is also a registered nurse, had reportedly just handed out communion when the gunfire broke out. Wallace’s daughter Tiffany said she ran to his side after he was struck, but it was too late.
Parishioner Jack Wilson, a firearms instructor who heads the church’s security team, then killed Kinnunen with a single well-placed shot.
A live stream of Sunday’s service in the city of White Settlement showed Wilson springing into action and fatally shooting the gunman. The perpetrator, Kinnunen, had an extensive criminal record, including charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Police are applauding Wilson for drawing his weapon and helping stop the attack within just a few seconds. They say this saved an “untold number of lives.” Wilson is a former law enforcement officer, and spends his free time training congregants on how to safely use firearms in an effort to help keep their church safe.
Wilson went to Facebook to share his thoughts following the tragedy. He said he’s thankful to God that he was blessed and able to serve as the church’s head of security. Wilson also said that he and other churchgoers will not let evil succeed.
Meanwhile, President Trump expressed his gratitude to the armed congregants who acted to stop the gunman. In a tweet, the president said the end result would have been catastrophic without them present.
This will have the Democrats and especially Joe Biden and Castro running around with their hair on fire. “Oh, Oh, you can’t do that, this thug has rights”.
This article is trying to use a tragedy to illustrate that a good guy with a gun is more important than having sensible gun control. Actually, both are equally important. What this article does show is that a well trained gun owner with a gun can and does make a difference, whereas a gun owner that isn’t will more than likely end up dead. The story tells about the checkered and criminal past of the killer, but fails to address the issue as to why our how this individual was able to procure a weapon in the first place. Most people that purchase guns don’t have have the qualifications that Mr. Wilson has, Mr. White didn’t and he’s dead. There are several things can be instituted that will help: institute logical methods for determining who should and who shouldn’t be allowed to own a gun; institute better methods of evaluating mental illness as it relates to evaluating one’s competency to own a weapon; insure laws are on the books that require every purchaser to pass a background check no matter what method is used to purchase a weapon; require gun purchasers that purchase for protection are trained in rudimentary safety. No gun sales should be legal unless both the seller and the purchaser have met all legal requirements, for example, private sales, online purchases, swap meets, and raffles. Will that stop the illegal sales and purchases of weapons, no. But the goal shouldn’t be to eliminate, that will be an impossibility, but it can be minimized, and that is what we should be striving for. We need to change the narrative of what common sense gun control is trying to accomplish. This article implies the answer is a good guy with a gun, but that is only one answer that has and should be having more than once answer.