Leftists are pushing back against the praise being poured on 22-year-old Elisjsha Dicken by claiming he was no “Good Samaritan.”
On July 19, 2022 Breitbart News noted that Dicken was receiving praise from police, mayors, and the very mall–Greenwood Park Mall–where Sunday’s attempted mass shooting occurred. He had his handgun on him, thanks to constitutional carry, and was able to engage and ultimately kill the attacker before the attacker could further execute his heinous attack.
A common statement in praise poured out was that Dicken was a “Good Samaritan.” But some on the left cannot handle the fact that Dicken was armed and ready and took care of business.
For example, David Leavitt tweeted, “You’d never need a “Good Samaritan” with a gun at Greenwood Park Mall or at any other place if there weren’t any guns to begin with.”
He also opined, “It wasn’t a “Good Samaritan” at Greenwood Park Mall. It was an armed vigilante.”
And CBS 4 Indianapolis traffic anchor Justin Kollar suggested:
“The term, ‘Good Samaritan’ came from a Bible passage of a man from Samaria who stopped on the side of the road to help a man who was injured and ignored. I cannot believe we live in a world where the term can equally apply to someone *killing* someone… my God.”
Michael Bloomberg-affiliated Shannon Watts, leader of Moms Demand Action, tweeted:
“The NRA won’t tell you that defensive gun use is rare, and data shows criminal carry laws increase gun crime and gun homicides in the states where they’re passed. But most of all, these deadly laws increase gun sales, which is the real reason they’re pushing them.”
On February 19, 2015, Florida State University criminologist Gary Kleck re-affirmed his findings there are a minimum of 760,000 defensive gun uses each year in the U.S.
Kleck’s numbers first came to the public’s attention in the early 1990s and are yet to be refuted with empirical evidence.
On July 14, 2022, Breitbart News pointed to a study from the Crime Prevention Research Center showing 60+ times a concealed carry permit holder stopped a mass shooting between December 17, 1991, and May 25, 2022.
The 60+ incidents listed in which concealed permit holders stopped mass shooters occurred in the states of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin, among others.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.
