If Democrats had their way, the 22-year-old hero who stopped a mass shooting from growing more deadly in Indiana may not have been armed.
According to WPTA-TV, Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb of Indiana signed a “constitutional carry” bill that went into effect on July 1, allowing law-abiding citizens to carry a handgun without a permit.
At the time, Democrats spoke vehemently against the law, which they baselessly claimed would cause more deaths.
“That is terrible that it will become law,” Vice-Chair of the Indiana Democratic Party Myla Eldridge, said. “I think it’s going to cause us to see more gun violence, which is terrible for our state and our communities.”
Democratic Mayor Tom McDermott of Hammond, Indiana, who is running for U.S. Senate in November, said the law was passed in opposition to opinions from “experts.”
“The super-majority has already proven in Indiana that they don’t really listen to Hoosiers, they don’t listen to experts,” McDermott said.
“I mean, we had the Superintendent of Police in Indiana say, ‘Please, we don’t want constitutional carry in Indiana.’ The super-majority knows better, they pass it anyway.”
On its face, this argument is nonsensical. The personal opinion of one police officer does not override the decisions Indiana voters made when they voted pro-gun Republicans into office. The voters made their voices heard, and that is why the law went into effect.
In addition to his lack of logic in his argument, McDermott and the rest of the Democrats turned out to be completely wrong about the effect of the law.
Does this hero prove the importance of the Second Amendment?
On Sunday, a suspect allegedly exited a bathroom at Greenwood Park Mall in Greenwood, Indiana, and started firing a rifle at bystanders in the food court, the South Bend Tribune reported.
Less than two minutes after the suspect began firing, 22-year-old Elisjsha Dicken reportedly drew his handgun and fired back at the suspect. The suspect collapsed to the ground before he could run back to the bathroom.
The suspect killed three people before Dicken killed him and neutralized the threat, Newsweek reported. If Dicken had not intervened, there is no telling how many more citizens would have died.
The outlet said Dicken did not have a permit to carry a handgun, but thanks to the law passed just 16 days earlier, he was able to legally carry.
“I will say his actions were nothing short of heroic,” Greenwood Police Chief James Ison said. “He engaged the gunman from quite a distance with a handgun.”
“[He] was very tactically sound as he moved to close in on the suspect, he was also motioning for people to exit behind him. He has no police training and no military background.”
The mall’s code of conduct said it was a weapons-free area, Newsweek reported. However, it issued a statement in support of Dicken’s actions.
“We grieve for the victims of yesterday’s horrific tragedy at Greenwood Park Mall. Violence has no place in this or any other community. We are grateful for the strong response of the first responders, including the heroic actions of the good Samaritan who stopped the suspect,” the statement said.
Once again, this proves how harmful the gun control Democrats fight for truly is. If the mall had its way, this law-abiding man would not have been armed, and the criminal would have been able to carry out his attack uninterrupted until police could arrive.
With his heroic actions, Dicken showed just how important the Second Amendment is, and he did so at the very time when Democrats are trying to roll it back.
