Oregon Mall Shooting: Brave Citizen With Concealed Carry May Have Saved Lives

**Blogger's comments: One of the bigger arguments against the notion that allowing responsible citizens to carry a concealed weapon is that in a high stress situation, normal citizens don't have the same training as police officer or military personnel to allow them to think clearly and act appropriately. The same argument is used to say that the average citizen does not have enough marksmanship training and could just as easily shoot and injure an innocent bystander instead of the perpetrator. This article is especially important then, even anecdotally, in demonstrating that 1.) This concealed weapon carrier was able to think rationally enough to consider collateral damage, 2.) Made a conscious decision NOT to pull the trigger in fear of hurting a bystander, and 3.) That the mere presence of someone else with a firearm was enough to derail the perpetrator's plans and cause him to stop shooting.**

The shooting last week at the mall in Clackamas, Oregon has been overshadowed by the tragedy that unfolded Friday morning at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. In Oregon two innocent human beings lost their lives, but perhaps the carnage would have been worse if not for Nick Meli, who has a concealed carry permit and was in the mall when the gunman opened fire. Meli pulled his weapon, but did not shoot the gunman because there were bystanders who could have been injured. The gunman saw Meli, an armed citizen, and rather than shoot more innocents he pointed his weapon at himself.

“He was working on his rifle,” said Meli.  ”He kept pulling the charging handle and hitting the side.”

The break in gunfire allowed Meli to pull out his own gun, but he never took his eyes off the shooter.

“As I was going down to pull, I saw someone in the back of the Charlotte move, and I knew if I fired and missed, I could hit them,” he said.

Meli took cover inside a nearby store.  He never pulled the trigger.  He stands by that decision.

“I’m not beating myself up cause I didn’t shoot him,” said Meli.  “I know after he saw me, I think the last shot he fired was the one he used on himself.”

Source Article

 Additional Source Article

Here's a link to the CNN article covering the same story. Notice that there is absolutely no mention of Nick Meli or his actions during the shooting. In fact, the CNN article explicitly spins the sound of the police sirens as the cause of the shooter taking his own life so quickly. Make your own mind up.

As always, if you know of a local news story about a responsible citizen protecting him/herself or another person using a firearm, please send the link to rationality.rebooted@gmail.com.