ISIS has now claimed credit for the terrorist attack in Garland, Texas…all fifteen seconds of it.
One good guy sustained a non-life threatening wound before quick thinking and fast shooting put both terrorists down and out.
Remember three years ago when the NRA’s Wayne Lapierre said the only thing that would stop a bad guy with a gun was a good guy with a gun? The media excoriated him for saying it, but this incident certainly proved the truth of his words once more.
Your thoughts?

92 COMMENTS

  1. It was reported that the would be mass murderers for “allah” were wearing body armor.

    It’s possible. But remember we’ve seen several mass killings, like the one in the Colorado theater, where the MSM initially reported “body armor” that turned out to be a tactical vest, of net and a bunch of pockets.

  3. This sounds like a perfect case for The Ayoob Files. I hope you can ferret out the details in the near future & report them to us.

    I have already had an anti-gun friend dismiss this incident because the hero was a police officer. This was my response to her on Facebook:

    FRIEND: OK, but Dave — I know we disagree on this — they were killed by a hired POLICE OFFICER. That’s his job. My question is — why did these guys, one of whom was already being watched by the FBI on suspicions of terrorism, have these weapons?

    ME: In answer to your question, it’s because criminals & terrorists do not obey gun control laws. Even if all firearms possession in the U.S. were to be prohibited, it would not prevent criminals & terrorists from obtaining them, as the terrorists who committed the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris demonstrated. Despite the fact that France has some of the strictest gun control laws in the world, the weapons they used were completely illegal to own or to possess in that country. Closer to home, Mexican drug smugglers armed with fully automatic weapons are observed crossing the border into our country almost every day & very few of them are ever apprehended. The truth is that there are so many people to keep track of & so many tips to follow that the authorities cannot keep all of them under surveillance all of the time. What’s interesting about this incident in Texas is that one person with one handgun killed both terrorists before they could massacre their intended targets, a feat which many gun control advocates have ridiculed as being impossible. Well, they have been proven wrong about that, as they have been about so many other things. In this case, it was an off duty police officer who prevented a mass murder, but it could have been a civilian armed with a legally carried concealed handgun, as was demonstrated just a couple of weeks ago in the following case:

    http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-driver-with-concealed-handgun-prevents-mass-shooting-in-chicago-2015-4

  4. One poster said that the officer was 60years old. If so, I think I know who he could be. If it is who I think, he is very proficient with weapons. I will refrain from conveying further info for the same reason, I’m sure, the Garland P.D. is slow to release his name. Their department, and he in particular, are now a target. Sad, but a sign of the times we live in. If it is who I think, it was not purely lucky shots.

  7. Morgan Freeman calls cops ‘terrorists’ in black community.
    What will the shameless oxygen waster say after terrorists slaughter hundreds of innocent American men, women and children in a shopping mall attack where dozens of policemen fight to save lives, of black people as well as brown, yellow and red?
    The time is coming.
    Freeman is a disgusting POS

  8. Jim CARROLL wrote (above): “They showed photos of the people inside and they had all started to pray. I was very disappointed than not one of them had drawn a gun and taken a covering position. Come on, this was TEXAS!”

    Jim, I was present at the event. No one was allowed to carry inside. The security was very tight, with metal detectors at the entrance. (I wasn’t even allowed to take my small Spyderco in.) The photos and videos of people praying and waving the American flag that you refer to were taken in the auditorium where those of us still in the lecture/exhibit hall when the shooting started were taken for secure lockdown. The shooting took place outside the building, on a side away from the event entrance. We saw and heard nothing until the swat team members ran inside to get us to safety. We were eventually transfered to a more secure facility. Since the shooting took place next to the parking lot, we were not allowed to get our cars until they had been checked for bombs. We were put up for the night and eventually returned to our cars around noon the next day. (The perps car was still there, not far from our car. If they had arrived just five minutes later, my wife and I would have been easy targets…until I retrieved my own firearm from the car.) I can’t say enough good things about the City of Garland law enforcement (and other) officers, as well as other City of Garland employees, who protected, sheltered, and fed us. They were consummate professionals. Oh, and their marksmanship was something else too!

  9. Texas is very pro gun and that is great.
    Unfortunately, it didn’t help the people at the Fort Hood Army Post. I don’t know how many of you are aware of the fact that you (military or civilian) are not allowed to carry on a military base!!!!! To me that is a crime!!

  10. It will be interesting to see what all the facts are in this incident, but they will only come out with time.

    But the bare bones of it:

    Two bad guys dead.
    One good guy hurt, but okay.

    I’d personally call this one a win for the good guys.

  11. Dennis, truer words, albeit sadder ones – were never spoken! The shooter who took those two creeps down should get a medal. Instead, he is a candidate for the witness protection program. IMO, he WILL get his reward in Heaven.

    What a world, indeed.

  13. Mary Beth R., it’s even worse than that…now the military is requiring its members to register their privately owned guns, according to John Farnam, leading firearms instructor, cop, Vietnam vet and all-around good guy.

  14. SOME NEW DETAILS:The officer is 60 years old with 38 years on the Garland police force. A former motorcycle officer who had just transitioned to patrol cars. He was returning to his car after a break. One shooter emerged from their car and opened fire and the officer dropped him with his duty pistol, a Glock .45.. The second shooter got out of their car and moved to its rear and opened fire. The officer then dropped him. As SWAT arrived the second shooter was alleged to be reaching for his rucksack. SWAT officers engaged him and killed him.

    Raw footage shows many officers with weapons drawn all around the outside of the center. I saw one car stopped at gunpoint and also a huge man being cuffed by what appears to be a sheriff. The guy was a poster child for a Muslim terrorist but was innocent.

    The Mayor of Garland, in an interview, said with a smile that he had known the officer a long time and was not surprised by his cool performance.

    A police spokesman left me with the impression that they practice more than the 3 times a year mentioned by a TV reporter. I think we can be sure that one guy did.

  15. TXCOMT, yes I know, I’m retired Air Force.
    I just wasn’t sure if the rest of the folks that post here are aware that those who defend freedom aren’t allowed to carry on a base even with a permit!!
    It’s a tragedy and an insult to all who wear or did wear the uniform!

  16. A Peace Officer did his job. Millions of us respect that. We need to get the word out about the great numbers of crimes stopped by firearms and good citizens. Guns are tools. Why are some people afraid of tools?

  17. You all have misinterpreted this “situation” as an opportunity. This is like calling in ducks. If everyone has an event like this, shoots 2, 3, maybe 4 of these freaks, maybe they will go extinct.

  18. TXCOMT,

    My wife is active duty and lawyer. She’d be spitting mad if that happened and I’ve heard nothing about it from her. And she’d hear, as the shop she works in is tasked with advising the commanding general on legal matters, of which this would be a big one.

    Also, the federal government is strictly forbidden from establishing a firearms registry. This would fall under that prohibition, I’d think.

  19. Okay, I was curious about military being required to register their privately owned firearms. So I did a google search.

    Here’s the most relevant articles I turned up:
    http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2013/01/daniel-silverman/breaking-you-want-me-to-do-what/

    AND

    http://www.army.mil/article/56041/Post_requires_registration_of_all_firearms/

    Seems isolated only to the army, and the only official source is for Ft. Meade and only then for people living on base.

    I, as a civilian married to an active duty USMC Judge Advocate officer has heard neither hide nor hair about firearms registration requirements. She (my wife) has heard zilch as well.

    Not to mention that just b/c US Military personel are held to the UCMJ does not mean that the Federal government can ignore its own laws in regards to them on this issue.

  20. Gotta love that the FBI didn’t inform them of the threat and now is refusing to protect Ms Gellar. This is the new America where the FBI is as politically correct as the Communist in Chief.

  21. As another person said. Why did CNN show two cops by a police car holding what looks like fully auto Uzi’s (small magazine width), or some fully auto carbines with flashlights up front and scopes. They also seem to be wearing body armor or at the very least combat type (extra mags…) vests. Was this the best animation CNN could come up with when two guys, one armed with a .45 Glock pistol and the other with nothing engage two guys with assault rifles and body armor leaving only head shots. CNN knows better than any the power of those AK47 assault rifles. The good guys with total disregard to their own safety show themselves and take on, two really bad guys. The good guys did what they had to do with no thought for their own lives. None what so ever. One would reasonable assume being those good guys that this might be their last moments on earth. Especially for the one with no gun! He played as a decoy.

    CNN were are your ethics. I counted over what appears to be 7 shots coming out of the good guys weapon (which is not even reasonably close to a pistol). When reality is, he took them out with one pistol, in seconds. One highly motivated person, with a small gun, can do what you just broadcasted minus the animation that needs to be removed.

    Well its a classic and will be looked at for years in training courses.

    I don’t think Texas is a place you want to pull out a gun and do bad things.

  22. Jamie Robertson, it’s true, that if you are military and live off base you can carry and follow the normal CCW/CCP laws. But you can not carry on base and if you want to
    “camp” on base in an RV or live on base you must register and “often” turn your
    guns into the armory.
    We have been traveling 5 to 7 months a year in a fifth wheel camper and this is what we have been running into!

  23. Jamie Robertson, having a personal weapon on base, Army, Navy, Marine, Coast Guard is not permitted. If found it will be confiscated and the owner will be punished.
    Straight up and simple.
    As for registration of guns in private homes off base, no way the military has authority to require registration. If they permit guns in on-base housing then yes, I see they could require registration.
    I put my pistol on in the morning when I get out of bed, it stays on my until bedtime. Huge problem, I’m retired military and can’t take it on base when I travel across the country or risk losing it so I stay in motels off base. It’s their privilege to write the rules, my responsibility to obey them.

  24. Any bets on how quickly Glock .45’s will become scarce as hen’s teeth in gun stores similar to the S&W model 29 .44 mag of “Dirty Harry” fame?

  25. There is no excuse for what the two terrorists attempted to accomplish in Garland, Texas, and I’m glad it ended badly for them. Still, I wonder about the logic of displaying rude and sometimes obscene drawings of the Prophet Muhammad at a public event. The sponsors of said event surely were aware of the potential of a violent backlash by fanatical Islamists, even in America, yet they were willing to put locals at risk anyway. Similar cognitive dissonance was at play months ago in Paris, France, when the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists were slain for creating the same tasteless dreck. Again, no sympathies for the bad guys but better judgment from the cartoonists and magazine could have prevented a massacre.

  27. Since I started the guns on military base tangent (and my apologies to Mas et al for derailing some of the comments), I thought I’d link the source of my statement re: military registration of firearms: http://defense-training.com/dti/enforced-helplessness/

    It’s a shame military leaders can’t trust its members (and former ones) to safely and responsibly carry on base as they do on the battlefield, but, apparently, this is the case. Yet, many bases (I’m thinking National Guard in particular) have private companies providing base security and those folks are hired off the street, nominally vetted and are made gatekeepers! Incredible.

    Thankfully, I have no business at such places, but I feel for those who do…as Mary Beth R. alluded to, adopting the Texas pro-gun attitude on Fort Hood might’ve prevented that murderous Hasan from taking even a single shot! Unlike the Luby killings that took place not far from there and helped get CHL laws passed in our state, the only thing the Fort Hood murders did was increase the chances it’l. happen again!

  28. Yes, agreed and understand about registration of personal firearms ON BASE (across all armed service branches),

    but the uproar seemed to be over mandatory registration regardless of if you live on base or not. That is what seems legally questionable to me.

    I’m hoping TXCOMT can give us a citation for what he says Farnham said.

  29. Details and forensic photos of the scene: a soft armor vest with a bloody hole in it, the Glock’s ejected casings as thew officer moved forward into the fire. The position of the two dead bodies and detailed photos of their semi-automatic rifles. Of course, the shell casings of the terrorists. The range of engagement was approximately 20 yards and closing.

    I think that this officer concluded that if they got past him, a number of citizens would die. So he chose to risk his life to stop them.

    http://bearingarms.com/pushed-forward-brave-garland-police-officer-advanced-brought-garland-terrorists/

  30. Everyone – there is a must-read for all of you on National Review’s site: “A Prosecution that threatens a city” by Andrew McCarthy. Again, my little laptop Kindle somehow prevents me from bringing it here for you. Either that or I’m just too computer illiterate to figure it out. One day, my beautiful bride may allow me access to the new laptop she got for Christmas from “Santa” and I’ll be good to go. Until then, just bear with me. But, I guarantee you’ll be glad you made the effort.

  31. After the Navy shipyard shooting and the Ft. Hood rampage, some in the media smugly asserted that it was proof that guns are useless for self-defense. “Being armed didn’t help those victims, did it?” They were assuming that military personnel walk around armed at all times. In fact, military bases are gun-free zones. Weapons are kept locked up in armories. Units scheduled for marksmanship training go there, sign out their rifles, go to the range and train, and then turn the weapons back in. Even military police (and civilian Defense Department police) sign out a weapon at the start of their shift, and turn it back in when they go off-duty. A mugging victim in Central Park has better odds of being rescued by an armed off-duty cop than a mugging victim on an Army base would have.

    Re: the Garland incident, the media are playing the “blame the victim” card. The event organizers “were a hate group,” “they should have known better than to provoke the Muslims,” and so on. Basically, “I don’t excuse the attack, but…” Then they proceed to make excuses for the terrorists.

    Welcome to America. Freedom of speech includes offensive speech. Living here means occasionally seeing things that offend your sensibilities. That is a price we pay for freedom. If Muslims prefer to live under sharia law, they are free to return to Iran or Pakistan.

    If Christians and Jews went on a shooting spree every time they saw a cartoon (or a movie, or TV show) that offended them, then our crime rate would be about a thousand times worse than it is now.

    What if right-wing Christian extremists tried to shoot Dan (“The Da Vinci Code”) Brown? Or if they tried to blow up a theater that was showing “The Last Temptation of Christ” or “The Book of Mormon”? Would the Washington Post and CNN blame the intended victims and make excuses for the attackers? In those hypothetical examples, I would want the police to stop the would-be killers, by deadly force if necessary. And the intended victims would also have a right to defend themselves (again, by using guns, if it came to that).

    Christians are not only expected to tolerate insulting images, they are expected to help pay taxes to subsidize them. (The “Piss Christ” artwork was funded in part by an NEA grant.) And Muslims are not exempt from the same laws, and standards of civilized behavior, that apply to Christians, Jews, atheists, and everyone else.

    The cartoon contest was part of a backlash (and a desperately needed push-back) against rampant bullying by the Political Correctness crowd. If we adopt a policy of, “You can’t publish this cartoon or that book, and you can’t broadcast that TV show, because some religious fanatic might get angry and start shooting,” then we are letting homicidal maniacs control our media and define the parameters of our discourse. In that case, the war is already over, and the terrorists have already won.

  32. Sorry to post on the wrong thread, folks.

    Ron Rogers – a post like yours is exactly why I love this site! So much information at one spot. Thanks so much for bringing that link here! If the rest of you haven’t “gone there” yet – you should. Just terrific stuff. The conclusion at the end of the article should be enough to inspire all of us to prepare as hard as we can.

    Condition yellow ain’t just a catchy phrase, people.

  33. This incident seems to validate an earlier discussion about engaging an active shooter immediately.

    I also wonder if the .45 the officer was shooting is responsible for penetrating the soft body armor, and if a 9mm would have been stopped. It appears from the photos that a round penetrated the vest and made it deep enough into the shooter to bleed him out quickly. It will be interesting to see what an analysis of the body armor reveals. The brand, quality, age etc. I’d also like to know what bullet the officer was shooting.

    In any case, this is why I carry a .45 instead of a 9mm. And it’s loaded with hot Cor-bon ammo.

  34. TXCOMT,
    RE: Enforced Helplessness!,
    Posted by John S. Farnam on 11 Apr 2015

    Control of personal firearms on military bases has been the rule, not the exception for decades, the obama administration has had little effect on that.
    Mr. Farnam’s post was a bit overly emotional.
    I want a uniform system by which we can visit bases without the fear of losing our guns to base security, probably never see that even though I’ve written my Senators and Congressman about it.

  35. Michael JT,

    I’ve been taught that while .45 ACP is a better fight stopper than 9mm Parabellum, the 9mm actually penetrates farther than the .45. This is because the 9mm travels at a higher velocity than the .45.

    I remember reading about a WWII vet who had some time to do some testing during the war. He put a German helmet on a fence post, and fired at it with a Luger and with a Government Model 1911. Keep in mind we are talking about military ball ammunition, or FMJ, not hollow-points. He said the .45 dented the helmet, while the 9mm went through both sides.

    I prefer .45 myself, but I would feel plenty comfortable carrying modern hollow-point 9mm ammo. Of course, shot placement comes first, then it is great when the bullet expands and stays inside the goblin.

    My education on this topic comes from reading books, not participating in gunfights.

  36. We just lost an officer here in Coeur D Alene Idaho. Glad to see that Texas prevailed on this one. Gob bless all officers everywhere and God Bless the United States of America!

  37. Old Fezzywig, it would be very educational for us all to know the location of the hits, type and performance of the bullets used, the tactics of the officer, etc. We will probably never know these details due to the fact that the media is having a hard time portraying these pieces of human debris as victims. There will be no demands for every tid-bit of evidence, medical examiner’s report, or search for “eyewitnesses” to contradict the police account. No, they recognize that they have no chance of making the police the villain, now they have no choice but to attack the event organizer for exercising her 1st. amendment rights.
    It’s amazing how the liberal media seems to have problems embracing, much less celebrating, our precious “Bill of Rights”, a symbol of liberty/freedom around the world, but an impediment to liberal’s desire to enslave. Don’t they realize that the 1st. amendment is the same one that allows them to spew their propaganda? That the 2nd. protects the others?

  38. Actually, Dennis, thanks to Mas, we probably WILL know the location of the hits, type and performance of the bullets used, etc., in a future Ayoob Files installment. It’s just a matter of time, right, Mas?

  41. Random thoughts:
    I’d love to shake this Texan’s hand, but I feel somewhat unworthy of it.
    Same scenario in CA = blood bath.
    The media’s take on guns is invariably asinine: right after the 1997 Hollywood shootout the LA Times asked the question (in front page) whether cops should move up to .45 for patrol in order to defeat body armor (sigh).
    Antis are cowards and THAT is the real reason why they oppose guns. The idea that some aren’t like them is too hard to contemplate so they project their own inadequacies on gun owners and inevitably dismiss news like this one as aberrations while going on and on about how useless guns are in the hands of civvies.
    The LEOSA was enacted after 9/11 after having been kicked around for like a decade (IIRC). Someone finally realized that more good guys with guns were a Good Thing (thanks, Martha) in dangerous times. So instead of restricting rights and pushing for a Big Brother-type society under the guise of protecting the public, how about coming to terms with the fact that the US Constitution is all we need to stay safe and free; what say you, politicians? “Behind every blade of grass…”
    I lost it at Michael’s comment! lol

  42. Old Fezzywig, a bullet that passes through a helmet (or body, or whatever) has taken it’s energy with it out the other side of the target. A bullet that stays in the target has expended all it’s energy in the target. This is why an enemy shot with a 5.56mm round will often times exhibit no evidence of having been shot. Some Marines in Viet Nam held on to their M14 rifles as long as they could after the M16 was introduced. They found that when someone was shot with the bigger, but slower bullet from the 7.62mm round, they went down and stayed shot, as the saying goes.
    The 9mm is fine, but my .45 is a better one shot fight stopper. That was what it was originally intended for and like the genius of Mr. John Browning and his 1911 pistol, time has proven both.

    I am hearing now that the would be terrorists at Garland were actually killed by rifle fire, and not the first responder (who, of course, DID advance on the shooters and engage them) as was initially reported. This would explain what looks like a hole in the soft body armor seen laying on the ground soaked in blood.
    It also emphasizes that no one should make judgements or form opinions on anything based on first reports from delusional reporters in a rush to get something, ANYTHING, broadcast.

« Older Comments

Comments are closed.