South Carolina man stops a mass shooting at a nightclub with a concealed firearm.

The suspect, Jody Ray Thompson. SCSO handout. 

A shooting at a nightclub was stopped when a concealed carry permit holder pulled out his firearm and shot the suspect. WISTV. The shooting occurred at the Playoffz nightclub at 3:30 am. Jody Ray Thompson has been accused of pulling out his firearm during an argument and shooting at the people gathered outside the club. He hit three people but when he almost hit a fourth, the man pulled out his own firearm and shot back. Thompson was hit in the leg and ceased firing. The man had a valid CCW permit and will not be charged with anything. None of the victims in this case sustained life threatening injuries and the suspect was charged with four counts of attempted murder and two weapons charges. 

My Comment:

Quite a contrast between this and the Pulse nightclub shooting. While the coverage of the Pulse nightclub shooting was massive and pervasive, this story fell through the cracks. Indeed, the only reason I heard about it is because people on Reddit made it trend. I'm no fan of Reddit but I occasionally visit their pro-Trump subreddit, The Donald. The dedicated people at that subreddit were able to get the story to trend both on Reddit and outside of it. It just goes to show how popular that particular subreddit is. 

It's not surprising that the story didn't trend before that. The media doesn't like it when their narrative is challenged and this is a direct challenge to their claim that concealed carry permit holders could not stop a mass shooting. Though this shooting doesn't quite count because the suspect was put down before he hit four people, it's still an example of a shooting at a nightclub being stopped. I believe President Obama said something to the effect of it being "lunacy" for people to bring guns to a nightclub. This case is direct evidence that he was wrong. 

Ever since I have started this blog I have been posting about mass shootings and concealed carry. In some cases it only helps to delay the attackers, like the case in Pakistan where a hero professor bought time for his students during a Taliban terrorist attack. That also seems to be the case during the Chattanooga shooting as well, where concealed carry owners fired back at an Islamic terrorist. In another case, a man with a gun stopped another Islamic terrorist attack at a food processing plant. 

Part of the reason I started this blog is that these stories rarely make it to the news. And the headlines when they do cover it often buries the lead. In the attack at the food processing plant, the headlines covered the fact that he beheaded someone, and not that a man stopped him with a gun. And nobody really heard of the case in Pakistan. The media just doesn't like covering stories where civilians use their guns to save lives. Most of these stories stay local unless there are extraordinary circumstances or someone tries to make it go viral. 

And before people point it out, yes I am aware that there were cops at the Pulse nightclub. They tried and failed to stop Omar Mateen, and that was tragic. But that doesn't change the facts of this case. A mass shooting happened at a nightclub and was stopped by a CCW holder. Nobody is arguing that concealed carry is a panacea for all mass shootings. But we are saying that at least it gives people a chance. And I would argue that the cops actions in the Pulse case bought time for people to escape as well. Having good guys with guns on the scene at least gives people a chance and can stop the attack before it spirals out of control. 

That's what happened in this case. This man opened fire on a large crowd of people and then was stopped when a CCW holder shot him. What would have happened if he wasn't there? Would more people have been shot? Would someone have died? And would the suspect have avoided arrest? Without knowing more about the case, it's hard to tell, but I honestly can't believe that the outcome wouldn't have been worse then it was now. 

You know what didn't happen? The old gun control lie that CCW holders would result in an orgy of shooting as nobody would know who the bad guy and who the good guy was. That didn't happen. Why? Because people aren't idiots, and people that CCW are even less likely to be morons. As far as I know the doomsday scenario that gun control adovcates talk about hasn't ever happened. But this is just one in a long line of events where a good guy with a gun either stopped a mass shooting or bought time for people to escape.