Amid a Plague of Shootings, Bystanders Become Heroes

Jason Seaman, a seventh grade science teacher in Noblesville, Indiana, was helping a student with a test when a classmate returned from the bathroom, drew a handgun from his pocket and began firing.“There was no choice — it was either do something, or die,” he said in an interview Tuesday, recalling the shooting in May 2018 that left him with gunshot wounds in the abdomen, a forearm and a hand. “So when you’re in that literal life-or-death situation, I’m dang sure I’m going to fight.

Gun massacres at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, are all examples of shootings where police officers or school security personnel were criticized as being slow to help civilians once a shooting was underway. Some Americans confronted by an armed assailant in more recent incidents have understood instantly: They are on their own.

Deputizing the public as a tool of last resort has not caused the pace of mass shootings to slow down. Already this year, at least 69 people have died in at least 39 separate shootings in which four or more people were injured or killed, according to the Gun Violence Archive. “Instead of focusing on why these tragedies keep happening, we focus on the heroic acts of the bystander,” said Shannon Watts, the founder of the gun-control organization Moms Demand Action. “We should always call a hero a hero and thank them for selflessly putting their life on the line. But it makes me so angry that we never stop to think about the fact that we shouldn’t be asking average civilians to be heroes. I don’t want my husband or my children to have to be heroes.

Katherine Schweit, a former FBI official who helped develop the federal guidelines, said training with that philosophy allowed people to think through how they might want to respond long before they encountered a gunman. Edward Davis, a former Boston police commissioner who was head of the department at the time of the Boston Marathon bombing, said that there had been a shift in thinking from Americans trying to head off mass shootings and rampant gun violence.

Wright praised Dicken as a “hero citizen” who saved lives but said those, like himself, who had survived were still changed. “It’s nothing you ever expect to go through, but now we live in a heinous world,” he said. He added: “Since then, I watch my back more. You never know when someone is going to pop up.”

Education Education Latest News, Education Education Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Valley student takes action amid mass shootings18 people were killed at the hands of gun violence across the nation recently. These are tragedies students in the Valley want to prevent. Among those students is Chandler High School senior Riana Alexander. abc15 Those pesky guns are at it again. FYI...there is no such thing as 'gun violence'. Guns are inanimate objects, just like cars, knives, baseball bats and lighters. It takes a criminal to use those objects. Address that first. But then, that doesn't fit the agenda does it? Here for the comments of those whose brains can't comprehend that an assault rifle can kill more people more efficiently and with less danger to the pile of 💩 pulling the trigger. Cuz ya know, the 2nd Amendment. The majority of gun violence isn't mass shootings. It is criminal behavior committed by people that should have been locked away a long time ago and did not get their guns via a legal purchase. The solution is to enforce the existing laws and get these thugs off the street.
Source: abc15 - 🏆 263. / 63 Read more »