Good Guy with Gun Saves Arizona State Trooper from Beating, or Worse
What has become one of the more controversial sub-debates inside of the broader tug-of-war on gun control has to do with the concept of the ���good guy with a gun.��� The rationale behind the notion says that if gun laws are lax enough in a given jurisdiction such that more law-abiding citizens ��� ���good guys��� - can legally carry firearms on their person, that should any bad guys take it upon themselves to pull out their own guns and start shooting, the prevalence of good guys with guns in the immediate area will quickly arrest the trouble in a way that wouldn���t be possible if the legal conveyance of guns���by people who actually care about obeying the law���was highly restricted.
Those on each side of the debate are quick to cite their own statistics and interpretations in an effort to convince the other of the futility of their position. However, for one particular Arizona state trooper, probably no amount of ���evidence��� that might be presented by the anti-gun crowd will ever convince him that society is better off with fewer good guys with guns.
Last Thursday, according to KTAR News, an unidentified trooper was investigating a rollover auto accident on Interstate 10, about 50 miles west of Phoenix, when he was attacked by an unidentified person. The trooper was shot in the shoulder, and when a random passerby happened on the scene, the law officer was also in the process of being beaten.
At that point, the passerby, whose name has not been released by authorities, stopped to ask the officer if he needed help. When the trooper responded affirmatively, the good Samaritan went back to his vehicle, retrieved his own weapon, and returned to the aid of the trooper.
The passerby pointed his weapon at the attacker and demanded that he stop. When he did not, the ���Samaritan��� shot him multiple times, killing him, and then used the radio in the patrol car to call for help.
According to KTAR News, although the trooper���s injuries were serious, they were not life-threatening.
Of the person who stopped to help the officer, Col. Frank Milstead, Director of the Department of Public Safety, said, ���I don���t know that my trooper would be alive without his assistance.���
���I would just say thank you.���
By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large
