AN ARMED VET ON THE UCC CAMPUS YESTERDAY DURING THE
TRAGIC SHOOTING IN OREGON IS SEEN IN THIS CLIP TALKING
ABOUT HIS EXPERIENCE AND WHY HE CHOSE NOT TO INTERVENE.
I AM NOT THINKING THAT THE SOCIETY IS THE ARMY.
I DO
HAPPEN TO CONCEAL CARRY FOR DEFENSE OF MYSELF AND OTHERS
JUST IN CASE A TRAGEDY LIKE THIS HAPPENS AND I HAPPEN TO BE IN
CLOSE PROXIMITY.
BUT I AM NOT A PERSON WHO BELIEVES THAT THERE IS ALWAYS
SOMEBODY OUT THERE BEHIND YOUR BACK READY TO DO EVIL LIKE THIS.
WAS WHAT WERE YOU PLANNING ON DOING TODAY?
I WAS PLANNING ON GOING TO CLASS.
LIKE I SAID, WHEN WE
FOUND OUT THERE WAS AN ACTIVE SHOOTER ON CAMPUS WE WERE GOING
TO SEE IF WE COULD INTERVENE, VETERANS ARE TRAINED, BE IT
ARMY, AIR FORCE, NAVY, MARINES, TRAINED TO GO INTO DANGER, NOT
JUST RUN AWAY FROM IT.
IF THERE WERE SOMETHING WE WERE ABLE TO
DO WE WOULD TRY TO DO IT.
LUCKILY WE MADE THE CHOICE NOT
TO GET INVOLVED, WE WERE QUITE A BIT OF DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE
BUILDING WHERE IT WAS HAPPENING WHICH KIND OF OPENED US UP TO BE
POTENTIAL TARGETS OURSELVES, AND NOT KNOWING WHERE SWAT WAS ON
THE RESPONSE TIME, THEY WOULDN'T KNOW WHO WE WERE.
AND IF WE HAD OUR GUNS READY TO SHOOT THEY COULD THINK WE
WERE BAD GUYS.
THAT IS NOT AL GORE.
HE SAYS IF HE HAD BEEN CLOSE TO IT HE
MIGHT HAVE INTERVENED, HE HAS THE TRAINING, HE CERTAINLY IS --
HE THINKS PEOPLE SHOULD CARRY GUNS, HE CARRIED HIS GUN INTO
THE COLLEGE CAMPUS, APPARENTLY THAT WAS HIS HABIT.
IT IS LEGAL IN OREGON.
THE SCHOOL WOULD LIKE YOU NOT TO, BUT IT IS LEGAL.
AND EVEN IN HIS STATEMENT HE SAYS IT IS LEGAL, BUT IT DOESN'T
EVEN MATTER IF IT IS LEGAL, THE CONSTITUTION ALLOWS ME.
SO HE
ENTHUSIASTICALLY LIKES GUNS, BUT ALSO THANKFULLY UNDERSTAND THAT
IT IS NOT SIMPLY AN OPPORTUNITY TO BE A HERO WHEN YOU HEAR SHOTS
BEING FIRED AND YOU HAVE A GUN ON YOU, IT COMPLICATES THE
SITUATION IN A NUMBER OF WAYS.
WE REPORTED EARLIER THIS WEEK, A
MAN WAS BEING CARJACKED, ANOTHER MAN SAW IT AND TRIED TO HELP HIM,
STARTED FIRING AT THE CARJACKERS AND HIT THE VICTIM IN THE HEAD.
AND THEN GATHERED UP HIS SHELLS AND FLED THE SCENE.
YOU CAN
POTENTIALLY CAUSE MORE HARM, YOU COULD POTENTIALLY BE KILLED BY
POLICE WHO HAVE NO WAY OF KNOWING IF YOU ARE A GOOD GUY
WITH A GUN OR A BAD GUY WITH A GUN.
TURNS OUT THEY LOOK
INCREDIBLY SIMILAR.
HE UNDERSTANDS THAT.
OR YOU COULD WIND UP SHOOTING ANOTHER PERSON WITH
CONCEALED CARRY WHO IS THERE TRYING TO STOP IT.
OR THEY COULD SHOOT YOU.
WHAT IF 15 PEOPLE HAD CONCEALED CARRY?
THEN EVERY PERSON IN THE BUILDING HAS A GUN.
WHO THE HELL KNOWS WHO THE SHOOTER IS?
THAT IS A GOOD POINT.
THE VICTIMS IN OREGON HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED, A 19-YEAR-OLD,
AN 18-YEAR-OLD, ANOTHER 18-YEAR-OLD, A 20-YEAR-OLD,
ANOTHER 18-YEAR-OLD, AND A COUPLE OLDER PEOPLE.
BUT SO MANY YOUNG PEOPLE.
YOUNGER THAN THE AVERAGE AT THAT COLLEGE.
AND ONE OF THE SURVIVORS, IT FEELS LIKE WE SHOULD MENTION HIM
CERTAINLY CONNECTED TO THE STORY WE JUST READ, IS CHRIS MINTZ, A
30-YEAR-OLD ARMY VETERAN, HE WAS SHOT FIVE TIMES, HE SHIELDED
OTHER STUDENTS, IT WAS HIS SON'S BIRTHDAY, AS HE LAY ON THE
GROUND BLEEDING AFTER BEING SHOT FIVE TIMES, A WOMAN WHO WAS A
NURSE HELD HIS HAND, HE KEPT SAYING IT IS MY SON'S BIRTHDAY.
HIS SON IS SIX, MIRACULOUSLY HE SHIELDED OTHER STUDENTS, SHOT
FIVE TIMES, HE SURVIVED.
HE IS ALIVE AND AWAKE AT THE HOSPITAL.
CHRIS MINTZ, A SERIOUS HERO YESTERDAY.
THAT IS AN AMAZING ACT OF HEROISM.
THE GENTLEMAN YOU SAW
IN THE VIDEO, IF HE HAD INTERVENED -- WHEN WE TALK ABOUT
HOW THIS IS A FANTASY OR A MYTH THAT PEOPLE STOP THE SHOOTINGS
BECAUSE THEY HAPPEN TO HAVE THEIR CONCEALED CARRY, WE ARE
NOT SAYING WE THINK IT WOULD BE AWFUL IF THEY STOPPED IT.
OR
THAT THE PERSON IS AN ASSHOLE OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
IT IS HEROIC
AND BRAVE TO ATTEMPT TO HELP OTHERS.
WE ARE SAYING THAT
THE INCREDIBLY RARE NATURE OF IT, IT IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO
FIND AN INSTANCE IN WHICH IT IS NOT A GUARD, COP, MEMBER OF THE
MILITARY -- A CIVILIAN WHO STOPS AND ONGOING MASS SHOOTING IS SO
INCREDIBLY RARE THAT IT'S SILLY TALKING ABOUT IT, IT IS LIKE
SHOWING TORTURE SCENES IN 24.
IT GIVES A FALSE IMPRESSION OF
WHAT REALITY IS LIKE, AND ALLOWS PEOPLE TO SAY, WE CAN'T HAVE
LEGISLATION BECAUSE I MIGHT SOMEDAY BE A HERO.
YOU ARE PROBABLY NOT GOING TO, IT IS MORE LIKELY THAT YOUR
KID WILL PICK UP A GUN OR IT WILL BE STOLEN AND USED IN
A GANG SHOOTING.
THOSE THINGS HAPPEN EVERY DAY, UNLIKE THE CIVILIAN
STOPPING A MASS SHOOTING, IN WHICH WE CAN'T FIND ONE
DOCUMENTED CASE IN THE PAST THREE DECADES.
I THINK IT IS FAR MORE LIKELY, NOT JUST THAT, BUT THAT YOU WILL
NOT EVEN BE ABLE TO DEFEND YOURSELF WITH A GUN.
I HAVE BEEN
IN AN ARMED ROBBERY BEFORE AND THE WHOLE THING IN THE ARMED
ROBBERY IS THEY HAVE A GUN POINTED AT YOU ALREADY.
EVEN IF
YOU HAVE A GUN ON YOU THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO, OTHER THAN
LOSE THAT GUN OR GET SHOT WHEN THEY SEE YOU HAVE A GUN.
THAT IS
HOW THE CRIMINALS GET YOU.
THEY SURPRISE YOU.
THAT'S THEIR IDEA.
ARE YOU LETTING THE DEER KNOW IF YOU ARE OUT THERE HUNTING, I
AM OVER HERE!
NO WAY, IT IS SURPRISE.
THEY'RE HUNTING YOU.