“He responded and I guess he saved a lot of people in there.” So said Philadelphia Police Captain Frank Llewellyn after a concealed carrier responded to a shooting inside a barbershop in the city. The full story, from CBS:
Police say a 40-year-old man was inside the barbershop when he started fighting with another person inside. The altercation quickly escalated and the man pulled out a gun and opened fire.
At that point, authorities say, another unidentified man took out his own gun and the shot the gunman multiple times in the chest. He was rushed to Presbyterian Hospital where he later died from his injuries.
The man who shot and killed him later surrendered to authorities at 16th District headquarters, but it wasn’t immediately known if he would face any charges.
“The person who responded was a legal gun permit carrier,” said Philadelphia Police Captain Frank Llewellyn. “He responded and I guess he saved a lot of people in there.”
Police say there was a crowd of patrons inside the shop at the time of the shooting, including several children, but no one else was injured.
“There were numerous people in there,” Captain Llewellyn said. “So it could have been a lot worse.”
Make no mistake: This is a clear-cut example of a concealed carrier stopping a bad guy with a gun. It has nothing to do with background checks — Pennsylvania requires the sale of all handguns to go through a licensed dealer, whether private or public — and it has nothing to do with “assault weapons.” The good guy was carrying a gun because the state does not prosecute him for doing so; the bad guy was carrying a gun because criminals do not obey the law. Had the good guy not been carrying a gun, the shooter would have had carte blanche. Bravo.