Good guy with a gun

A protester holding a placard that states "Making good people defenceless won't make bad people harmless"

A protester at the 2020 VCDL Lobby Day rally, with a variation of the phrase.

A good guy with a gun, in American gun control debate, refers to the idea that the best way to prevent or end a mass shooting is with high accessibility of weapons to civilians and police willing to stop an attack. The phrase originates with Wayne LaPierre in 2012, who stated that "the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a gun."

History and usage

On December 14, 2012, Wayne LaPierre, one week after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, in a press conference announcing the NRA's National School Shield Emergency Response Program, stated that "the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a gun." This is considered to be the first mainstream usage of the phrase.

At the 2022 NRA Convention, soon after the Robb Elementary School shooting, Ted Cruz stated a variation of the phrase, saying that "what stops armed bad guys is armed good guys."

Analysis

File:2000- Outcomes of active shooter attacks.svg

A New York Times study reported how outcomes of active shooter attacks varied with actions of the attacker, the police (42% of total incidents), and bystanders (including a "good guy with a gun" outcome in 5.1% of total incidents).

A 2013 study by Texas State University criminologists analysed 160 active shooter incidents, finding only one in three to have been prevented by lethal force from police or civilians. None of the incidents involving school shootings in the study were ended by armed guards or armed staff. Instead, the shooter was often restrained by unarmed staff. However, a plurality of active shooter incidents are resolved by the attacker fleeing or committing suicide. The presence of armed guards does little to deter school shooters, with Santa Fe High School, Stoneman Douglas High School, Great Mills High School, and Marshall County High School being prominent examples of school shootings against schools with armed guards. A 2020 study found "no association between having an armed officer and deterrence of violence" and that an "armed officer on the scene was the number one factor associated with increased casualties."

Notable incidents

• In the Greenwood Park Mall shooting on July 17, 2022, a mass shooter was killed by a civilian bystander 15 seconds after opening fire on his first victims. The bystander, Eli Dicken, was exercising Constitutional Carry, which had recently become law in the state of Indiana on July 1. Dicken fired 10 shots at the mass shooter from 40 yards away and struck him 8 times. The mass shooter then attempted to retreat back into the bathroom he had emerged from, but immediately slumped over and perished from Dicken's shots. Survivors later reached out to Dicken to thank him for saving their lives. Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers called Dicken "Greenwood's Good Samaritan" and noted he had saved "countless lives" from the mass shooter.

Popular culture

• Good Guy With A Gun is a 2022 coming-of-age film by John Mossman on gun culture set in rural Illinois.
• A Good Guy is a 2024 stageplay by David Rambo exploring arming teachers.

See also

• Arming teachers
• Concealed carry
• Gun violence
• Right to keep and bear arms
• Guns don't kill people, people kill people