Deputy James Englert (courtesy kdvr.com)

NRA-ILA Presser:

Charlotte, NC –-(Ammoland.com)- Back in March, we reported on Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper (D) signing into law the most sweeping anti-gun legislation in the history of the Centennial State, despite overwhelming opposition to the legislation. The new law bans magazines with a capacity of greater than 15 rounds, imposes a “gun tax” for a background check when purchasing a firearm, and criminalizes the private transfer of a firearm, among other things.  The anti-gunners claimed these measures would keep guns out of the hands of bad guys . . .

Last week’s tragic shooting at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colorado, left one student in critical condition.  The perpetrator, a senior at the school, was reported to have randomly shot 17-year-old Claire Davis as she sat innocently in the hallway.  As bad as that was, things could have been much worse.

Information released this week indicates that the perpetrator was planning a much larger attack and was armed with a shotgun, about 125 rounds of ammunition, three Molotov cocktails and a machete.

According to a CNN story, Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said of the shooter, “His intent was evil, and his evil intent was to harm multiple individuals.”

On his arm, the perpetrator had written in indelible ink five classroom numbers and a phrase in Latin that translates to “the die has been cast,” according to the sheriff’s office.

But as reported in the Washington Times, the attacker’s mission was stopped short by the quick response of Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Deputy James Englert  who was working as a resource officer at the school.  Upon learning of the threat, the deputy ran from the cafeteria to the library, yelling for people to get down and identifying himself as a deputy sheriff.  The horrific incident lasted only a total of 80 seconds and ended with the shooter turning his gun on himself in the library as the deputy was closing in on him.

“We know for a fact that the shooter knew that the deputy was in the immediate area and, while the deputy was containing the shooter, the shooter took his own life,” Sheriff Robinson said.  Robinson said the deputy’s response was “a critical element to the shooter’s decision” to kill himself.

During a December 15 appearance on Face the Nation, Gov. Hickenlooper, was forced to admit that the very gun control bills he signed into law–and which resulted in the historic recalls of two state senators and the resignation of a third to avoid the same fate–did not make “a difference at all” in the school shooting.

“So things like universal background checks, I think they are going to make us safer, but in this specific case aren’t going to make a difference at all.  And that’s the challenge,” Hickenlooper said.

What does make a difference is an armed response; but it only works in a situation where properly secured firearms are available onsite to be used by responsible, proficient, courageous people–in other words, the good guys.

A Cleveland.com story concludes that school shooters aren’t interested in a fight; they’re interested in soft targets that will leave them in control of the situation long enough to accomplish their evil deed.

In this case, the perpetrators was met instead with a hard target–an armed, qualified security presence that was ready and willing to stop him–and did so in just 80 seconds.

Gun-control laws didn’t stop a possible massacre at Arapahoe High School. A good guy with a gun stopped the rampage and in doing so almost certainly prevented much greater harm. For that, we can all be thankful.

About:
Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the “lobbying” arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Visit: www.nra.org

 

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44 COMMENTS

  1. No, Mr. Hickenloper.

    There is no challenge.You, and your entire movement regarding gun control, is dead wrong.Thankfully your bankrupt policies havent taken more lives,thanks to a good man with a gun.

  2. If it ever came down to it, I hope I could do as well. It looks like this deputy ran towards a psycho armed with a shotgun whilst carrying only a handgun – and he stopped the threat. That is some serious moxie.

    • “To protect and serve” is a powerful mantra to those who embrace it. Not so much to those who choose a less selfless path, even though they wear a badge and a uniform and carry a gun. There is more to being a true public servant, as that young deputy showed, than just getting home at the end of a shift. Moxie, indeed.

      You’ll do fine, Accur81.

      • After it was all over they did have an armored vehicle or two on hand to ferry the SWAT team to the doors of the building.

    • Over and over again, in many documented cases;when a citizen has committed to carrying a weapon to protect themselves and others,they have shown great courage in confronting the bad guy and stopping the threat.

      So if history is any indicator, you would probably at least make the brave attempt and do so successfully; but like any thing in life, there is no guarantee you would survive that attempt; But that is life, as it should be.

    • Thanks for publishing this Robt.

      Too bad the State Run Media™ has not given this Truth – that ” Good Guys On The Spot With Guns Stop Bad Guys from killing innocenf schoolkids ” more more attention but its to be expected as it does not fit The Narrative.

      A81. Im sure you would do the same. Thank you for your service. And Bravo Zulu to Deputy Englert for fulfilling his pledge to Protect and Serve.

  3. Good man. He thought of the welfare of others over his own. The SRO’s at my old district got to know the students and staff at their assigned schools. I like to think they would have put themselves in harms way to protect their charges.

  4. That’s how I feel about security at my church. I am in charge and as my pastor and others understand, good guys with guns are willing to put their lives on the line for their protection.

      • a lot of people say the same thing until they get to know me . . . I am actually one of the church leaders (700 member Baptist church) and since they put me over security, among other things, well, let’s just say we enthusiastically allow people to carry concealed. I am even working on getting a church shooting team together as a way to get the skills up.. . . . just in case.

      • ANYONE should be allowed into Church as part of the congregation. It’s just up to them where they go from there.

  5. “According to a CNN story, Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said of the shooter, “His intent was evil, and his evil intent was to harm multiple individuals.””

    As I read this I couldn’t help but imagine someone out there trying to say there is no such thing as evil, and that this was some merely troubled kid who needed help.

    Then I remembered Oingo Boingo’s Only A Lad. Then I remembered this perp was a flaming socialist. And I remembered Oingo Boingo’s Capitalism. “You’re just a middle class socialist brat…” Hmm.

  6. Bottom line, the true measure of an individual is not what he/she says, but, what they do, even if no one is there to see. The man measured up.

  7. Bravery and courage know no bounds , this Deputy deserves a public commendation ceremony , even though a lot of people will say he was just doing his job ! I say that we should reward public servants that go the extra distance to help others ! As for the socialist killer , he is one of the ilk that follow the same liberal agenda as the leftist s in the Colorado legislature and the Governor of Colorado , all he was doing was using firearms as his way of enforcing the leftist mentallity , with maybe a little mental illness thrown in.Be prepared and ready.Keep your powder dry.

    • He may have just been doing his job, but he did it well.

      Outstanding performance deserves recognition.

  9. It is fitting that the public attention be given to Sheriff’s Deputy James Englert rather than to the perpetrator. We should not be fascinated by the fringe minds that turn to murder, but by the instances of selfless action by brave people who choose to put others first.

    James Englert displayed the courage we expect and hold in very high regard.

    JAMES ENGLERT. Your children should hear that name, and should know why they are hearing it rather than the name of the perpetrator, which should go generally unspoken.

    • “We should not be fascinated by the fringe minds that turn to murder, but by the instances of selfless action by brave people who choose to put others first.”

      And we must never stop trumpeting the fact that given the proper tools and the opportunity there are a whole lot more selfless and brave people willing to stand against evil than there are fringe minds willing to perpetrate mass murders.

  10. While it’s hard to find any bright side in a story that ends with a young woman dying in agony at hospital, can we safely assume that the Englert’s actions saved at least one life, and that that life was a child’s? I think we can safely assume that much, and so now we can say with confidence that it was all worth it, because it saved at least one kid’s life, and that if we duplicated the action in other places it would all be worth it, and that anyone who opposes armed responders in schools does so even though it has already saved at least one kid’s life and would likely save more.

    • saying he saved one kid’s life is very conservative. This murderer had five rooms in mind… I’d have to say he, the Deputy, saved a bare minimum of four, more likely a dozen.

  11. Totally agree, should be gun hero of the year. How many minutes would it have been before the police showed up, set up a perimeter, waited for backup, and cleared the school? Or rather, how long did it take the police to do this after the shooter was neutralized? 10, 15 minutes? Progs only answer would be to disarm this hero and let the children bleed out like that TSA agent while letting only properly authorized 2nd amendment end users handle it.

    • I suspect the moment the TSA agent was found to be shot, orders came down that he should be made a martyr. Too bad those who could have saved his life were denied the opportunity (being told he was already dead) until his death was guaranteed to be reality, short of a divine miracle.

  12. Thank God the armed deputy responded immediately rather than waiting 10+ minutes for backup or 30+ minutes for S.W.A.T. to arrive like the situation unfolded last year at Newtown, Connecticut.

    And look at what a huge difference that response made: one casualty instead of 26 at Newtown. This people. This is why we need responsible, good, armed citizens all over the place. The faster we can bring force to bear on a spree killer, the lower the number of casualties. Period. There is no substitute for responsible armed people on site.

  13. I wonder how the antis are opining on the SRO’s presence and its affect on the situation. Or are they just in denial that it had any affect at all?

    • I suspect they would either not count him as a proximate cause of the shooter’s death (it being a suicide) or say “Well, yeah, police are highly trained and trusted and so should be allowed to have a gun!”

      “Upon learning of the threat, the deputy ran from the cafeteria to the library, yelling for people to get down and identifying himself as a deputy sheriff. ”

      I don’t mean to make light of someone who did a great job, but this line just made me think of Reno 911 when they arrive at the scene yelling “Sheriff’s Department!” again and again for no reason…

  14. Time for a Youtube to be made with all the leftist talking heads mocking and ridiculing WLP and the NRA for suggesting that schools have armed protection.

  15. Mr. Farago was kind enough to publish my response to an earlier story, and I appreciate that. For emphasis, I offer this comment, which in large part reiterates what I had written earlier in the week.

    I owe Deputy Englert a personal debt of gratitude, because my son is a student at Arapahoe High School and without Deputy Engler’s swift response the tragedy would have been much worse. He saved the lives of many students and teachers that day, maybe even the life of my son.

    It is a sad irony that every year our lawmakers pile on more laws at the local, state and national level, yet despite the rising tide of legislation people of nearly every political affiliation are increasingly dissatisified with our situation. To a careful observer, there seems to be an inverse relationship between legislation and the pursuit of happiness. Perhaps that is because our culture has turned into what our Founders warned us about when Benjamin Franklin said, “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”

    The experience of nearly two weeks ago has given me, and I hope my fellow AHS parents, resolve to improve school security to (a) make it harder for an armed gunman to enter a school and (b) make the armed response to an active shooter immediate. We still do not know all the facts, however, we can say that having armed law enforcement officers on site made a critical difference. It is my view that in the event law enforcement cannot be on campus, and/or if a resource officer is incapacitated by an attacker, then we should permit qualified staff to carry concealed.

    As mentioned earlier, we can pass laws covering 100 scenarios, but there will always be the 101st that we fail to imagine. When the law fails, the only thing standing between the lives of our youth and a gunman is a good guy with a gun.

    Strengthen school security and permit qualified staff to carry. Do it now.

    • You are absolutely correct, outspoken about it, and therefore, I would venture to guess, you’ve yet to appear on TV.

    • James,

      Thank you for your article and comments. I want to encourage you to embrace responsible armed parents and volunteers at schools as well as staff. There are countless parents, grandparents, and probably even concerned citizens (who do not have children) in the community who would happily be armed while visiting or volunteering in some capacity at schools. Keep in mind that many such people have extensive training and skills acquired from personal trainers as well as military experience.

      And if any naysayers balk at trusting responsible armed staff, parents, and volunteers at schools, just point them to Utah where anyone with a concealed handgun carry license can carry into schools. This has been the case for the last 7 or so years and I cannot find a single instance of anyone with a concealed carry license doing anything irresponsible, illegal, foolish, or dangerous with a firearm in a school. That’s tens of thousands of armed citizens in hundreds/thousands of schools over the last 7 years and no problems at all.

      If it works in Utah, it will work in Colorado and any other state in the United States.

    • Thank you Mr. Visor for speaking up. Its the courage of parents like you that motivates politicians to stand up for common sense over democrat machine politics.

  16. And as soon as Hell freezes over, the media, the President, and Gov. Hickenloopy will admit that the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre was right (last year) when he said “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”

    • IdahoPete,

      Intellectuals and elitists (is there any difference?) have this nasty habit of being overconfident and assuming that they have thought of and accounted for everything. Their arrogance blinds them to the fact that it is always a good idea to keep a human “in the loop” in any system, whether financial markets, nuclear reactors, a cruise ships, or the security of an installation such as a school.

      No matter how extensively someone thinks of every possible contingency, something can always happen that no one previously considered. Furthermore, there are plenty of real world examples where something or someone “falls through the cracks”. That is why we need responsible armed citizens in place. Not because we want to rely on armed citizens, but because we may have to rely on them, however unpalatable that may be.

  18. I am just making a guess, but I think a major fear with shooters like this is prison. They want to shoot a bunch of people and then kill themselves, NOT shoot a bunch of people and then have to go through the whole trial and prison ordeal. BUT, an armed person confronting them, even if just one person, changes things because it makes it where there is the chance they could be wounded and unable to then shoot and kill themselves. So when confronted, they immediately kill themselves so as not to take any chance (or at least in this instance anyway).

    • There may be a couple more wrinkles to it, but it all ends up at about the same conclusion you did, so I’d say I concur with what you’ve written here. The main thing I’d add is that these people are typically losers, abject not worth a damn losers, with rare exception. It seems to me they just want to be able to accomplish something for once, albeit hellish and gruesome, just so they can leave this world with one scrap of momentary control over something or someone.

      You’re right, they typically do not want to get wounded, engage in a firefight or spend their lives in prison, so they usually kill themselves or go the suicide by cop route. Where they surrender probably is a matter of them losing their nerve at the last second, when it comes time to turn the gun on themselves. But what’s common throughout, though, is that they select easy targets of unarmed people whom they expect won’t fight back too hard. Hardening our defenses is the obvious way to deter they attacks altogether, or at least repel them when they do occur.

  21. I think it should be noted that Claire Davis died December 21st 2013 from her wounds suffered in the attack. Peace be with her, her family and friends.

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