An alleged intruder was shot by a resident Saturday morning in Mesquite, Texas, then arrested and charged by police. KDFW reported the incident occurred at 4:15 a.m. Loud banging sounds awoke the home’s residents, one of whom went to investigate. Upon
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I've seen some say yes as to that—as an objection to gun control laws, not as an objection to the man's actions—but I don't think it's quite right.
It's true that Oregon law generally criminalizes gun possession on school property, including by people with concealed carry licenses, if the school board adopts such a no-guns-allowed policy. And apparently the Bend school in which the shooting took place indeed has such a policy.
But Oregon law recognizes a so-called "choice of evils" defense, often called a "necessity" defense, that allows people to violate a wide range of laws if it's genuinely necessary in an emergency:
(1) Unless inconsistent with other provisions of chapter 743, Oregon Laws 1971, defining justifiable use of physical force, or with some other provision of law, conduct which would otherwise constitute an offense is justifiable and not criminal when:
(a) That conduct is necessary as an emergency measure to avoid an imminent public or private injury; and
(b) The threatened injury is of such gravity that, according to ordinary standards of intelligence and morality, the desirability and urgency of avoiding the injury clearly outweigh the desirability of avoiding the injury sought to be prevented by the statute defining the offense in issue.
(2) The necessity and justifiability of conduct under subsection (1) of this section shall not rest upon considerations pertaining only to the morality and advisability of the statute, either in its general application or with respect to its application to a particular class of cases arising thereunder.
That means that, even when gun possession is otherwise criminal, it is "not criminal" when it's necessary to avoid imminent serious harm. Indeed, even felons, who are generally barred from possessing guns, may pick up a gun that's physically available to them when it's necessary for imminent self-defense:
We think that the trial judge's conclusion that ORS 161.200 [the choice of evils statute] is inapplicable to the offense of being an ex convict in possession of a firearm is incorrect. The statute contains no such express exception, and we see no justification for implying one. To the contrary, one who has been previously convicted of a felony is just as entitled to defend himself from an imminent threat of injury as is any other private citizen. We hold that the defense is available to those who have been previously convicted of a felony and, in appropriate circumstances, may justify their resort to a weapon which it would otherwise be unlawful for them to possess.
Likewise, a law-abiding gun owner may go into a school where gun possession is otherwise criminal when it's necessary to try to stop a school shooting. (Even in jurisdictions that don't formally recognize a choice-of-evils / necessity defense, the separate doctrines of self-defense or defense of others may provide a defense as to bringing a gun onto school property in such a situation, just as they provide a defense as to using the gun to kill the shooter.) And while in some situations the balancing test in the necessity defense can be vaguer than the somewhat more precise terms of the self-defense defense, carrying a gun into a no-guns zone in order to stop an apparent in-progress school shooting makes for an extraordinarily clear case for the defense.
Nor is this just a matter of prosecutorial discretion. If a prosecutor does file charges in such a situation, the gun owner can raise the defense. And if the evidence is sufficient to potentially trigger the defense (e.g., if the defendant or a witness testifies to facts that a reasonable jury may interpret as sufficing for the defense), then "the state must negate [the defense] beyond a reasonable doubt."
In this respect, the choice-of-evils defense is much like the defense-of-others defense. Killing someone is generally a crime; but the law recognizes that sometimes it's justifiable (in particular, to defend yourself or others against death or other very serious harms), and thus provides a defense-of-others affirmative defense.
Likewise, carrying a gun onto school property in Oregon is a crime when the school district forbids it. But the law recognizes that sometimes it's justifiable (in particular, to defend people against a school shooting), and thus provides a choice-of-evils affirmative defense.
Naturally, the operation of the defense depends on the good sense of prosecutors, judges, and juries—just as the operation of the self-defense and defense-of-others defense do. But it's the way our legal system deals, even if at times imperfectly, with situations where an emergency need warrants what would otherwise be illegal action (whether that otherwise illegal action would be murder, as to the shooting itself, or a weapons offense, as to the carrying of a gun onto school property).
Of course, the choice-of-evils defense doesn't work for people who want to carry guns in forbidden places simply to be prepared in case the gun is needed (the usual reason most people who carry guns do so). One can certainly debate whether schools should allow at least some people, such as teachers or other school staff who are trained and licensed, to keep guns on their persons in school.
But even if you think the Oregon law (coupled with Bend's policy) is foolish in generally criminalizing gun licensees' carrying a gun onto school property, it's not so foolish as to criminalizing their carrying a gun onto school property when necessary to stop an in-progress school shooting.
The post Did Oregon Man Who Shot the School Shooter Violate Oregon Law in Carrying Gun onto School Property? appeared first on Reason Magazine.
News accounts report that the Bend, Oregon school shooting Thursday was stopped in part by an armed civilian. From the N.Y. Times (Anna Griffin, Aaron West, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs & Chelsia Rose Marcius):
A man in a red pickup truck was driving by and saw the teenager throw his shotgun over the fence and start to climb it, the police said. The driver "verbally confronted" the gunman, who paused to open fire at him, pelting the truck with shots….
Outside, Kaylub Giamanco, a father of two girls at the school, had seen the red pickup get shot while driving by on his lunch break. He swerved onto the sidewalk and ran inside.
He found the gunman wrestling with the teacher who tried to stop him and shot him several times with a .40-caliber handgun that had been legally secured in his truck, the police said. The suspect, who died, was carrying 44 more rounds of ammunition.
Readers might want to know: How often do civilians use guns to help stop shooters who pose ongoing threats to multiple people? (By "civilian," I mean here someone other than a police officer or a security guard; off-duty military members qualify for my purposes.)
Obviously, an exact count is hard to gather, and some cases will be ambiguous. Sometimes, it may not be clear whether the shooter was planning to keep attacking. Sometimes, it may not be clear, at least from press accounts, whether the defender succeeded in stopping the shooter (for instance, by scaring the shooter away). Sometimes a civilian and a security guard or a police officer might step in together. And sometimes news accounts may err. Any count is thus a judgment call, and also likely incomplete because not all incidents make the news.
Still, thanks to a Crime Prevention Research Center spreadsheet, I can say that in 2025 there appeared to have been at least a dozen such incidents. The CPRC report says there were 23; I went through the list, checked the linked news accounts, and tried to exclude ones that seemed just like one-on-one self-defense situations or matters where the defender seemed clearly unsuccessful. (One-on-one self-defense is of course worthy on its own, but it's not what I'm discussing here.) With those exclusions, and trying to be relatively conservative in what I counted, I ended up counting 12 to 14 such incidents in 2025, depending on how you evaluate some of the more ambiguous ones.
Nor does 2025 appear to be unusual. According to the CPRC report, there were roughly the same number of incidents (or in some years, even more) in 2020-2024 as in 2025. I expect that conservative counts for those years would likewise be comparable to my count for 2025.
None of the 2025 defensive gun use incidents were at a school, but gun possession is generally illegal in schools, so it's unsurprising that law-abiding gun owners can rarely stop such shootings. They can of course enter the school after the shooting starts, as the man in the Oregon shooting did, but that involves a higher degree of difficulty.
The 2025 incidents, with the date, state, city (and link to news article), and excerpt from the news article:
| 1/12/25 | Neb. | Omaha | [County Attorney] Kleine said [a] man was acting in self-defense and saving the lives of others when he shot and killed Brandon Jones around 3 a.m…. According to Kleine, Jones was asked by management to leave the club. Jones angrily left the club. He got a gun, went back to the club, brandished the gun and started firing it while making threats, Kleine said. Kleine added Jones' gunfire hit several people. The man, whom Kleine declined to identify, returned fire, striking and ultimately killing Jones outside the club, which had a large crowd of people inside…. |
| 1/17/25 | Fla. | Palm Beach | [T]he sheriff's office received multiple 911 calls … saying an employee had shot two other coworkers …. [T]he supervisor said he was in his upstairs office and heard multiple gunshots, prompting him to grab his firearm and head downstairs to the location of the shooting. He told detectives he got to their workstation and saw Edwards [the shooter] holding a firearm and standing over [one of the victims] while attempting to reload the weapon. The supervisor said he told Edwards to drop the gun while he and other employees pushed the suspect to the ground and called 911. |
| 2/15/25 | Tex. | Houston | [A] man opened fire on a crowd of people after a child's birthday party… Deputies say several people in the crowd returned fire, hitting Thompson multiple times… |
| 3/31/25 | Tex. | San Antonio | Investigators said that two groups of people were arguing on the [bar] patio, which then boiled over into a fight. Vela, who was in the parking lot, allegedly saw the fight, pulled out a handgun, and opened fire on the brawl. A bystander pulled out his own gun and fired back, fatally striking Vela. That bystander was also wounded by Vela's gunfire, and was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. In total, the bystander, two women, and one man at the scene were all injured by the gunfire. |
| 5/20/25 | Ariz. | Peoria | [A bar] employee called 911 to request that police help with an intoxicated patron, Franco, who refused several requests to leave. While officers were en route, police say Franco went to the parking lot, grabbed a handgun from inside his car and started firing shots in the air and into the bar…. Two men on a nearby park bench saw what was happening and intervened. Police say Franco then pointed his weapon at the two men, who were also armed, and a gunfight ensued. Franco was shot in the chest, while the two other men weren't hurt… [Police officer] Babros commended the men who intervened before any other innocent people were hurt… |
| 6/10/25 | Wash. | Kettle Falls | Stevens County 911 dispatch received calls … [saying] that there was a subject walking down the road with a rifle and had pointed the rifle at them, yelled threats and fired more shots…. Two nearby armed residents heard the disturbance and tried to de-escalate the situation. They observed West fire his rifle in the direction of a man …. That is when the neighbors fired their weapons, killing West…. |
| 6/22/25 | Mich. | Wayne | Police said the suspect exited his Nissan truck wearing a tactical vest, armed with a long gun and a handgun, when he approached the church building and began firing his weapon…. At least two staff members shot the gunman, causing fatal wounds. One staff member, a member of the security team, was shot once in the leg by the suspect. [I included this because it appeared to involve a non-security-guard and a security guard working together; it's impossible to know what would have happened had the security guard been the only armed defender. -EV] |
| 6/28/26 | Ga. | Atlanta | [A] fraternity had a permit for an event at Coan Park on Woodbine Avenue on Saturday…. [A] random man walked up and got into an argument with some of the fraternity brothers. As they tried to calm him down, witnesses said the man started shooting. Pearson was shot in the head, according to police. He died at the scene…. Atlanta police said others who had their concealed carry permit fired back at the man, who was taken to the hospital in critical condition… |
| 8/2/25 | Ill. | Harvey | A Concealed-Carry License holder fatally shot one of two gunmen who injured a young child and four others in south suburban Harvey on Saturday night, officials said…. Two armed men opened fire at the gathering, injuring five of the guests…. A CCL holder who was present returned fire, killing one of the suspects and injuring the other. |
| 8/6/25 | Iowa | Glenwood | Dennis Burnell killed two people, set his own house on fire, and fired dozens of rounds into nearby homes before dying days later from burn injuries. Investigators later determined Burnell had hundreds of rounds of ammunition he intended to use across the neighborhood… One of the homes struck by bullets belonged to Senior Airman Harrison Friar. Friar said he quickly secured his family inside, then grabbed his personal firearm and confronted the attacker… Investigators say Friar fired two shots, hitting Burnell in the leg and forcing him to retreat. They credit his actions with giving law enforcement the critical time needed to contain the situation and preventing further loss of life… |
| 8/18/25 | S.C. | Union | [Police officers] responded to a report of gunshots …. When officers arrived, they found 28-year-old Ieshaun Dunn … lying in the grass … [with] a gunshot wound near the heart… After a thorough investigation, it was concluded by authorities that this was a case of self-defense. According to police, Dunn fired a gun at a group of people and gunfire was returned, leading to Dunn's death… |
| 9/13/25 | Tenn. | Murfreesboro | Tavarious Chambers is charged with six counts of attempted first-degree murder and tampering with evidence after detectives say he opened fire at a reunion on Saturday, September 13th, striking two people. According to the preliminary investigation, the reunion event was ending when Chambers arrived at the park pavilion dressed in black and wearing a ski mask. Police say he fired multiple shots in the direction of four adults and two small children. Two people were struck by gunfire. One of the victims fired back in self-defense. [It is not evident whether the defensive gun use was effective in scaring Chambers away or otherwise distracting him from the shooting. -EV] |
| 10/25/25 | Utah | West Valley City | [P]olice responded to reports of a shooting … where a Halloween party attended by teenagers and young adults was being held …. Allen Montelongo … was driving by the party and fired at a group of people standing in the roadway. A 16-year-old male from Sandy was hit multiple times by the gunfire, according to police. Someone in the group returned fire, police said, hitting Montelongo and causing him to crash his car into a fence. He was later pronounced dead on scene… |
| 12/2/25 | Ga. | Conyers | Conyers Police Capt. Quantavis Garcia said a man opened fire inside the Chiquitos Cantina and Grill … and customers inside shot back at the suspect. "It played out like a movie. We believe the citizen bystanders who discharged their firearms acted in self-defense and ultimately saved lives inside of that restaurant," Garcia said. Police say no one was injured in the shooting… |
This of course doesn't tells us a lot by itself about the debates about gun control and gun rights. But it is a reminder that multiple shootings are indeed sometimes (and not that rarely) stopped by good guys with guns.
The post Civilians Using Guns to Defend Against Multiple Shootings appeared first on Reason Magazine.
Last week, not only did Oregon's restrictive gun laws fail to stop a shooter intent on killing innocent people, but a passing good Samaritan had to violate those laws to end the murder spree. Fortunately, authorities don't appear intent on prosecuting Kaylub Giamanco, father to two girls who attend the school, for ignoring the ban on guns on school grounds to save lives. But the law is clearly more of a threat to people with good intent than it is to those bent on doing harm. Such laws should and must be defied, but lawmakers need to remove these legal minefields before they do more damage.
"I want to start by thanking and praising the quick thinking and courage of the Silver Rail Elementary School staff and parents—and the first responders who rushed to the scene," Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek commented in a press release after the attack by a 16-year-old shooter at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon. "And to the community member who heroically intervened to stop further loss of life, your actions carry a heavy emotional burden—and my thoughts are with you."
That community member was Kaylub Giamanco, who had two daughters at the school. He was reportedly driving past when he saw the shooter approaching Silver Rail with a shotgun in hand. Giamanco parked his vehicle, grabbed his firearm, and followed the shooter, who had blasted his way through the facility's locked doors.
The shooter murdered four people, but Giamanco was able to kill him before he did any more damage. In the incident, the murderer obviously violated the law. But so did Giamanco.
"Oregon gun laws are rated as the 12th strictest in the nation according to data collected by gun violence prevention group Everytown for Gun Safety, but they didn't stop the shooting of four elementary school children and two teachers at a Bend elementary school on Thursday," wrote Lillian Mongeau Hughes of The Oregonian. (Reports say three children and a teacher were murdered, with two others injured.)
The gun-control group Everytown for Gun Safety boasts that "Oregon has passed a broad range of gun safety laws in recent years, including a requirement that guns be securely stored whenever they are not in their owner's immediate control, a prohibition on guns at the state capitol, and a law that gives universities the authority to prohibit guns on their grounds."
The similarly restriction-oriented Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence gives Oregon an A- for its laws, ranking the state 11th out of 50. The group notes that the state "allowed local governments to limit firearms in government buildings."
Of specific interest in this case, the state adopted a law in 2021 that, among other things, says "the governing board of a community college or a district school board" may adopt policies banning guns on school grounds, even for those "licensed to carry a concealed handgun."
Importantly, the Bend–La Pine Schools, which include Silver Rail, mandate that "no person on grounds of the schools controlled by the Board of Directors for Bend–La Pine Schools (including in school buildings) shall bring to, possess, conceal or use a weapon or firearm at any property under the jurisdiction of Bend-La Pine Schools, any activities under the jurisdiction of the district, or any interscholastic activities administered by a voluntary organization (i.e., Oregon School Activities Association). This prohibition includes those who may otherwise be permitted by law to carry such weapons or firearms."
The prohibition applies to the Silver Rail murderer, though it was unlikely to be a concern to a person already intent on slaughter. It also applies to Giamanco, who stopped the attack and who must now—probably successfully, given the case's high profile—rely on the authorities to not enforce their own laws.
Giamanco is by no means alone in taking the initiative to stop an attack. I've written in the past about Jordan Salinas and others in the Twin Falls incident, as well as Elisjsha Dicken at the Greenwood Park Mall in Indiana. The actions of bystanders are crucial given the evidence that would-be mass murderers must be countered with defensive force within the first 30 seconds to avoid a double-digit body count.
There were 634 active attacks in the United States between 2000 and 2025, according to the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Center at Texas State University. ALERRT defines an "active attack" as an incident in which "an individual or individuals is actively killing or attempting to kill multiple unrelated people in a public space." Of those, 374 were resolved before police arrived, with 29 concluded by civilians shooting the perpetrator and another 60 attackers otherwise subdued by civilians.
That's certainly not a full count of actions by armed citizens to defend themselves and others. The 2026 National Firearms Survey finds that "guns are used defensively by firearms owners in approximately 2.2 million incidents per year. In most defensive incidents no shot was fired (76.3%), about half (50.8%) involved more than one assailant, and in 70.6% of incidents respondents report that the defensive use was successful, such that no crime remained to be reported to the police."
Undoubtedly, many of those incidents aren't reported to the police because people who have just averted a threat to themselves or others don't want to get entangled with a legal system that is all too often hostile to self defense. If all has ended well, why risk arrest for violating a law that would have prevented you from defending yourself or that you may not even have known about?
As The Oregonian points out, Oregon's "strong laws" didn't stop the shooting. Those laws ban murder, of course. They also specify that "guns be locked, stored in gun safes or in specialized gun rooms as a way to keep children from accessing firearms," according to the report. "Police have not said if those laws were violated." They also ban guns on the grounds of schools with restrictive policies.
The thing about criminals, though, is that they don't obey laws. That's especially true of those who plan murder sprees they don't intend to survive. The consequences the perpetrators anticipate involve death, and if that's not a deterrent, the potential prosecution of their moldering corpses holds little weight.
Unfortunately, legal peril can be a deterrent to good people who intend no harm. The threat of authoritarian laws and malicious prosecutors who enjoy state protection could convince some people to leave the means of self defense at home. Fortunately, Kaylub Giamanco wasn't one of them.
Giamanco's example at Silver Rail Elementary School is one to be emulated. If we're to protect ourselves, our children, and our neighbors, we have a right and a duty to defy laws that seek to disarm us and put us at the mercy of human predators. But we shouldn't have to suffer the threat of such laws to exercise our natural self-defense rights. Given the inability of weapons restrictions to deter crime and the harm they pose for good people, government officials need to eliminate these embarrassing restrictions and get out of our way.
The post Hero Oregon Dad Showed the Importance of Defying Restrictive Gun Laws appeared first on Reason Magazine.
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