We are not going to hold our collective breaths waiting for the legacy media to point out the lessons that we can learn from the incident at the Greenwood Park Mall. Instead, we will take a moment here to discuss the Lessons Learned that might seem obvious, and also that which is not so obvious.

The communist left will not admit it but, an armed Good Samaritan in Indiana saved countless lives by being armed in public. A good guy with a gun stopped a bad guy with a gun in seconds, not minutes or hours as we saw in Uvalde, Texas, but seconds.

Lesson #1 – Killer Stopped in 15 Seconds

The first of these Lessons Learned. The hero of the Greenwood Park Mall attack is a young man named Eli Dicken. When Eli realized what was happening, he reacted, and 15 seconds after the killer opened fire on innocent shoppers that scumbag was neutralized on the floor and then assumed room temperature.

For years, people have been saying that when seconds count, the police are minutes away. In Uvalde, Texas, they are an hour or so away. For quite some time we have been stating that only those present when an attack begins will have any hope of affecting the outcome.

We discussed this at length after four jihadis entered the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya and set to murdering scores of innocents. The police and military officers stood in the parking lot arguing over jurisdiction while people inside bled to death. 

In Uvalde, Texas, traitorous and cowardly police officers held back for at least 77 minutes. 376 law enforcement officers descended upon the elementary school in Texas and they could not do what one 22 year old with a handgun did.

It you are ever caught in a domestic or foreign inspired terrorist attack, only you and those with you will have any hope of affecting the outcome. The police will stage outside and argue about what to do while you and others are slaughtered. 

Seconds count and the cops are minutes or an hour away. Carry your gun. No one is coming, expect to self rescue.  

Lesson #2 – The Noise Stopped, but the Fight is Not Over.

I was present when Jay Gibson stated to a class at Tactical Response, “Just because the noise has stopped doesn’t mean the fight is over. There is still more to do.” That is sound advice.

Three people died in the Greenwood Park Mall and two were injured. Could any of the dead have been saved by the immediate application of traumatic medicine? We will likely never know. How many of the 21 dead in the Robb Elementary school laid on the floor and bled to death because the police were afraid to confront the shooter? We know at least one woman, a teacher, called her husband after she had been shot. She bled to death on the floor while police cowered outside. If she was able to make a phone call, she could have been saved by rapid trauma care if she could have gotten it. 

Going back to the Westgate Mall terror attack, one survivor described holding his wife’s hand as they hid from the jihadis. The wife had been injured in the initial attack and she bled to death as her husband watched helplessly.

Just as with lesson #1; carry your gun, no one is going to arrive in time to stop the killer. Similar thinking applies here. Only the people on the scene will be able to save the lives of traumatically injured victims. Get training and carry medical gear. A big med bag inside of your truck 100 yards away does you know good when people are bleeding to death at your feet.

We recommend the Pocket Life Saver. That kit has everything you need to address a life-threatening injury but it is compact enough to carry in a purse, waist pack or a big pocket. We teach a course called Beyond the BandAid, a traumatic medical course for citizens.

Lesson #3 – Will is More Important than Skill

The final lesson is as important as all of the others. It does not matter how much gear you possess or how much state-sponsors training you have undergone, the WILL to do the right thing is far more important than skill or gear. 

Juxtapose the attackers in Uvalde, Texas and Greenwood, Indiana, their M.O. was nearly identical. They targeted innocent people in what were supposed to be “Gun Free Zones”. The elementary school was a Gun Free Zone. The official policy of the mall was “No Guns Allowed”. Thankfully, a 22 year old young man ignored that policy. Had he not, we would have witnessed a replay where disarmed citizens were murdered indiscriminately while the police stand in the parking lot trying and figure out what to do.

A citizen with no police or military training armed with a single handgun did something that dozens of trained police officers who were holding rifles and wearing body armor failed to do. Eli Dicken had the WILL to do what needed to be done and he saved scores of innocent lives. The Uvalde PD did not have the will to do what needed to be done and 21 innocent people bled to death as a result. 

Consolidation – Lessons Learned

Bad people who want to do bad things will always get weapons and find a way to commit evil. Look at what happened in the Gun Free Zone that is the entire country of Japan. 

It is not cliche to say that “No One is Coming, Expect to Self Rescue”. Sure, agents of the state will arrive eventually.  They will stand around in their cool guy, tax-payer funded gear and have their pictures taken. However, they will not arrive in time to stop the slaughter. They will not arrive in time to stop the severely injured from bleeding to death. 

  • Lesson #1 Carry Your Gun, Everywhere.  Stop making excuses to not carry.
  • Lesson #2 Carry traumatic medical gear, everywhere. The life you save might be your own or someone that you love.
  • Lesson #3 Get training and instill the will to do what is right. 

https://fox59.com/greenwood-park-mall-shooting/true-american-hero-stopped-greenwood-park-mall-shooting-within-seconds/


Greenwood vs Uvalde: Lessons Learned [Juxxi]

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Paul G. Markel has worn many hats during his lifetime. He has been a U.S. Marine, Police Officer, Professional Bodyguard, and Small Arms and Tactics Instructor. Mr. Markel has been writing professionally for law enforcement and firearms periodicals for nearly twenty years with hundreds and hundreds of articles in print. Paul is a regular guest on nationally syndicated radio talk shows and subject matter expert in firearms training and use of force. Mr. Markel has been teaching safe and effective firearms handling to students young and old for decades and has worked actively with the 4-H Shooting Sports program. Paul holds numerous instructor certifications in multiple disciplines and a Bachelor’s degree in conflict resolution; nonetheless, he is and will remain a dedicated Student of the Gun.

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