Another day, another mass shooting committed by a private citizen legally allowed to carry a concealed, loaded handgun in public.
This time it was 40-year-old Ian Stawicki, who entered a Seattle cafe on Wednesday and opened fire, killing four people. He then left Cafe Racer, killing another person during a carjacking before taking his own life.
The pro-gun reaction to this most recent slaughter by a concealed handgun permit holder? That's life.
As pro-gun advocate Dave Workman, a loyal foot soldier in the pro-gun publishing and lobbying empire of convicted felon Alan Gottlieb explained to local NPR affiliate KUOW:
"I don't know that there's anything you can do in these situations. We can't treat him like a child, he's got his own life to live and he can make his own mistakes no matter how horrific those mistakes turn out to be."
"Those mistakes" happen all too often. According to a running tally maintained by my organization, the Violence Policy Center, since May 2007, nearly 450 people have been killed in 334 non-self defense incidents by private citizens legally allowed to carry concealed handguns.
Not including this week's attack in Seattle, 20 of those incidents have been mass shootings of three victims or more, resulting in the deaths of 89 innocent victims.
Listed below, they run the gamut from family annihilators to workplace shooters, murder-suicides to attempted political assassination:
- In July 2011, in Texas, Tan Do, 35, opened fire at his son's 11th birthday party being held at the Forum Roller World in Grand Prairie, Texas, killing the boy's mother and four members of her family before taking his own life.
Because most states don't release detailed information on crimes committed by concealed handgun permit holders, the incidents listed above are from news reports. The actual number of lethal non-self defense incidents involving private citizens legally allowed to carry concealed handguns is most likely far, far higher.
And yet, according to concealed carry advocate Dave Workman, concealed handgun permit holder and mass shooter Ian Stawicki had "his own life to live."
What about his victims and their families?