IF ONLY SOMEONE AT THE BORDERLINE BAR HAD BEEN ARMED

Would the death toll at the Borderline Bar have been less if one of the patrons had been armed?

BarkGrowlBite
November 17, 2018

On November 7, the Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks, California, a country-western music dance hall, was packed with young adults during college night. The dancing and drinking was interrupted by Ian David Long who entered the bar with pistol in hand and went about methodically shooting dead 11 country-western music fans. I say methodically because nine of the eleven victims died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Some pro-gunners will say, if only one of the citizens had been armed, implying that an armed citizen could have stopped the gunman. Oh yeah! They had something far better than an armed citizen at that bar. Two cops, a LA County deputy and a CHP officer, were outside the bar when they heard gunfire. The rushed inside and had a shootout with Long.

Did the two brave cops stop g unman? No, but Long killed LA Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Helus, shooting him multiple times. The CHP officer managed to drag Helus outside so he could be rushed to a hospital. Long continued on his rampage until he decided to shoot himself.

Here’s another kicker. It has been reported that three off-duty LAPD officers were in the Borderline Bar during the shootings. The report did not say if any of them had their sidearm inside the bar.

Here you’ve got two cops intervening in the shooting, and in a shootout with the gunman, the only one who gets shot is one of the officers.

And as one police official said about another recent mass shooting, an armed citizen in a chaotic situation, like at the Aurora and Bataclan theaters or the Borderline Bar, is more likely to shoot himself or innocent bystanders than the gunman.

I have said several times on BGB that pro-gunners are full of shit when they claim an armed citizen could have stopped a shooter in a crowded theater or some other venue. That is not to say that an armed citizen could not stop a shooter, but that possibility is slim at best. A courageous unarmed citizen trying to disarm a shooter is more likely to stop him than an armed citizen … that is somewhat more likely.

There were five police officers in the Borderline Bar. Two were armed and exchanged gunfire with Long. The other three officers may or may not have been armed. I think the Borderline Bar shooting shows why pro-gunners are full of shit when they squawk, if only an armed citizen had been there.