Despite the loud cries of the gun control lobby to ban all firearms for everyone everywhere, the number of instances where a gunman was thwarted by another citizen with a gun has only increased.
Though the underlying reason behind the increase in random public shootings has yet to be identified or remedied, the fact remains that many of them could've been stopped or mitigated by a good guy with a gun.
And, one such incident occurred at the food court of a mall in Atlanta, Georgia, on Tuesday.
According to WAGA-TV, the alleged gunman was 34-year-old Jeremy Malone, who initially entered the food court of the Peachtree Center Mall around 2 p.m.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation believed that Malone initially got into an argument with another man over some unspecified grievance.
Then, at about 2:15 p.m., he reportedly shot that man and continued into the food court where he reportedly shot two other people.
Fortunately, this grim situation was halted before anyone else could get hurt thanks to the presence of an off-duty police Atlanta Zone 1 police officer.
The police officer, who, thankfully, had his gun on him, reacted quickly, shooting Malone and neutralizing the incident before it could turn into a bloodbath.
The officer's quick thinking was praised by Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, who said, the officer "was on the scene. He was focused. He kept his mind about him, and he was able to bring safety to all these people that were in that food court by stopping this individual who had already shot three people."
According to WAGA, the three people injured included a 47-year-old man from Grayson, a 69-year-old woman from East Point, and a 70-year-old woman from Atlanta.
While the victims should survive the incident, a couple of the victims were taken to Grady Hospital in critical condition.
One witness, Amina Sam, spoke to the outlet about the incident, saying,"They told us it was an active shooter. ... We watched two people get wheeled out. One was an elderly man that had a baby on his lap, going to the ambulance, and they told us the shooter was caught very recently. We saw [Malone] being put in handcuffs. It was insane. So many cops, so many guns."
WXIA-TV provided more information about Malone and his extensive criminal record.
The suspect in the downtown Atlanta shooting, 34-year-old Jeremy Malone, is a convicted felon with at least 11 arrests.
The suspect in the deadly Atlanta transit bus hijacking, 39-year-old Joseph Grier, is a convicted felon with at least 19 arrests.@GoodDayAtlanta pic.twitter.com/EAseH7FpEQ
— Buck Lanford (@BuckFOX5) June 12, 2024
Apparently, Malone was not only a convicted felon, but he has been arrested 11 different times and served prison time for armed robbery.
Indeed, the Atlanta Police Department Chief Darin Schierbaum said, "This is an individual who should never have been possessing a gun."
Four people shot.
One is the alleged original shooter and he was shot.
All involved are still alive.
AFRD are on the scene rendering aid alongside APD.
Avoid the area.
— Andre Dickens (@andreforatlanta) June 11, 2024
Clearly. Yet, he seemed to have little trouble procuring one.
That example alone, that Malone was convicted felon who wasn't legally allowed to own a gun, yet had one anyway, should expose the main flaw behind liberals' gun control advocacy.
Criminals don't care about the law: If they want a gun, they have plenty of means to obtain one through legally dubious channels.
Gun control laws and regulations only impact citizens who actually follow the law, preventing them from obtaining the means by which to defend themselves.
Likewise, this incident at the Peachtree Center Mall disproved another assertion of the gun control lobby.
Gun laws, no matter how stringent, are useless once a maniac open fires in a public place.
At that point, having a good guy with a gun in the vicinity, like the unnamed off-duty police officer, is the only way to stop an active shooting.
The people at the Peachtree Center Mall were extraordinarily lucky that that police officer was there.
Indeed, contrary to the "defund the police" narrative, many police officers are truly brave men and women who put their safety on the line to help innocent people.
And in doing so, they prevent unthinkable tragedies, like the one threatening to erupt at the Peachtree Center Mall.
