The horrific beheading in Oklahoma is a huge news story that has shocked the nation.
Reports state that Alton Nolen, a recently fired worker who had been trying to get his co-workers to convert to Islam, returned to his former workplace at Vaughan foods and terrorized the employees.
Nolen is accused of beheading 54 year old Colleen Hufford and stabbing 43 year old Traci Johnson…
Until Nolen was shot by the company’s chief operating officer, Mark Vaughan.
According to Police Sergeant Jeremy Lewis, as reported in the Washington Times, “This was not going to stop if he [Vaughan] didn’t stop it. It could have gotten a lot worse.”
While there are many angles this story could take…from workplace violence to domestic terrorism to radical Islam…we’d like to focus on the words of Police Sergeant Lewis:
“This was not going to stop if he didn’t stop it. It could have gotten a lot worse.”
So while panicked workers frantically called 9-1-1 (click here to listen to the call) and desperately waited for good guys with guns and badges to show up, an armed employee bravely ended the ordeal by using his personal weapon to stop the attack.
We don’t know for sure, but we’re guessing Mark Vaughan brought his firearm to work EVERY day…not just the day Alton Nolen happened to attack.
We’re also guessing almost no one in the workplace knew Vaughan had a firearm in his possession…perhaps on his person…while everyone was going about their daily work.
This may have been going on for weeks, months or even years. And Mark Vaughan may have never needed his firearm in the workplace…until the day he did.
We also know that Mark Vaughan was a reserve sheriff’s deputy, so it’s safe to assume he’d received professional firearms training.
Yet the day he needed to use his firearm and his training, he wasn’t using a government issued weapon or operating under a government issued badge.
He was an everyday PRIVATE citizen, carrying his own PERSONAL firearm, under the authority of his CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED unalienable right to bear arms.
So he was a good guy with a lawful gun, but no badge, who was ready, willing and able to come to aid of his fellow citizens when the police couldn’t get there in time.
In other words, he’s a hero. And according to the guy with a badge, “This was not going to stop if he didn’t stop it. It could have gotten a lot worse.”
There’s nothing crazy about taking personal responsibility for being well-prepared for unexpected danger.
In fact, it’s crazy not to. The world needs more heroes, like Mark Vaughan.
Better to be prepared and not have need, than to have need and not be prepared…especially when the stakes are life and death.
Of course, simply having a gun doesn’t make you well-prepared. Preparedness, safety and skill at arms comes through professional training and regular practice of proper techniques.