North Carolina Nursing Home Shooting

I just had a quick thought about the recent shooting at the North Carolina nursing home. While reading this article, I ran across this quote:

The injured included a police officer hailed as a hero for shooting the gunman before more people could be killed.

Did you get that? The gunman was stopped. How? By being shot... with a gun. The news always focuses on the shooter and how terrible his actions were--and that's alright--but they never mention with any kind of praise that it was the exact same tool that ended his rampage. It's like they're saying, "Look, this monstrous thing called a gun created all this death and destruction. It is a terrible instrument." But when it comes to mentioning how his reign of terror ended, it's almost a footnote.

At the end of the linked-to article was this parting statement:

Sunday's rampage happened just weeks after a man killed 10 people, including his mother and several other relatives, in the worst mass shooting in Alabama's history on March 10. On March 11, a teen killed 12 people at his former high school in Germany.

In the Alabama shooting spree, the shooter was brought down by himself, apparently after realizing that he was finished when the police began shooting back at him.

McLendon ... shot himself after engaging in a shootout with law enforcement officers.

The rampage in Germany also ended the same way:

A 17-year-old gunman dressed in black opened fire inside his former high school in southwestern Germany today killing 15 people, 11 of them women and girls, before turning the gun on himself, authorities said.

What do I take from these three articles? What lessons do they contain? Crazy people exist and will do insane things with guns. They will continue on their rampage until they are stopped by a gun. In all the cases above, NONE were stopped by their intended victims. NO ONE in any of the situations was armed and prepared to defend themselves and others around them. The shooting only stopped after the police showed up with their guns and either shot the bad guy or the bad guy decided to shoot himself with his own gun. To me, that's just a sad commentary on how dependent we've all become on the state for our protection.

So, I ask you. Do you want to be the guy or gall hiding in the corner when the shooting starts, hoping the next bullet doesn't find you? Or do you want to be the guy or gall that takes cover behind a desk, waiting to place a well-aimed round into the center of some crazy bastard's chest? All the while knowing you'll be going home to your family and friends because you defended yourself?