Few mass shootings in the U.S. end like the deadly attack on an Oregon elementary school: with an armed civilian opening fire on the gunman.
asserted
civilian → end → gunman
President Donald Trump joined others Friday in praising a father of two girls who confronted a teenage gunman during the attack at Silver Rail Elementary School, which killed three students and a teacher.
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which → join → students
Kenda Freeman said her son, Kaylub Giamanco, intervened by firing his own weapon after the shooting began at his daughters’ school in the town of Bend.
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shooting → say → Bend
“It’s a terrible thing, but thank goodness for a man that had a gun and knew how to use it,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
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Trump → ’ → House
Giamanco, a 36-year-old carpenter who had a .40-caliber pistol legally stored in his vehicle, entered the school, heard shots and fired his gun after seeing a teacher fighting with the shooter, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said.
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Krantz → have → shooter
Cases like the Oregon intervention remain rare, according to the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center at Texas State University.
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Cases → remain → University
The ALERRT center tracked what it calls “active attack” incidents where the perpetrator used firearms, blades or vehicles from 2000 to 2025.
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perpetrator → track → 2025
Out of 634 cases studied, 374 ended before police arrived.
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police → study → cases
Among those, 29 ended when armed civilians shot the attacker.
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civilians → end → attacker
In another 31 incidents, civilians subdued the attacker by some other method, such as wrestling them to the ground or removing the weapon.
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civilians → subdue → weapon
“They recognize they may be the only way to stop it before law enforcement arrives,” said James Keith, a spokesperson for the center.
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Keith → recognize → center
The heroic “good guy with a gun” who can stop an attack even before law enforcement can arrive has long been a rallying cry by gun rights advocates, arguing that armed citizens can act as a first line of self-defense and public protection.
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citizens → stop → defense
In some cases, the person who intervenes has had law enforcement or military training.
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who → intervene → enforcement
Other times they are just people who reacted in a moment of chaos.
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who → react → chaos
In some states, lawmakers have sought to put armed citizens in position to head off an attack as soon as possible in some public spaces.
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lawmakers → seek → spaces
Texas created a school marshal program in 2013 to allow trained teachers and staff to carry concealed firearms on campus.
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teachers → create → campus
It expanded safety programs and requirements for armed security and personnel at schools after mass shootings at a high school near Houston in 2018, and at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde in 2022.
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It → expand → 2022
Texas has some of the least restrictive gun control laws in the country, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
uncertain
Texas → have → Violence
The group rates Oregon among the strongest.
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group → rat → strongest
Some prominent examples of armed citizens who confronted gunmen to help stop mass shootings:
Twin Falls, Idaho, In-N-Out
A gunman killed three people and wounded seven more at an In-N-Out Burger on Aug. 3.
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gunman → confront → Aug.
Law enforcement authorities said the gunman may have killed more if not for an off-duty officer who was a customer at the restaurant, and an armed civilian who exchanged fire with the gunman.
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who → say → gunman
Jordan Salinas said he didn’t hesitate to grab his gun and confront the gunman when he saw people fleeing the restaurant and heard gunfire.
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people → say → gunfire
Under return fire, the gunman retreated and ultimately killed himself.
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gunman → retreat → himself
“He did not like it when bullets started flying both ways,” Salinas told the Idaho Statesman.
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Salinas → like → Statesman
“There’s a task that needs to be done, and we’re the ones who need to do it.”
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who → ’ → it
White Settlement, Texas, church shooting
In December 2019, a man wearing a disguise and a trench coat pulled out a shotgun and killed two people during a Sunday service at West Freeway Church of Christ before he was killed by Jack Wilson, a 71-year-old firearms instructor who had also been a reserve sheriff’s deputy.
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who → wear → Wilson
Wilson stayed calm as worshippers scrambled for cover.
“The only clear shot I had was his head because I still had people in the pews that were not all the way down as low as they could.
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they → stay → pews
That was my one shot,” Wilson said in 2019.
Sutherland Springs, Texas, church shooting
A gunman killed 26 people at a small-town church in 2017.
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gunman → say → 2017
Stephen Willeford, a former National Rifle Association instructor who lived across the street, grabbed his rifle and ran in his bare feet to open fire at the attacker, wounding him.
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who → live → him
The gunman fled and Willeford flagged down a passing driver.
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Willeford → flee → driver
The two men chased after the gunman, who eventually killed himself.
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who → chase → himself
“I kept hearing the shots: pop, pop, pop” when the gunfire started at the church, Willeford said in 2017.
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Willeford → keep → 2017
“And I knew every one of those shots represented someone, that it was aimed at someone.”
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it → know → someone
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