A mall shooting in El Paso, Texas, last week was simply just another case study for the effectiveness of laws that permit concealed carry of firearms, but also served to fly in the face of “news” networks like CNN that constantly malign them.
According to CNN, civilian Emanuel Duran, 32, used his legally obtained and licensed firearm to neutralize a violent teen who had begun firing an illegally obtained weapon at the Cielo Vista Mall.
According to the official El Paso police statement posted to Twitter, “As soon as the shooting ended, the 16-year-old suspect began to run and was pointing the gun towards the direction of bystanders…As the suspect ran towards Duran and bystanders, Duran drew his handgun and shot the suspect.”
Press Release: Investigation Continues on Shooting at Cielo Vista Mall pic.twitter.com/LvabE4IzMO
— EL PASO POLICE DEPT (@EPPOLICE) February 18, 2023
The CNN headline itself was a minor miracle — a testimony to the efficacy of a good guy with a gun in a bad situation:
“A legally armed civilian shot and wounded the suspected gunman in a fatal El Paso mall shooting, police say”
It had to have pained the CNN staffers who produced it, and the myriad of CNN employees and the network’s fans to see. Because it amounts to the network being forced to admit a victory for the Second Amendment — a situation where CNN de factor acknowledged that the right to bear arms turned out to be the factor that stopped a shooting in progress.
The shooting itself left one dead and three wounded while the suspect was arrested and remains in stable condition.
CNN stated that the 16-year-old suspect could not be named due to his status as a minor but was happy to list the name of the minor killed in the shooting, Angeles Zaragoza who was 17.
Police said the shooting suspect used a stolen weapon, according to CNN.
El Paso police believe the shooting was a result of an escalation that occurred during a “confrontation between two groups.”
The CNN article ended with statistics regarding “mass shootings” in the U.S. so far in 2023.
But what it failed to highlight, despite its headline, is the obvious correlation between mass shootings and illegally obtained firearms like the one that was involved in the El Paso incident.
CNN likes to fraudulently prop up its anti-2nd Amendment agenda with strawman arguments that would result in more stringent laws being passed against those who want to legally obtain a firearm.
But criminals are, by definition, men and women who break laws. The majority of gun-related crimes are committed with an illegally obtained weapon much like in El Paso, with only a small percentage of legally purchased firearms used by their legal owners in an illegal manner.
According to a 2019 U.S. Department of Justice report that included some 2016 prison statistics, an estimated 287,400 prisoners had possessed a firearm during an offense that resulted in their incarceration.
More than 56 percent of these prisoners reported obtaining the weapon they used in the crime through illegal means (theft, black market, found at the scene of the crime, or obtained “off the street”).
The report stated that around 25 percent had obtained the weapon used through a family member, friend, or “gift.”
Only 7 percent of the firearms used in the crimes were reported as having been obtained through a legally licensed firearm dealer.
The vast majority of “mass shootings” also occur in places like schools and malls which very often have “gun-free zone” signs prominently displayed.
According to a 2018 study by the Crime Prevention Research Center, over 96 percent of shootings between 1998 and 2015 occurred in “gun-free” zones.
It would appear that supporters of stricter gun laws have an ulterior motive in light of the overwhelming data available which demonstrates that criminal shootings perpetrated by American citizens with legally obtained firearms and carry permits are almost unheard of.
Passing more illegal infringements on the 2nd Amendment isn’t about reducing crime among a lowly seven percent of the population but about keeping millions of American citizens from the means of self-defense and throwing off tyranny as our Founding Fathers once did.
It would be too much to expect CNN to ever come out and report that, of course. For now, seeing the network acknowledge the legitimacy of the right to self-defense, even if it’s just one article, will have to do.