US gun lobby ironically hails man who shot dead Indiana mall shooter

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The gun lobby in the United States praised the "heroic" acts of the civilian that shot dead the Indiana mall shooter who killed three people and injured two others in the latest mass shooting in the country, trying to further pedal its pro-gun agenda amid a deep divide on the issue.

Jonathan Spariman, 20, opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle in a mall in Greenwood, Indiana, killing a 30-year-old man and a couple and injuring two more, including a 12-year-old girl. The shooting spree came to an end when 22-year-old Elisjsha Dicken, a customer carrying an unlicensed pistol, shot the assailant.

Greenwood Park Mall's parent company, Simon Property Group, just like many others like it, stipulates in its code of conduct that no weapons are allowed in its shopping centers, noting that exemptions to their code of conduct "will be determined by local center management."

Indiana has restrictions on who can possess a handgun, with it being illegal for people who have committed felonies and those under the age of 18 to own or carry one.

Dicken's handgun was unlicensed, but Indiana's new handgun law, which took effect July 1, lifted the permit requirement to carry, conceal, or transport a handgun in the state.

"Many more people would have died last night if not for a responsible, armed citizen that took action very quickly within the first two minutes of the shooting," Greenwood police chief James Ison told a press briefing.

The police found that the shooter had a second assault rifle, a pistol, and large amounts of ammunition, meaning the attack was premeditated. No motive has been concluded thus far.

The US gun lobby found solace in the tragedy that saw several people losing their lives, with the National Rifle Association (NRA), one of the most powerful gun advocacy groups in the United States, taking to Twitter to seize the opportunity to push forward its agenda that an armed public is good for public security.

"We will say it again: The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," the NRA said on Twitter.

We will say it again: The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.
➡️ https://t.co/grNyMOJU0g pic.twitter.com/MlwOwsbSdH

— NRA (@NRA) July 18, 2022

The NRA might not have realized that its advocacy of guns is what got the "bad guy with a gun" the gun he used to kill innocent civilians before requiring the "good guy with a gun" to take someone's life and then praising him for it.

Another group pushing against any restrictions on firearms ownership, the CCRKBA, followed suit.

"We carry guns to defend ourselves and others from criminals and crazy people in sudden emergencies," CCRKBA chief Alan Gottlieb said in a statement.

"Let me be clear: If more guns made us safer, America would be the safest country in the WORLD," Brady Campaign chief Kris Brown responded to the gun advocacy groups on Twitter. The Brady Campaign is a group calling for stricter gun-control laws.

Here's what we're not going to do: continue to uplift the NRA myth of a "good guy with a gun."

Let me be clear: If more guns made us safer, America would be the safest country in the WORLD.

We need sensible gun laws, not vigilante safety nets. #GreenwoodMall #GunReformNow

— Kris Brown | President, bradyunited.org (@KrisB_Brown) July 18, 2022

Moms Demand Action leader Shannon Watts shared a graph showing how the United States was the country with the most guns per capita but also the country with the most gun-related deaths per capita.

It’s the guns. pic.twitter.com/uvc4Mkr2as

— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) July 18, 2022

2017 data shows that the United States had nearly 400 million guns in circulation when the country's population stood at 325 million. This made for more than 120 guns for every 100 people, the Small Arms Survey project said.

Gun violence claims the most lives in the United States, with more than 24,000 people shot dead since the start of the year, including 13,000 by suicide, the Gun Violence Archives site showed.

The recent spike in tragic shootings has pushed guns to the forefront of a national debate as US leaders grapple with how to reduce the alarming rate of violence.

Two shootings in May that left 21 people dead, mostly young children, at an elementary school in Texas and 10 Black grocery patrons dead in upstate New York revived the US' bitter debate over gun regulation.

US President Joe Biden called on members of Congress to pass tougher laws just a day after a mass shooting in Tulsa, Oklahoma, over a week after a school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, and almost three weeks after a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York City.

The Democrat leader called on lawmakers to raise - at a minimum - the age at which assault weapons can be purchased from 18 to 21. He highlighted the "unconscionable" fact that the majority of Senate Republicans do not want any of these proposals to be debated or come up for a vote.

Other measures include bolstered background checks, a ban on high-capacity magazines, maintaining safe storage of firearms, and allowing for the liability of gun manufacturers for crimes committed using their products.

The US Senate recently passed a bill aimed at curbing the gun violence ravaging the United States, which has been particularly rampant over the past couple of months.

Other measures Biden is demanding include bolstered background checks, a ban on high-capacity magazines, maintaining safe storage of firearms, and allowing for the liability of gun manufacturers for crimes committed using their products.

However, despite the alarming rate of gun violence, the US supreme court ruled in late June that American citizens have the fundamental right to carry arms in public.

The ruling constituted a victory for the National Rifle Association (NRA), and it is the first by the Supreme Court in a major Second Amendment case in a decade.