Inside Oregon’s School Shooting: Good Samaritans Stand Against Evil
The October tragedy at Silver Rail Elementary School is a dark day for all Americans. But without the heroic actions of Kaylub Giamanco, the situation could have been dramatically worse.
The first 911 call came at 12:59 p.m.
Just moments before, the shooter, identified as 16-year-old Griffin John II, shot through locked doors, forcing entry onto the Silver Rail Elementary School campus with a Maverick 88 pump-action 12-gauge shotgun.
His mother, Shauntai May Nickerson, who was charged with fourth-degree assault in 2023 and a DUI, or driving under the influence, in 2018, bought the firearm.
John, once a special needs student himself, continued into the school where he opened fire into a special needs classroom. He killed three students, ages 5, 8, and 11, and 25-year-old teacher Megan Lambert. Her family would later say she was working her "dream job."
The Call to Action
While John breached the exterior of Silver Rail Elementary School, 36-year-old Kaylub Giamanco headed back to work from his lunch break.
As he passed the school, he heard gunshots. Giamanco pulled over, grabbed his legally owned 40-caliber pistol, and raced inside. He had two daughters who attended the school.
A teacher threw a cellphone at John and tackled him—attempting to wrestle the gun from his hands. Moments later, Giamanco fired several close-range shots and killed the shooter.
Together, they stopped the crazed lunatic from wreaking any more havoc.
Prepared and Vigilant
Giamanco never looked for violence, but it unfortunately found him.
In a 2018 Facebook post, Giamanco said he had gone through "military shooting drills" with veterans who fought in Iraq. Part of responsible gun ownership is being prepared to accurately and effectively use a firearm if needed.
This principle continues to stay true.
In August, 35-year-old Jordan Salinas pinned down 24-year-old gunman Chad William during a shooting at an In-N-Out restaurant in Idaho. Salinas spent years training with firearms to be prepared for any situation.
"There's a task that needs to be done, and we're the ones who need to do it," Salinas said.
What Americans Need to Know
The mainstream media and gun control advocacy groups have spent years assigning blame to the firearm and not the individual responsible for pulling the trigger.
When mass shootings hit the airwaves, the question of whether firearms are truly needed circles public discourse. What many Americans forget is the fact that bad actors will always find a way. A car, a gun, a bomb, a fork, or a knife can all be used for malicious actions.
Firearm ownership stands resolute as a line of defense for law-abiding Americans to fend off evil—no matter what form it takes. The good guy with a gun fighting the bad guy with a gun is more than a quip; it’s based on real data.
This is the data the anti-gun lobby ignores:
- FBI statistics show that lawful gun owners stop over 36 percent of all active shooter incidents. If "gun-free" zones are removed from the dataset, the number rises to over 52 percent.
- A 2019 FBI study showed that only seven percent of crimes committed with a firearm involved legally purchased guns. Half of all offenders had stolen the firearm, while 43 percent had purchased it from underground or black-market vendors.
- The FBI reports that most active threat events—including mass shootings—are over within five minutes. Yet, it takes law enforcement between five and 10 minutes (at best) to respond to a shooting. The situation is even more dire for rural schools that could be left stranded for over 20 minutes waiting for police response.
"Of course, law-abiding citizens stopping these attacks are not rare. What is rare is not citizens stopping these attacks—it's the national news covering it," said Crime Prevention Research Center President John Lott.
Why it Matters
The right to life is fundamental to American freedom—and so is the right to defend your life. Bad actors will always exist, but for this reason the American right to self-defense must continue to hold strong.
It's up to us to defend the Second Amendment, so the next generation can inherit a safe and prosperous republic.
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