Leaving aside the tragedy of the two parishioners lost, the Texas incident provided “wins” for almost every group.
Starting big picture with government, Texas politicians felt pretty smart for having passed legislation allowing an armed defense that clearly averted worse tragedy here. Trump likes it because it is consistent with his view on guns, and is supported by his base. Republicans like it because they believe guns are good. Democrats like it because they believe guns are bad. Even Joe Biden, not our brightest thinker, remembers how he was “for shotguns” before the Beretta 1301, and a dedicated sub forum here, made them cool again.
Old shooters love it, because the good guy prevailed using a modified Weaver, showing how the Weaver is a “fighting stance,” and mind set trumps fancy shooting skills every time. They excuse Mr Wilson not having a proper caliber, .45, and a proper pistol, a 1911, but no doubt are setting up a Go Fund Me to solve the 1911 oversight.
Red dot shooters like it, because they know the shoot was at the limit of iron sights, and if it was just three pews further, a red dot would have been necessary to save the day. Does get them thinking about the proper distance for a red dot zero, and BUIS, given the piss poor reliability of optics — it would really suck to draw your gun to save the day and have no dot. No doubt, the Modern Samurai will cover all this in an upcoming class.
USPSA shooters love it, because even though the draw doesn’t matter much in USPSA, their skills shooting PCC and Open guns would have come in darn handy that day. Plus, that first shotgun blast was pretty close to the beep from a Pocket Pro II with a fresh battery. IDPA hasn’t been this excited since the Kenya intervention by an IDPA shooter there. The good guy, Mr Wilson, had a proper IDPA vest, and no doubt this scenario will be done as a stage at the next indoor IDPA Nationals. Even the hero had the right IDPA name — “Wilson.”
Technical Timmies are in heaven. Poor guy got himself killed because he didn’t have even a dark pin draw. A turbo draw from the hero might have gotten the bad guy with no good guy fatalities. If only there was an appendix holster on the security team, a draw from sitting would be cake (of course no sitting reholstering unless SCD equipped). There are probably a half dozen drills of the week possible from this event.
Ammo makers like it, because sales of .357 Sig will likely double, from the 2019 weekly average of 18 boxes of 20 cartridges, all the way to 36 boxes, at least for a few weeks. Sig USA is thrilled, because the last time anyone said anything positive about the P229 — well, it has been so long, not even Sig can remember. Also how nice for Sig to be in the news for their product dropping the bad guy instead of being dropped by the good guy, and then shooting the good guy.
Gun forum owners love it, because it has spawned pages of new discussion, keeping things active until the Glock 44 starts shipping and we can discuss what sights regulate and what rimfire ammo has the fewest misfires.
Evangelicals love it because it proves people still go to church, and church is important enough to shoot up. It probably helps male attendance, as guys that would go to the range on Sunday now kit up and head to church hoping to see the elephant. It also reinforces why the ladies need to look their best at church, since they can end up on national TV when least expected.
Mexico loves it, because it shows crazy stuff happens places other than Mexico. Not even a suggestion a wall would have prevented this event. Muslims appear to have dodged a bullet with this event. Even the FBI looks like they didn’t miss preventing this — unlike that darn last Texas thing or two.
So, as they say, success has many parents, and only failure is an orphan. I hope Mr Wilson drinks, because he won’t be buying a drink for the rest of his days on earth.
