The Man, the Gun, and the Ammo

"If he had the 33 rounds in his hand and threw them at us, no one would have gone to Urgent Care, much less the morgue."

By: Pat Maisch

If there can good fortune in atrocities, January 8, 2011, found us with some very good fortune. 

I am a very fortunate, physically uninjured survivor of that infamous mass shooting in Tuscon, AZ, that severely injured U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords. It has already been 12 years since that day. Seems like moments ago, or eons ago, depending.

That day is either right beside me, right behind me, or in my face. Life has a new normal for many since. Witnessing six people shot dead and 13 wounded on a sidewalk at Ina and Oracle on a beautiful morning changed me, as it should.

A split-second decision was necessary for me that morning — the decision to drop to the sidewalk hoping I would be missed by the young man with a Glock. And no, my life did not pass right before my eyes. My thoughts were if I would survive, or how painful would it be to have bullets in my body.

Nevertheless, here are the good fortunes of that atrocity.

First, I didn’t have to experience bullets in my body because the perp ran out of his first magazine of 33 bullets on the woman standing next to me. She survived with three bullet wounds — 33 rounds in less than 20 seconds, by the way, with a semi-automatic firearm.

Second, two good guys without guns tackled the perp while he was attempting to reload. Roger and Bill saved my life that morning. Roger Salzgaber was so angry at seeing his friend Gabe Zimmerman murdered, he picked himself off the sidewalk and chased after the perp. Bill Badger, even though he had just suffered a head wound (a graze thank goodness), also stood up and chased in behind Roger and tackled the perp.

Third, there were three physicians and a nurse in a nearby Safeway, rather than being out on the golf course on a beautiful Saturday morning. That’s really a miracle, if you believe in miracles. They ran towards the gunfire. Their bravery meant all the triage and life-saving first aid was done before the local first responders were allowed in to the scene.

Fourth, and probably the most important good fortune, is the perp was either too stupid or too poor to afford bullets other than the through-and-through full metal jacket ammo he used.

If he had used any other type of ammo, the body count that morning might have been 13 dead and six wounded, the wounded affected much more seriously than with his bullets. 

When people insist that “it is the man, not the gun,” I tell them it takes the man, the gun, and the ammo. If he had the 33 rounds in his hand and threw them at us, no one would have gone to Urgent Care, much less the morgue. It’s a very intimate relationship between the man, the gun, and the ammo. A very intimate and deadly relationship.

Gun image by MikeGunner from Pixabay; bullets image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay