While authorities praised Elisjsha Dicken, the 22-year-old who stopped a mass shooting in Indiana over the weekend, as a “good Samaritan,” gun control advocates are taking issue with that description.
The term, “Good Samaritan” came from a Bible passage of a man from Samaria who stopped on the side of the road to help a man who was injured and ignored.
— Justin Kollar (@kollarjustin) July 18, 2022
I cannot believe we live in a world where the term can equally apply to someone *killing* someone… my God. https://t.co/0a3sgzejzD
"Good Samaritan" is the worst possible way to identify another person who took a loaded firearm into a place of business that forbade it https://t.co/gZkCc8sROm
— ???I? (@Funntastic) July 18, 2022
Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts, in a now-deleted tweet, said the incident was not a “ringing endorsement” for the Second Amendment.
Imagine a hero saving countless lives breaking you mentally
— The Dank Knight ?? (@capeandcowell) July 18, 2022
Also, the 22 yo was legally carrying but that just hurts their narrative I guess pic.twitter.com/zVXDF2Oxn7
Greenwood Police Chief Jim Ison explained that law enforcement arrived quickly, but the “real hero of the day is the citizen that was lawfully carrying a firearm in that food court and was able to stop the shooter almost as soon as he began.”
Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers and a Greenwood Park Mall Representative also expressed gratitude for the "heroic actions of the Good Samaritan."
Though the mall was a gun-free zone, Dicken was carrying legally under the constitutional carry law.
When asked if shoppers could legally carry guns inside of Simon malls for any reason, a spokeswoman for Greenwood Park Mall referred to owner Simon Property Group's Shopper Code of Conduct, which simply states "no weapons." She did not elaborate.
If customers ignore those policies or signs in some states, they are violating the law and can be charged with a crime. That's not the case in Indiana; not exactly.
Greenwood Park Mall's no-weapons policy is akin to a "no shoes, no shirt, no service" sign you might see at a gas station, or a sign requiring masks in order to shop, said Guy Relford, an Indiana attorney and firearms instructor who is a prominent voice on the state's gun laws. Such signs are simply stating a business owner's policy.
If a customer does not adhere to the policy, a business owner can demand that the customer leaves. And if the customer ignores that demand, the customer is now trespassing, which is an Indiana crime.
But if no one asked Dicken to leave, then he wasn't trespassing.
"So the fact that (Greenwood Park Mall) had a no-gun policy creates no legal issue whatsoever for this gentleman," Relford said, "and it certainly has no effect whatsoever on his ability to use force to defend himself or to defend the other people in the mall." (IndyStar)
Four people, including the gunman, were killed in the shooting, and two were hospitalized, authorities said.
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