By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
The tragedy of the deaths and wounding of students and faculty of Umpqua Community College was without doubt a terrible event. We first and foremost must center our prayers and attention towards the victims and their families who have endured suffering and pain that we hope to never experience ourselves.
But if anything can be praised it is the police, emergency crews, and community members who took upon the risks and the responsibility to protect the victims and provide at least a measure of comfort to the survivors and those who did not make it. One person in particular truly caught my attention and I am sure everyone else as well. He is Chris Mintz, who undoubtedly saved several lives but as a result became one of the shooting victims himself.
His actions are truly heroic as you may certainly agree.
Chris Mintz was attending class at Umpqua Community College when he heard shots ring out in an adjacent room. Instead of running for safety, the ten year military veteran went toward the scene, directing people away from the danger. He found and walked toward the shooter, trying to prevent him from entering another classroom by blocking the doorway. He attempted to calm the shooter by talking to him and trying to buy time and life for the other students. Mintz certainly knew the great risk of facing this armed attacker alone and it did not go well for him.
Chris was hit multiple times from gunfire and went down. As the gunman walked toward him, Chris told his assailant that today was his son’s birthday. Showing no mercy his assailant shot him again.
In all Chris was shot seven times trying to protect others. Authorities credit Chris with delaying the shooter and in doing so likely saved numerous lives. Though exact details of the events are still in flux with reporting information, it is clear Chris Mintz’ actions were heroic and lifesaving.
Police arrived six minutes after the active shooter dispatch went out. Every second in distraction of the shooter helped law enforcement arrive and be able to more quickly confront the gunman, who then committed suicide.
A hospital spokesperson stated that Chris suffered hits to his hands, arms, back, stomach and both legs were broken. Despite this he is expected to recover but he will need extensive rehabilitation.
I cannot stress how brave his actions were and how inspiring his story can be for many.
His cousin sponsored a GoFundMe petition to help defray the costs of his medical bills. Social media took hold and contributions from seventeen thousand donors rapidly poured in. Initially ten thousand dollars was requested in the fund drive, but in the first twenty two hours over half a million dollars poured in from grateful citizens. It is certainly enlightening.
I have to stress that Chris Metz was not the only victim and that others suffered as much or worse as lives were tragically lost. Other victims now have similar pages started but have not yet garnered such large donations. Those also deserve contributions as well. Since it is only the beginning of such things I will at a later time attempt to compile a list of other victims’ pages or sources where funds may be directed in their direction.
UPDATE:Officials announced the shooter committed suicide during the shout-out with police.
By Darren Smith
Sources:
CNN
Chris Mintz GoFundMe Page
Northwest Cable News
The views expressed in this posting are the author’s alone and not those of the blog, the host, or other weekend bloggers. As an open forum, weekend bloggers post independently without pre-approval or review. Content and any displays or art are solely their decision and responsibility.
I stand corrected.
DBQ is quite right.
Anonymous and PhillyT with great observations, so happy you guys, as well as Max and other intelligent guys comment here at RIL. It’s a nice contrast.
hsk, Interesting video. I saw a thought provoking bumper sticker in liberal Madison today. “I’m more afraid of being killed by a driver using a cell phone than by someone w/ a gun.” And, being an investigator, that fear of drivers using cell phones is prudent.
Karen and DBQ, Great comments and analysis. Using logic, reason, and facts, you have honored both this thread and this blog. We’re lucky to have intelligent and civil women like you folks.
Imagine, a honorary knighthood for Chris Mintz! Imagine, Christopher Lee Mintz, Knight of the British Empire! I hope to God I can never see a such a thing again. Rest in peace, nine people.
We lead the world in gun ownership but 111th in the world in the murder rate. Our worst cities that raise our murder rates, just so happen to have the strictest gun laws.
https://www.facebook.com/retainyourfreedom/videos/911303092238059/
John Oliver: Calling American Mental Healthcare A Clusterf*** ‘Is An Insult To Clusterf***s’
Posted: 10/05/2015 05:57 AM EDT | Edited: 5 hours ago
Whenever a shooting becomes national news, certain politicians will inevitably bring up mental healthcare.
But as John Oliver pointed out on Sunday’s episode of ‘Last Week Tonight’, this can be a dangerous and misleading mentality.
“The aftermath of a mass shooting might actually be the worst time to talk about mental health” he said. “The vast majority of mentally ill people are nonviolent and the vast majority of gun violence is committed by non-mentally ill people. In fact, mentally ill people are far likelier to be the victims of violence rather than the perpetrators.”
Oliver said that mental illness deserves to be part of the national conversation, though, because our mental healthcare system is need of major reforms.
“It is a clusterfu*k, except that’s an insult to clusterfu*ks,” he said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/john-oliver-mental-health_56124040e4b076812702757e
“It’s disgusting to hear ‘gun talk’ on a thread about another mass shooting.”
This means you are unable to discuss guns when it involves people shooting guns.
Hilarious. We can discuss gun CONTROL and all sorts of other issues sparked by this horrific event, but we should not talk about guns in particular or discuss the facts about guns in general.
What should we discuss instead? Mental health is a good topic. Why do we not have better treatment and preventative treatment for mentally ill people who decide to do these mass shootings? Or will that topic also cause the vapors and bring out the smelling salts?
“It’s disgusting to hear ‘gun talk’ on a thread about another mass shooting.”
This means you are unable to discuss guns when it involves people shooting guns.
See how irrational that is?
See why others might consider your view immaterial, given that your brain becomes disconnected from rational thought when intestinal thinking (disgust) overrides it?
“It would be more clearly described as disgust.”
Indeed, I used the word “visceral” for that very reason, meaning: an emotional level of thinking, literally gut-level (as opposed to cerebral).
Notably, only you have used the term ‘hysteria.
Drawing the conclusion that people meant ‘Hysteria’ is itself an emotional response, and a strong indicator of your inability to have a rational discussion.
The shooter was of mixed race.
The story about CNN altering his image in any way is 100% fabricated. CNN has not showed his image at all.
Nice try race-baiters.
Hysteria has nothing to do with it. It would be more clearly described as disgust. It’s disgusting to hear ‘gun talk’ on a thread about another mass shooting. It is akin to someone lovingly describing a knife in a thread about someone almost being killed in a stabbing. I do not know how someone can be so clueless.
True. Anyone writing legislation about firearms must have a working knowledge of them, or their proposed rules would make no sense.
One politician pushed loudly and frequently to limit clips to 10 bullets, having no idea that it would not affect magazine capacity.
Thanks Karen:
A factual discussion and answer to a question posed by another poster somehow has been characterized as a gleeful waxing by a gun nut. I guess some people are just too hysterical to discuss certain topics and need a fainting couch.
Guns are tools and it is important when discussing the proposed rules and regulations to understand what you are talking about. The confusion in the minds of many who are not familiar with guns or hunting between semi automatic and fully automatic is one of the main problems. It is like trying to discuss transportation when you don’t know the difference between a bike and a motorcycle.
Ignorance can be cured or it can be willfully continued.
Those who want to make laws about ANYTHING have the responsibility to understand WHAT they are making a law about and what the ramifications or lack of results of their laws will be.
It’s “aficionado”, not nut, or one could merely use “educated”. I did love the Tackleberry character from “Police Academy.”
For example, the military are quite informed about firearms, and can have lengthy and informed discussion on weapons. I do not consider them “gun nuts”; I consider them informed and invested.
I can also wax eloquent about tack and riding disciplines, because I am informed and invested in equestrian sports. It would be odd in the extreme to be engaging in a discussion about horses, and have my opinion dismissed because I was called a “horse nut” who knew too much about horses to be valuable to the conversation…about horses.
A rational discussion of the topic at hand does not dismiss contributors who are informed as “nuts” because they can discuss the subject knowledgeably and in detail. Any attempt to dismiss a discussion by dismissing anyone knowledgable about firearms as a nut is disingenuous.
DBQ:
“When you are discussing anything and proposing laws and restrictions it IS important to know -wtf- you are talking about.” This reminds me of an anti-2nd-Amendment politician who didn’t know the difference between a clip and a magazine, and a semi-automatic and an automatic. And yet he felt confident in writing legislation that would have regulated the very firearms he didn’t trouble himself to understand.
There is a difference between a gun owner and a gun nut. Those who get animated and gleefully jump at any chance to wax eloquently about guns at every opportunity falls into the latter group, IMO.
And may I add that being former military, this hero is more than likely a gun owner himself. God bless him for doing all he could to save others. I pray for his recovery. He must have felt very helpless not having his sidearm, but that didn’t stop him from bravely protecting others.
Just to put things into perspective, gangs kill more people in Chicago alone annually than mass shooters. Chicago has some of the strictest gun laws. As has been pointed out previously, criminals do not follow the law, by definition.
Another perspective is that I’m probably alive today because of a firearm. I’ve mentioned before how my father stopped a break in at night by chambering a round on the other side of the door. He received a sincere apology, too.
If a criminal breaks down the door of a young family’s house, at night, when he knows they’re home, one can assume he means them harm. Otherwise he’d break in during the day when they were gone. Who knows what he would have done to my family . . . to the kids. Because my dad was armed that night, this is just a story we all laugh about now, getting that heartfelt apology through the door.
I have also used a firearm to shoot at rattlesnakes in my backyard, which were striking at my dogs. My little boy plays in that backyard. Do you know how difficult it is to chop off the head of a 4 plus foot rattler with a blunt shovel? I have to chop off its head after it’s dead so the wildlife won’t get poisoned. And let me tell you, it’s quite difficult when the snake is that thick. A shovel is not a guillotine. It works fine for small snakes, but it takes me repeated whacks to get the head off a big one. I doubt it would just sit there and let me do it if it were alive, and my toes would be within striking distance of a snake that long. Years ago, I had a run in with a mountain lion, probably the same one that had attacked a horse at the place I was staying. I was able to go out and feed the horses, with fresh cougar tracks all around the house and corral every morning, confident in my safety because I had a rifle strapped to my back.
You can’t even live in many parts of Alaska without a firearm, unless you want to be bear poop or starve.
There are a lot of people alive and well today because of a firearm. It is disingenuous to focus on the use of this tool by criminals.
We need to stop this obsession with blaming the tool that the violently mentally ill use to kill people. If we actually want to cut down on the murder rate, rather than simply change the tool used, then we fix the broken mental healthcare system, and we break the gangs.
We also need to address this hedonistic obsession with “being famous” that has led to the escalation of these shootings. They all want to make a name for themselves.
DBQ:
You are completely right. Dealers require ID to purchase a firearm, private sales are required to take place through a registered dealer, and there is absolutely nothing to prevent Guy A from illegally selling his gun to Guy B. No ATF officer suddenly pops out of the gun like a magic genie to say, “Hey, stop! You need to sell this weapon through a dealer.” Felon gang members sell guns to each other all the time. The only deterrent is the fact that there will be charges added for anyone arrested for a crime that had an illegal weapon. But, as you’ve pointed out earlier, by definition, only law-abiding citizens follow the law.
Otherwise, those laws against murder would have made us an altruistic society overnight.