Last Thursday, a 16-year-old gunman blasted his way into Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon with a shotgun and slaughtered three innocent children and a teacher.
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The death toll almost certainly would have been much higher had it not been for the heroic actions of Kaylub Giamanco. Giamanco, a tradesman whose children attend the school, happened to be passing by when he heard gunshots and saw the shooter enter the building. A concealed carry permit holder, Giamanco grabbed his weapon and pursued the shooter, subsequently killing him, neutralizing the threat, and saving only God knows how many other children’s lives.
The police got the call only after it was all over, validating the old cliché “When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.” Bend Police chief Mike Krantz praised Giamanco for his actions. Even Oregon governor Tina Kotek praised Giamanco as “heroic.” And that’s saying something, because the woke, left-wing lesbian Kotek is almost as anti-gun as a Democrat politician can get.
But she’s not the worst. That honor goes to New York governor Kathy Hochul. In Hochul’s New York, Kaylub Giamanco would be facing felony charges for saving those children’s lives.
In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen that New York’s restrictive and discretionary handgun law was unconstitutional and required the State to issue concealed carry permits. Hochul responded by calling the Democrat-controlled state Legislature into special session to defy the Supreme Court with her so-called “Concealed Carry Improvement Act,” which made it a felony to carry a gun — even with a permit — in “sensitive locations,” which encompassed perhaps 99 percent of the state.
The Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down some of the restrictions on possessing guns on private property, but a long and comprehensive list of prohibited locations remains — including schools.
Possessing a firearm on any school property (not just school buildings) is a felony for anyone other than a police officer or licensed security guard. There are no exceptions. The fact that children are being slaughtered is not an affirmative defense. The only option is to call the police — but as we saw in the Parkland, Florida and Uvalde, Texas school shootings, there is no guarantee that the police will act decisively and save lives. (One deputy who responded to the Parkland shooting decided to wait outside rather than engage the gunman…and file for his $100,000-plus retirement pension a few days later.)
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The sad truth is that in Hochul’s New York, if you (or any innocent children you wish to protect) encounter a mortal threat in any of the state’s numerous “sensitive locations,” you are either going to have to die or accept felony charges if you take action. That’s it. The state would rather have you die than allow anyone but the police to have total control.
That’s not hyperbole or exaggeration. In 2022, Hochul also signed legislation prohibiting the civilian purchase of body armor, which in and of itself is a purely defensive item. Yes, you read that right — in places where Hochul has prohibited defending yourself from criminal attack by carrying a firearm, you cannot passively protect yourself from being shot by a criminal by wearing body armor, either.
The reason why is sickening. The state wants the police to have the ability to kill you any time it deems necessary. If the criminals get to you first…well, that’s just too bad.
Kaylub Giamanco is the finest example of the type of man who built America. He didn’t wait around for somebody else to do something. He didn’t wait for some government official’s permission. He sized up the situation, made the right decision, acted decisively — and saved innocent lives.
But he’d be a felon in Hochul’s New York.
That should prompt thoughtful people to ask: Is Hochul’s New York more like America? Or more like the Soviet Union?
Image: Kathy Hochul. Credit: NYS Funeral Directors Association via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.
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