In the aftermath of the May 11 shooting incident in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the gun prohibition lobby would have America believe that intervention by armed private citizens in such cases is rare.
That it happened at all in Massachusetts—a state known for restrictive gun control laws—is far rarer, while elsewhere around the country, according to the Crime Prevention Research Center, “defensive gun uses are 5.06 times more (likely) than firearms used in crime.”
And it happened just three weeks prior to an upcoming first-of-its-kind Firearms Advocacy Conference, scheduled for Saturday, May 30, at Castle of Knights, 1599 Memorial Dr., Chicopee, Mass. More about this in a moment.
The accused gunman, identified as Tyler Brown, 46, of Boston, was brought down by shots fired by a Massachusetts state trooper and an armed private citizen. (Media reports insisted on describing the armed citizen as a “civilian” to apparently provide some distinction between the Marine Corps veteran and law enforcement officers who also responded. Reporters have routinely overlooked the fact that American civilian law enforcement is not a branch of the military.)
Brown’s violent criminal past is now widely known, and his rampage has brought up some interesting questions, so far raised only by Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. In a statement reacting to the shooting—and hailing the heroic actions of the legally armed veteran—Gottlieb observed:
“We’re appalled this guy was even on the street, in possession of a firearm he should not have had, and some reports say he was on parole and supposedly under the supervision of Massachusetts authorities. It might be a good time for those authorities to examine their supervision program.”
As noted by the CCRKBA, the suspect was armed with an “assault-style rifle” in a state with some of the toughest gun control laws in the country. Gottlieb called this another example of restrictive gun laws “failing miserably to live up to their advertising.”
Likewise, Jim Wallace, executive director of the Massachusetts Gun Owners Action League (GOAL), posted on that group’s website, “This terrorist like attack was completely preventable. The attacker should have still been in prison. People would say that the system is broken, but I won’t say that any longer because this IS the system! We have all three branches of the Commonwealth’s government that pander to criminals, but look to punish average citizens in every way. This crime, and countless more like it, are the direct results of catastrophic policies by our government officials and somehow we have to hold them accountable.”
The suspect was sentenced to six years in prison back in 2021 for shooting at a Boston police officer. He was, as noted above, under supervision, yet there he was firing between 50 and 60 rounds at passing motorists on a Cambridge street.
By remarkable coincidence, on May 30, the first-ever Firearms Advocacy Conference, will convene for a Saturday event in Chicopee, Mass., with representatives from gun rights organizations throughout New England. They include GOAL, the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, Gun Owners of Maine, New Hampshire Firearms Coalition, Rhode Island 2nd Amendment Coalition, the Civil Rights Coalition, and Vermont Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs. The Second Amendment Foundation and National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action will also be represented, as will CCRKBA. It should not be hard to imagine one of the topics of discussion.
Speaking of CCRKBA, Chairman Gottlieb referred to ongoing efforts by Massachusetts lawmakers—primarily Democrats—to make gun ownership in the Bay State as difficult as possible. He pointed to this irony: “Apparently they’re determined to accomplish what British troops couldn’t 250 years ago, right there in Massachusetts, where the revolution started over efforts to seize firearms. It didn’t work then, and it should not be tolerated now.”
When the suspect in Monday’s rampage was confronted by the trooper and armed citizen, they both shot him several times, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan. According to WCVB News, the mayhem erupted just after 1 p.m. At least two men were seriously wounded before the gunman was brought down.
The Gun Mag.com referred to several previous incidents in which armed citizen intervention stopped tragedies. Included in the roundup were these events:
- In July 2022, then-22-year-old Elisjsha Dicken drew his pistol after a gunman opened fire at the Greenwood Park Mall in Greenwood, Indiana. Two people were fatally wounded before Dicken, firing across the food court, struck the shooter several times, killing him.
- Also in 2022, in Charleston, W. Va., an armed female bystander fatally shot a man identified as Dennis Butler, with a lengthy criminal history, who had opened fire on people attending a birthday party.
- In December 2019, an armed volunteer security team member, Jack Wilson, fatally shot a man who had opened fire during services at the West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas. Two people were killed before Wilson, firing across the distance of the sanctuary, fatally shot the gunman. It was all captured on video because the service was being streamed live.
- In July 2018, an armed citizen fatally shot a carjacker in the parking lot of a Walmart in Tumwater, Washington. The gunman had been involved in at least five carjackings across three locations leading up to the fatal confrontation.
There are more, as Ammoland News found with just a cursory search.
In August 2018, only months after the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, an armed citizen shot a gunman who opened fire at an back-to-school cookout in Titusville, Fla.
An armed citizen fatally shot a gunman in downtown Seattle in May 2025 after the thug shot two people in the Pioneer Square area.
In El Paso, Texas in February 2023, an armed citizen shot a gunman at the Cielo Vista Mall killed one person and wounded three others.
Back in January 2017, a wounded Arizona state trooper was saved by a passing armed motorist who shot and killed the person who had shot the lawman. This occurred on Interstate 10 about 40 miles west of Phoenix.
While anti-gunners claim intervention by armed citizens “is a myth” or “never happens,” the facts prove otherwise.
In all of these armed citizen interventions, there is one common thread the media never discusses. It’s the silence from the gun prohibition lobby, a quiet that is almost deafening.
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About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
The Heritage Foundation maintains a web page on which you may find Defensive Gun Uses in the U.S. Each entry has links to media reports which verify the incidents. You can search by geography and by date ranges.