By Dave Workman,
Contributing Editor
The confrontation between an armed school resource officer and a Maryland high school gunman that ended with the shooter’s death might easily underscore the long-standing contention by gun rights organizations that the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.
The shooting left two students wounded, but only the 17-year-old would-be killer is dead. He was identified as Austin Wyatt Rollins.
Rollins had only fired a couple of shots that hit the two students before he was chased down a hallway and confronted by Sheriff’s Deputy Blaine Gaskill. Each fired one shot before the incident ended, according to several published reports.
Maryland has some of the strictest gun laws in the United States. It is extremely difficult, and often impossible, for most adults to get a carry license. The teen gunman violated several existing laws by bringing a gun onto a school campus, carrying it illegally and opening fire on fellow students.
The incident unfolded just four days before a nationwide “March for Your Lives” event in the aftermath of February’s mass fatal shooting at a Florida High School. But in this case, the SRO quickly confronted the shooter and stopped the rampage. Broward County, FL, lawmen have taken lots of criticism since the Valentine’s Day shooting because they waited outside the school building.
The Maryland sheriff told reporters, “This is what we prepare for; this is what we pray we will never have to do.”
About 1,500 students attend the Maryland high school.
