OPINION: A concealed carry permit just saved a young girl’s life

A man with a concealed carry permit holder may just have saved a Starbucks employee’s life.

There’s a bit of irony in that. Officially, Starbucks doesn’t allow guns. That’s their policy: they want every customer who comes in to their guns in the car or at home.

But if the man who protected one of their barista’s lives knew that, she might not have made it out alive.

With a story like this, I’ve got to ask: is this going to do it? Is this finally going to be enough to convince place likes Starbucks to change their policies on guns?

A hero with a concealed carry permit

This story is unbelievable. Earlier this morning, a 37-year-old man jumped over the counter and brutally attacked a young girl.

There was no reason for it. Before, the attacker had been across the street harassing people at 7-Eleven, and he only ended up in Starbucks because the people at 7-Eleven chased him out.

That poor girl didn’t do anything wrong. She got attacked just because some wire misfired inside this guy’s brain.

I don’t know what would have happened if a customer didn’t step in. The police say that this guy was beating her in the head with a metal object, and he probably wouldn’t have stopped if one brave man in late 60s hadn’t forced him to.

He didn’t shoot wildly. He distracted the attacker first and got him to stop hurting this poor girl. But the attacker started moving in on him – and that was when he fired his gun.

He fired it one time. One shot, right in the chest. Not enough to kill him – in fact, when the police came in, he was still so crazy that they had to use a Taser to get him to calm down – but just enough to keep him from hurting anyone.

That’s a hero.

Concealed carry holders save lives

This story’s still new, so the details might change, but if it really is as black-and-white as it seems to be, I want to know: is this going to change the way Starbucks thinks about guns?

Starbucks asked customers not to bring guns into their stores in 2013. Their CEO, Howard Schultz, said:

“I don’t think most people expect to see someone walk into a Starbucks with a gun, let alone understand that it’s legal to do so in most states… We’re not anti- or pro-gun, but we don’t believe guns should be part of the Starbucks experience.”

Apparently, people were using Starbucks to stage political demonstrations. Some groups were holding “Starbucks Appreciation Days” where they were showing up at the coffee shop with their guns openly on display – and Starbucks, understandably, was getting sick of it.

I get that reasoning. I get that it’s annoying to have people turn your coffee shop into a political battleground.

But when I hear a story about this, I can’t help thinking about this from another point-of-view.

My niece is a barista at Starbucks. I couldn’t imagine what I’d be going through right now if this story had been about her. The waves of horror and anger that’d go through me, first – and then that intense gratitude I would feel toward the man who saved her life.

Because this man is a hero, no question. If he didn’t save that girl’s life, he at least kept things from getting a lot worse. And he couldn’t have done then if he wasn’t a concealed carry holder.

Dangerous people are dangerous anywhere they go. It doesn’t matter if you put up a sign that says, “No guns, please”. That’s not going to keep a guy like this from attacking an innocent girl.

But a brave person with a concealed carry permit will.

More to the story

My co-host Debbie Dujanovic and I talked about this on the air. If you missed Dave & Dujanovic, you can still hear it on our podcast:

Dave & Dujanovic can be heard weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon on KSL Newsradio. Users can find the show on the KSL Newsradio website and app, as well as Apple Podcasts and Google Play.