Open Carry did not delay Police Response in Colorado Shooting

Ammoland ^ | 10 November, 2015 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

The disarmists are claiming that the police did not respond to the shooter in Colorado Springs because the State has open carry rights, as do 45 states of the United States.  From R Bruce Magee, a commenter on kpbs.org:

This past weekend. a man was seen wandering a Colorado Springs neighborhood brandishing a heavy weapon. Recognizing the man as a neighbor, a woman called 911. The dispatcher told her the police couldn’t do anything about the man due to the state’s Open Carry Law. Within a few minutes of that phone call, the man had shot and killed three innocent people and was headed downtown.

Except that is *not* what happened.  Here is what the caller, Naomi Bettis said happened.  From gazette.com:

Naomi Bettis first called 911 when she saw her neighbor carrying a rifle and a gas can outside his house.

The gazette is a bit off on what happened as well.  After listening to Naomi Bettis’ call, it is clear that she saw something amiss, because a window was broken in the business below the apartment, and the suspect was carrying gas cans into the building, and was repeatedly going upstairs into the apartment and then back down into the business.  She had first noticed him and the suspicious activity 10 minutes earlier.

Link to  Naomi Bettis 911 call number 1

[marktwain]

The disarmists are falsely claiming that open carry delayed the police response to the Colorado Springs rampage shooting.

[arthurus]

A heavy weapon— the guy was carrying a howitzer? He was a big guy, no?

[ThunderSleeps]

Nope. In CS the average response time - even for a code 3 (lights & siren) call - is something like 8 to 10 minutes. As I understand it, this was over in less time than that.

I live in a more rural setting than a town like CS and our response time for a Sheriff's deputy may be 20 min. That's why I carry. My safety and the safety of those around me is my responsibility. That's why there's a loaded Glock on the desk in front of me as I type this. That's why it isn't unusual to see people open (and occasionally I spot concealed) carrying in the stores & businesses out this way. We have a very good Sheriff's dept here. But if push comes to shove, we really only need them to write the report and take the survivors into custody.

[Blue Collar Christian]

The alarmists have been relying on carpet bombing lies with the cooperation of the media since their inception.