It was National Rifle Association (NRA) CEO Wayne LaPierre who informed the nation that “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun” after the Newtown massacre, in the kind of simplistic, absolutist language so favored by his organization. The premise is that we are safer when Americans with few if any screening and/or training requirements own and carry loaded guns in public.
The NRA even catalogues instances of righteous “Armed Citizens” killing, injuring or just flat-out intimidating “bad guys” with their guns. But an actual review of these cases reveals that few are clear-cut examples of “good guys” overcoming “bad guys.” In many instances, the gunplay in question seems far from necessary and poses a direct threat to the safety of bystanders. In others, the protagonists turn out to be anything but “good guys.” Case in point is a recent “Armed Citizen” highlighted by Cam Edwards of NRA News.
Armed and Dangerous
The armed citizen in question is Marlo Ellis, a 37 year-old from the small town of Orville, Alabama (population: 198). At 12:45 p.m. on January 16, 2014 a 37 year-old man named Kevin McLaughlin walked into a dollar store in Orville and had words with those inside the store, including Ellis. McLaughlin then began waving a gun in the air and forced a cashier and Ellis, at gunpoint towards a break room. As they reached the door of the room, Ellis, a concealed handgun permit holder, pulled out a pistol and shot McLaughlin once in the chest, killing him. Other customers and delivery men were inside the store at the time of the incident. According to their testimony, “there was never any mention of a robbery or hold up or a demand for money.”
Circuit 4 District Attorney Michael Jackson said he doesn’t expect Marlo Ellis to face any charges in the incident, stating, “In Alabama you have the right to defend yourself or a third party so when the perpetrator went in there with a gun anybody in the store had the right to deadly force and that’s what happened so he actually was a Good Samaritan in this situation because other people could have been injured if he hadn’t taken action.”
That was enough for Edwards, who praised Ellis for acting in “defense of others” during his segment and sarcastically mused, “I wonder how many other media outlets will be reporting on this story?”
The truth about Marlo Ellis, however, is far darker.
Ellis is currently facing charges of rape in the second degree and enticing a child for immoral purposes, stemming from a 2013 investigation involving a girl between the ages of 12 and 16. “It all came about because the mother didn’t know the whereabouts of [her daughter], and it was more like she was looking for the child she was missing because she wasn’t home at the right time,” said Sgt. Mike Grantham with the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department. Court documents state that Ellis picked the victim up at a school basketball game and drove her to his house where they had sex. “[The victim] said there had been some inappropriate contact between [Ellis] and her,” said Sgt. Grantham. “We brought him in and of course, he denied every bit of it. We’re waiting on some forensics to come back. There are some articles of clothing that are going to be sent back.” Grantham also stated “there had been [past] allegations against Ellis similar to what he was charged with in this case.”
Ellis was out of jail on bond when he killed McLaughlin. District Attorney Jackson indicated the case is on the trial docket for February.
Additionally, court records show Ellis was sentenced in circuit court for another criminal offense in November 2010.
Open Questions
There is no indication, on the other hand, that Kevin McLaughlin had any criminal record. McLaughlin was a graduate of Troy University, a husband, and the father of a young son and daughter.
Why did McLaughlin enter the store that day waving and brandishing a gun? We don’t know. We do know that there is no reason to believe it was an armed robbery, and despite some hyperbolic commentary from others in the pro-gun movement, there is no evidence yet to suggest this was an attempted mass shooting. [The website bearingarms.com suggested McLaughlin came into the store “hunting for people to shoot.” Sources including The Blaze, Breitbart.com, and ConcealedNation.org claimed McLaughlin “threatened to kill everyone.” Gun Saves Lives described the incident as a “possible mass shooting.”] In fact, McLaughlin directed his attention specifically at Ellis and a female cashier will allowing other patrons to flee the store.
Did McLaughlin and Ellis know one another? It’s hard to believe two men of the same age in a town of 198 people did not. If so, what was McLaughlin’s grievance with Ellis? Could it have had anything to do with Ellis’ criminal past?
These are questions one would think District Attorney Jackson might want to answer before praising Ellis as a Good Samaritan. Furthermore, Jackson has made it clear that authorities have taken no action to revoke Ellis’ concealed handgun permit despite his past criminal history and recent indictment for rape. Their hands might very well be tied by Alabama’s extremely lax law concerning the issuance of concealed handgun permits, which was written by the NRA. In contrast, consider that under federal law it would be illegal to sell a gun to Ellis at this point because of his indictment for a crime punishable by more than a year in prison.
Who Will Protect Us from the “Good Guys”?
Folks like Wayne LaPierre and Cam Edwards and “More Guns, Less Crime” Author John Lott might think our country is better off when criminals under indictment for rape are allowed to own guns and carry them in public. Rational Americans might disagree, and ask, “If these are your ‘good guys,’ who are your ‘bad guys’?” Perhaps then-NRA President Karl T. Frederick had this quandary in mind when he told Congress in 1934, “I do not believe in the general promiscuous toting of guns. I think it should be sharply restricted and only under licenses.”
It also begs the question of how many other NRA “Armed Citizens” have criminal records and histories of violence, a topic which Media Matters recently explored. As Timothy Johnson of Media Matters pointed out, the NRA’s glorification of individuals like Marlo Ellis “demonstrates how the show must scrape the bottom of the barrel to find actual cases of self-defense with a gun for its audience.”