alton alexander nolen, 30, is a career criminal with a long rap sheet – the kind of “man” I would not hire in a million years.
But the Vaughan Foods processing plant of Moore, Oklahoma (just outside Oklahoma City) did hire him.
nolen converted to Islam and started trying to proselytize other people at the company.
He was fired on Thursday. We do not yet know whether his efforts to convert others to the Muslim religion was a reason (and, like the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, we may never know the truth about this for sure).
What we do know is that nolen came back to the plant with weapons – a knife and a gun.
The first person he saw was a 54 year old woman, possibly the receptionist. He killed her and beheaded her.
He then saw a second woman and attacked her.
There is little doubt that he would have continued attacking and killing people, except for one thing.
Mark Vaughan – the company\’s chief operating officer was there. And, as an Oklahoma reserve deputy, he carried a gun.
Vaughan shot nolen (unfortunately he\’s still alive), and ended the carnage.
My question: how glad do you think the other employees of this company were that Mr. Vaughan – or anyone, for that matter – was there with a legal gun?
And another question: How useful would Mark Vaughan been in Sandy Hook Elementary School? Or the Aurora, Colorado movie theater? Or at the parking lot where Gabrielle Giffords was making her speech? Or any other location where someone was able to shoot and kill multiple numbers of people because no one was able to stop him/her?
Gun control laws, however necessary they are, have no relevance for people who do not obey gun laws.
How can they be stopped? Often, the presence of a legal gun owner willing to use his/her weapon is the only answer.
That\’s something worth thinking about.
