Posted on 12/17/2012 5:26:10 PM PST by grandpa jones
On October 1, 1997 at Pearl High School in Pearl, MS, 16-year-old Luke Woodham killed two students and injured seven others. Before the shooting at began, Woodham stabbed his mother to death in their home as she was about to begin her morning jog. The shootings shocked the country. It was said many times, if this can happen in Pearl, it can happen anywhere. Unfortunately, over the years, this statement has proven to be true.
The shootings at Pearl High School was the first of the modern-day rash of school shootings.
But it could have been much worse. But for the actions of vice-principal Joel Myrick, and the grace of God, it would have been.
The moment Joel Myrick heard shots, he ran to his pickup truck, removed his Colt .45 from its case, removed ammo from another case, loaded his gun and went looking for the killer. He could have confronted Woodham much sooner, but for the fact that Federal law prohibits anyone but a police officer from having a gun in or near a school. "I've always kept a gun in the truck just in case something like this ever happened," said Myrick.
By the time he confronted the Woodham, 2 students were murdered, and 7 others were wounded. Woodham was trying to make his get-away to the nearby Middle School to continue the carnage. Woodham's lever-action 30-30 is an effective deer rifle. But it takes time to chamber each round, point, aim and fire. Precious time. Time that Joel Myrick could have used to stop the shootings, but for gun laws.
Myrick foiled Woodham's plan. He saw the killer fleeing and positioned himself. Woodham, seeing the gun pointed at his head, crashed the car. Myrick approached the killer and confronted him. "Here was this monster killing kids in my school, and the minute I put a gun to his head he was a kid again," Myrick said.
Myrick's actions stopped the shootings and saved lives. But the MSM doesn't talk much about him, do they? President Obama says it's time to have some gun control talk. Well, OK. Let's just remember to talk about Joel Myrick.
see also: Lubbock online; A Principal and his gun; Wikipedia.
Great post.
thanks!
Was that in Pearl, or Corinth?
One thing that the author omits that I would include is that because the law states that no firearm can be possessed within 1000 feet of school property that vice-principal had to park his truck down the street from the school. This further delayed his actions to stop the killing. It wasn’t simply going to his truck in the parking lot and getting his weapon. He had to run down the street.
Stupid laws cost lives.
Let’s not forget that the hero of this story put his liberty in jeopardy in his effort to save lives on this day. He could have been prosecuted in federal court for taking his fire arm on to school property. It seems unlikely that any prosecutor would indict a hero, but just think if Holder was Attorney General at the time.
bkmk
Calling Fox News, calling Fox News. Hello ? Anybody wanna remind TV-land America about this story ?
Fantastic post !
We need thousands of emails of this story to go to all members of Congress and all snews media outlets; newspaper, TV, radio.
Excellent article...thanks for posting
Gun Control Nazis are always looking for their Reichstag Fire moment. 2d Amendment supporters need to be more vigilant and aware of those, both liberal and GOP, who are wanting to take away our right to defend ourselves
These mass shootings are solely because we are too easy on the mentally ill. If Gun Control truly was effective, 87 kids in norway would still be alive today
Much the same is true in the case of Joel Myrick, says Lott. Out of 687 stories he found on the shootings in Pearl, just 19 made reference to Myrick.
Some of those that mentioned him left his gun out of the story. CBS's Dan Rather, for example, reported, "Myrick eventually subdued the gunman." How he "subdued" him Rather didn't say.
It is not that much of a sign of a healthy country when we seem to know little to nothing about heroes like Nick Meli and Joel Myrick but we completely focus on people like Adam Lanza who have succeeded in their murders. I have thought this for a while but I think that the no.1 issue for the Liberal media has to do with gun control, just like Hollywood’s no.1 issue is about Al Gore environmentalism. Whatever can push the issue to the forefront the media will heavily endorse it even possibly ahead of other Liberal issues. I was a Liberal, when I was a lot younger and not only didn’t I like gun control but I also hated the sensationalism of the media all about stuff like that.
It would make things a lot simpler without blaming the usual suspects for whatever happens anytime a mass shooting happens. Usually these people are cowards so even the sight of a gun could prevent something like the Sandy Hook massacre from happening again. I honestly didn’t care, back in my school days, whether a teacher was armed or not but at least give them the option.
Only armed citizens can save people when a crazed nut starts shooting. Unless he runs out of bullets or his gun jams, only a citizen with firearm can stop the madman.
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