Armed bystander’s reaction in Ariz. shootings illustrates complexity of gun debate

TUCSON
— Joe Zamudio was out buying cigarettes Jan. 8 when he heard what sounded like fireworks but he quickly realized were gunshots. He reached into his coat pocket for the 9mm semiautomatic pistol he carried, clicking the safety off.

He heard yelling around him: “Shooter, shooter, get down!”

Zamudio saw a young man on the ground and an older man standing above him, waving a gun.

Zamudio, 24, had his finger on the trigger and seconds to decide. He lifted his finger from the trigger and ran toward the struggling men.

As he grabbed the older man’s wrist to wrestle the gun away, bystanders yelled that he had the wrong man — it was the man on the ground who they said had attacked them and U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. The gun the older man was holding had been wrestled away from the shooter. Police later identified 22-year-old Jared Loughner as the suspect.

“I could have very easily done the wrong thing and hurt a lot more people,” said Zamudio, who helped subdue the suspect.

The fact that Zamudio was carrying a gun, and his split-second decision to keep it in his pocket, has come to encapsulate the complexity of the national gun debate.

Gun-rights advocates say his quick action showed that a well-armed — and well-trained — person could protect himself and the public.

Gun-control advocates see Zamudio’s story as an example of how Arizona’s gun-friendly culture and lax gun laws have not only failed to make the streets safer but also have potentially endangered lives.

“They always say, ‘What if someone with a concealed weapon was there and could stop this?’ ” said Kristen Rand, legislative director for the Washington-based Violence Policy Center. “Well there was, and he almost shot the wrong person.”

As for Zamudio, he said he was glad he had his gun that day and knows he did the right thing, even if he was not able to stop the shooting.

“I wish I had stopped him sooner,” Zamudio said. “We’re all responsible to help.”

Even if Zamudio hadn’t been close by, there was a good chance that someone in the crowd would have been armed. About 40 percent of Arizona adults own guns, double the percentage in California.

At Black Weapons Armory, a family-owned gun shop in a Tucson mall, a small group of staff and customers already knew Zamudio’s name and gathered around racks of rifles to discuss the incident.

Phil Davis, a former Marine, nodded as the men around the counter talked about how they were glad they lived in a state where it is legal to carry a gun.

“Arizona has very common-sense gun laws that allow me to protect my family,” said Davis, 36, a technology worker, as his two sons fiddled with a rifle scope nearby.

Jeff Prather, a former Green Beret who runs a firearms school at the shop, marveled at Zamudio’s composure amid so much confusion. He said most casual gun owners would freeze or focus so tightly on the threat that they would barely notice anything else. “You think that people could perform like that if they didn’t have gun familiarity?” Prather, 53, asked. “That’s freedom, and Arizona is leading the way.”

In fact, Zamudio had no formal firearms training but years of target practice. His father, a prison guard and Vietnam veteran, taught him to shoot as a boy in the desert.

When his father died five years ago, he left Zamudio an antique revolver and a gun rule to live by: “Pray you never have to use it, but be prepared to use it if you have to.”

As Zamudio ran toward the shooter, he recognized the Glock 19 in the older man’s hand and noticed a key detail: It was in the process of being reloaded and not ready to use.

Zamudio said he realized that the same laws that allowed him to conceal his gun also allowed the Tucson shooter to get within feet of the victims. But he said more restrictive laws would not stop such determined criminals.

“They act like the government can control this,” he said. “It’s not about the government. It’s about people failing each other.”

Numbers

About 40% Arizona adults who own guns, double the percentage of California

60% Jump in one-day sales of handguns in Arizona on Jan. 10, two days after the shooting, compared with the corresponding Monday a year earlier