Tulsa, OK–With the national attention fixed on the Chinese Virus and whether or not our gun stores are going to be open, the national media largely skipped over a story out of Tulsa last week.
Police report that Ashley Porter, 34, was shot and killed by an armed concealed carry holder after she pulled out a gun and started shooting at a small crowd of people. The events occurred around 6:30pm on Friday evening, near a medical marijuana dispensary in the 5300 Block of North Peoria Avenue.
According to witnesses, Ashley Porter drove up to the location and tired to park her car. Several people were gathered outside the business. One of them, the owner of the dispensary, was talking to a man in a pickup truck.
Tulsa police Lt. Brandon Watkins that what set off the woman was related to her parking spot. When it came time to leave, the woman noticed the parked pickup truck and people talking together. “It made her angry that the pickup truck was blocking her access,” Watkins said.
The man visiting with the owner was blocking a lane of traffic in the parking lot. But Lt. Watkins said that there was still plenty of room to get around the truck and maneuver in the parking lot.
Ashley Porter didn’t get out of the car, and nobody walked up to her car, but she did ‘exchange words’ with the folks standing and visiting. Presumably, when she drove away, everybody breathed a sigh of relief and forgot about her.
She Came Back–And Things Took a Turn For The Worst
But Porter returned about three minutes later, and this time she was on a mission. According to witnesses, she pulled a gun out and opened fire on the people gathered in front of the dispensary. She was targeting the dispensary owner and the man in the pickup truck that had blocked her path in the parking lot.
Another man who had been standing nearby saw what was happening and took action. He pulled out his concealed handgun and shot at Ashley Porter before she could kill anybody. The man struck and killed Porter and she died on the scene. There were no other fatalities.
The man hasn’t been identified, but Tulsa police reported that he had been interviewed and then released. He will not face charges, as he acted in self-defense. Police reported that he owned his gun legally and had his concealed carry permit.
“Toxic Masculinity” Saves the Day Again
Why didn’t this story get headlines? Because nobody wants to hear how a good guy with a gun stopped a dangerous, violent woman. That just doesn’t fit the narrative that today’s shrill, “toxic masculinity is dangerous” media culture is looking for. Women have to be seen as defenseless victims of gun violence, never the perpetrators of violent crimes! And men with guns have to be brainless thugs, of course.
But we all know that’s far from the truth.
You Never Know When People Will Snap
Maybe in her normal mind, Ashley Porter could have been a decent person. But the second that she decided to drive back to that dispensary and pull a gun, she was a deadly threat to the people standing there.
In trying times, more people than ever are near a breaking point. And criminals, who have already broken with society’s laws, know that the police aren’t going to come stop them unless it’s ‘really bad’.
Carry every day. Make your wives and families carry if they’re willing to learn how.
There’s more than one threat to the Covid-19 crisis, and it includes desperate people and dangerous criminals looking for victims. Don’t be one of them.