Indiana Shooting Hero Treated Like Criminal by Media

BUCK: That shooting that was stopped in progress, at the mall in Indiana by Elisjsha Dicken, twenty-two years old.  The reports were that he was 40 yards away with a pistol.  And put eight of ten rounds on target.  Hit the masked shooter, who would have been somebody that likely killed dozens of people in this mall.  Elisjsha Dicken pulled out his sidearm, or his firearm, I should say, and hit him with eight out of ten rounds.  The word hero is the first thing for any normal person that comes to mind, for Elisjsha Dicken.

It’s just been fascinating to see how CNN, for example, writes about him.  And hats off, my friend Mike Cernovich on this one.  What we know about the armed bystander, who killed the shooter at an Indiana mall.  No, they don’t use the word hero.  There’s no sense of, oh, my gosh, what this guy did is amazing.  Keep in mind, folks, even if you’re the good guy in the situation, you know, you draw your pistol, you miss, and you might hit somebody.  And, you know, this is a tough situation.  You’re in a crowded place.  You’re in a mall.  You might hit somebody.  You have to deal with those consequences.  Even if you were to hit the shooter, you might hit somebody behind him.  That did not happen here.  You’re going up against somebody who has a rifle, Clay, at this range.  Guess what, the rifle will be a much more potent in close quarters combat, than the pistol would be.  He could have died, doing this heroic act.  Instead, he absolutely nailed it, and saved lives.  And CNN is like, “Yeah, I guess that’s a good thing.”

CLAY:  “Armed bystander.”  Buck, he took the guy out in 15 seconds.

BUCK:  Fifteen seconds!

CLAY:  Fifteen seconds, from the start of the shooting. Yes.  That’s what I’m saying.  Yeah.  He — think about — just think about the last time you were in a mall food court.  I’m not sure that I could react in 15 seconds, to one of my kids knocking over the Chick-fil-A.  Right?  And reacting to clean it up.  This guy is just there with his girlfriend.  He’s 22 of years old.  So far, as I’ve seen, Buck.  He’s never been in the military.  It’s not like he’s had Special Ops training or anything.  He’s the definition of a good guy with a gun.  Within 15 seconds of that shooter, and I will say, Buck, it seems to me, that there’s becoming less attention paid to mass shooters.  I have barely seen anything about this mass shooter, in terms of his background.  In terms of his story.  Fifteen seconds, he hits him 8 out of 10 times and ends the situation, in a food court.  It’s a remarkable story here.

BUCK:  My favorite of the worst of the sort of headlines from — to be fair, and we are always fair and honest here, Okay?  New York Times yesterday had “After the Indiana Mall Shooting, One Hero,” they used the H word, “But No Lasting Solution, “other than taking everyone’s guns away, of course.

CLAY:  That was on the front page of the New York Times yesterday.

BUCK:  Yes.  To be fair, that is the right way to approach at least the description of this individual.  He is a hero.  But I thought I thought, this was funny.  BBC, “Armed ‘Hero'” – in quotes — “Stopped Masked Shooter.  It’s like, I think you guys are safe, given the facts of the case, and the declaration, but you know, the hero in quotes, I think was a pretty funny one.

CLAY:  Well, they used to, if you remember, not use the phrase liar, or a lie in traditional media coverage.  I’m not talking about a column.  I’m talking about a story.  And then during during the Trump era, they were like, the lies were so overwhelming, that we had to start saying, in our traditional news coverage.  And so I think they’re probably still trying to hew to that.  The hero is probably a quote from the mayor or what the mayor I think spoke.  And also the chief of police in that community.  And called him a hero almost immediately.

BUCK:  But so, on the one hand, we have this story of heroism from this individual at a mass shooting.  Three people were killed in this shooting, but it would have been a much higher death toll, if he had not — if Elisjsha Dicken, had not stepped in.  So the — the biggest of high fives and praise for Elisjsha Dicken, on this one.