'Personal responsibility' to intervene in shooting, said bystander

I love the "official" response: Be a good witness and hunker down until the police arrive. Are they kidding. They'll arrive with chalk and cameras for the dead ones and paramedics for the lucky ones. If I have the means and opportunity to prevent harm to myself and others and don't take it, I am complicit in the crime.

I agree with the "If you carry you have a responsibility" to yourself and those around you if the law allows stand your ground....you better know your local laws real good. You also have to identify yourself as the good guy so you don't get shot! I carry my permits around my neck on a chain and just pull them out if I need to......It goes a long way.

If you draw a firearm to protect yourself or someone else, the best thing you can do is to be the first one to notify the authorities so that you initiate the narrative and not someone else.

In this situation, the bystanders should have called the police and said, "We stopped a shooting and are holding the suspects at gun point until you arrive." This shows that you are the good guys and are acting to end a shooting and all the police have to do is arrive and you will put down your firearm.

The alternative is to do nothing and let someone else call the police and say "There were shots fired and there are two people holding other people at gunpoint." This may lead the police to think you are the one that did the shooting and they may shoot you without any further investigation into the situation.

If you pull your gun to defend yourself and the person runs away, they may call the police and report you as some crazy person with a gun.

However, if you call and say, "I just used my gun to defend myself.", and the other person calls in saying you're a crazy person with a gun, the police already have a completely different side to the story to act on.