This article first appeared on AmmoLand.
The recent terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado, where twelve innocent people were injured, is a tragic reminder that evil does not wait and it rarely arrives with warning.
According to the FBI, the attacker, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, spent over a year preparing for this assault. He studied how to make Molotov cocktails and constructed a makeshift flamethrower. He then drove from Colorado Springs to Boulder with pre-meditation and clear intent: to injure or kill civilians attending a peaceful event organized in support of Israeli hostages. Law Enforcement and News outlets reported he shouted, โFree Palestineโ during the attack and admitted he wanted to โkill all Zionist people.โ
Clearly, the most chilling part of this tragedy is what didnโt happen: no one present was able to stop him. Not because they lack courage, but because they lacked the means.
Colorado is a state that allows concealed carry. So why wasnโt anyone armed that day? The answer goes far beyond laws on the books. The real reason lies in the subtle, systemic war being waged on the Second Amendment, a war not just of legislation, but of culture, perception, indoctrination of our young, and fear.
As a criminal defense attorney, Iโve spent years inside courtrooms, involved in countless use-of-force cases. Iโve seen firsthand how often legally armed citizens stop violent crimes and protect innocent lives most-times before law enforcement even has time to respond. As a certified NRA firearms instructor, Iโve personally trained hundreds of law-abiding Americans to prepare for exactly the kind of scenario that unfolded in Boulder.
I have often said gun control today isnโt merely about regulating who can own a firearm. Itโs about discouraging ownership altogether, itโs about one more form, one more fee, one more hoop to jump through. Through anti-gun messaging, direct instruction to our young in our schools, restrictive carry zones, bureaucratic red tape, and social stigmas, law-abiding citizens are being slowly but effectively disarmed, psychologically and practically.
We need to stop pretending the police can protect everyone at all times. 911 isnโt the answer and was never intended to be the answer for our personal protection. Law enforcement plays a critical role, but they cannot be everywhere. They respond to attacks; they do not prevent them in real time. In most cases, they arenโt even dispatched until long after the violence has already begun. In moments like the Boulder attack, the only people who can act immediately are those already on the scene.
Armed citizens are not extremists. They are responsible Americans who understand that their personal safety and the safety of their community cannot always be delegated to the state. When an individual is willing to commit mass violence with firebombs and flamethrowers, the only force capable of stopping them in the moment is an immediate, armed response.
Imagine if just one trained citizen had been carrying that day. The attacker could have been neutralized before the first Molotov cocktail was lit. Instead, a dozen people were injured, and the carnage could have been far worse.
The tragedy in Boulder is not just about one manโs hateful ideology. It is also about a society that left a peaceful crowd defenseless in the face of it. The right to keep and bear arms is not just constitutional, it is essential to our survival. If we continue down the path of demonizing gun ownership and discouraging responsible citizens from carrying, we are not making our communities safer. We are making them softer targets.
Itโs time to change course. We must restore a culture of self-reliance and personal responsibility. We must protect not just the legal right to bear arms, but the social legitimacy of doing so. Because when terror strikes, help is often minutes away when seconds decide who lives and who dies.
With the potential of millions of terrorists who have crossed our borders unimpeded in the past few years, this will not be the last terrorist attack we as Americans will face. Our Founding Fathers fought terrorism, and on December 17, 1791, they gave us the tools to do the same.
Honor their legacy, be prepared to protect each other. Always carry!