We’ve long argued that the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. While there may be the odd exception here or there, history has shown this to be generally true.
That apparently played out recently in Maryland, where a good guy with a gun did exactly that.
Lloyd Muldrow, a concealed-carrying Marine Corps veteran, was the right man in the right place at the right time. Unfortunately, he was in the wrong city and the wrong state.
According to The Washington Times, Muldrow, a security specialist from North Carolina, faces up to a year in prison after stopping a man who allegedly pistol-whipped a bar patron.
Muldrow’s crime? He brought a gun within 100 feet of a public building in Baltimore — in Maryland, a state with one of the toughest gun control policies in the nation.
“Mr. Muldrow, 57, had just arrived at a July 4 gathering of family and friends at Tequila Sunset in Baltimore when another patron, Wesley Henderson, became upset after seeing his ex-girlfriend dancing with Marshall Cullens, according to the Baltimore state’s attorney charging document,” the Times reported.
“Mr. Henderson allegedly shoved Mr. Cullens and then brandished a handgun, striking him in the head. He also shouted threats like ‘I’ll kill everyone,’ Mr. Muldrow said.”
“When I got there, I saw him [Cullens] bleeding profusely from his head. It looked like he had a gunshot wound to his forehead,” Muldrow told the paper.
“He was bleeding so badly that I couldn’t do anything but react. I saw the guy with the pistol in his hand, and I hit the guy and knocked him down. We went to the ground, and I secured the pistol from him.”
In other words, the good guy with a gun didn’t even need his weapon.
However, that wasn’t the end.
When the police got there, the bad guy’s gun was missing–an apparently common occurrence in Baltimore–but they took issue with Muldrow’s lawfully-owned firearm. You see, Muldrow had a permit, but it’s a Virginia permit and Maryland doesn’t have reciprocity with them.
The police acknowledge that he did a good thing, yet he’s still facing charges because of something as silly as reciprocity.
A few years back, there was a strong push for national reciprocity and GOP control of the House, Senate, and White House. It was a prime time to pass something exactly like that. However, Republican leadership didn’t make it a priority, and the all-powerful “gun lobby” wasn’t able to push enough to see this passed.
As a result, Muldrow is facing jail time for, ultimately, doing the right thing.
Heaven forbid he actually had to shoot the guy. He’d have still been arrested, but would probably be looking at life or something.
This is why states like Maryland cannot be permitted to continue to infringe on people’s constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms. Baltimore is a rough place, one of the roughest in the nation, so it’s understandable that people would want to carry a firearm there, particularly if they’re traveling from out of state.
However, if they do so, they’re likely to be arrested and charged with a crime, even if the only reason the police know about it is because they acted as a good guy with a gun.
Next time some of the big names in the GOP start touting their pro-gun credentials, maybe ask them about why national reciprocity never passed. If it had, Muldrow wouldn’t have been arrested and wouldn’t be looking at a legal battle over his personal freedom.
