The Man Who Brought A Gun To A Movie Theater And Accidentally Shot A Woman Said He Was Afraid Of Mass Shootings

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“The only way to stop a bad guy is with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” If we’ve heard the pro-gun rhetoric once, we’ve heard it a thousand times. Okay, then. Question: So how do you stop a good guy with a gun, who popped a Xanax and threw back 22 ounces of beer, then headed out to his local cineplex to catch a movie? Unfortunately, there’s no cute catchphrase for that one, and as a result, one woman was shot in the back during a showing of 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi at a Seattle Regal Cinemas last week.

We now have some additional insight into the story, and the owner of the gun has now been identified as 29-year-old Dane Gallion, who later told police that he had brought the gun — which he had kept unholstered and tucked into the waistband of his pants — along with him because he feared mass shootings. After the gun went off, Gallion quickly got up and exited the theater, dropping the clip in a trash can on his way out. He then returned home where he confessed to his father what he had done, telling him that the gun had accidentally fallen out of his pants and gone off.

However, once it became apparent that he was in serious trouble, Gallion changed his story for police:

Dane Gallion later told the arresting officer that another moviegoer reached for his crotch and that’s when he accidentally fired the gun, according to the probable-cause statement. Gallion said he fled the theater immediately because he didn’t want to be taken for a mass shooter.

The 40-year-old woman Gallion shot is in stable condition, and he’s very lucky that no one was seriously injured or killed. While Gallion did have a permit to carry, Regal Cinemas has a prohibition against firearms and, as a result, he is facing third-degree assault charges and being held on $25,000 bail.

(Seattle Times via Washington Post)

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