BEND, Ore. — President Donald Trump joined a growing chorus of praise Friday for a father who intervened during a deadly shooting at an Oregon elementary school, renewing the national debate over the role of armed civilians in stopping mass attacks.
The shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend left three students and one teacher dead. The tragedy reached a turning point when Kaylub Giamanco, a 36-year-old carpenter and father of two, confronted the teenage gunman. According to Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz, Giamanco had a .40-caliber pistol legally stored in his vehicle. Upon hearing gunfire, he entered the school and opened fire after witnessing a teacher physically struggling with the attacker.
“It’s a terrible thing, but thank goodness for a man that had a gun and knew how to use it,” President Trump told reporters at the White House.
While the “good guy with a gun” narrative has long served as a central argument for gun rights advocates, such interventions remain statistically rare. Data from the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Center at Texas State University, which has tracked 634 active attack incidents between 2000 and 2025, shows that only 29 of those cases were ended when an armed civilian shot the attacker. In 31 other instances, civilians successfully subdued a gunman through physical force or disarmament.
“They recognize they may be the only way to stop it before law enforcement arrives,” said James Keith, an ALERRT spokesperson.
The role of the armed citizen varies significantly from case to case; some interveners are former law enforcement or military personnel, while others are civilians who act in the heat of a chaotic moment.
Previous instances of civilian intervention have often become landmarks in the legislative push for broader carry laws. In 2017, Stephen Willeford, a former NRA instructor, wounded a gunman at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, before pursuing him. Similarly, in 2019, Jack Wilson, a firearms instructor and reserve deputy, shot and killed a gunman during a Sunday service at a church in White Settlement, Texas. Most recently, an armed civilian and an off-duty officer engaged a gunman at an In-N-Out Burger in Twin Falls, Idaho, in August, an act authorities believe prevented a higher death toll.
The incident at Silver Rail Elementary has prompted renewed scrutiny of state policies regarding school safety. While Texas has implemented programs like school marshals to allow staff to carry firearms, Oregon maintains some of the most restrictive gun control laws in the country. As communities grapple with the aftermath of the Bend shooting, the debate over how best to protect public spaces—and whether that protection should come from law enforcement or ordinary citizens—continues to divide the nation.
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