Transcription
realized I had a perfect place to prop my arm. He was up. Everybody else in the restaurant was down. And then I realized that a few months earlier, I had made the stupidest decision of my life. I had begun leaving my gun out in my car because I did what most normal people would do. I wanted to be a law-abiding citizen. I didn't want to get caught with a gun and maybe lose my license to practice. I remember looking around and thinking, "Well, great. What do I do now? Throw a salt shaker at him?"
She said she had a clear shot, but the gun law made her leave her pistol in a car. Uh, she then told Congress exactly what happened to her parents.
>> In 1991, my parents and I went to have lunch at a local cafeteria with a friend of mine that was managing the cafeteria that day. We'd finished eating when all of a sudden this guy drove a pickup truck through the floor to ceiling window. It came crashing in and ended up maybe 15 ft from me. Of course, we thought it was an accident. and I rose up and began to go help the people that he had knocked over. But then we heard gunshots and my father and I immediately got down on the floor. We turned the table up in front of us. My mom got down behind us and the shooting continued. Now, at that time in '91, you know, we weren't seeing these mass shootings that we're seeing now. So, I was waiting for him to say something like, "All right, everybody put your wallets up on the table." Or or, you know, I thought maybe it was a hit. Maybe there was somebody important in there. But the shooting continued. I'm going to tell you it took a good 45 seconds, which is an eternity.
>> I can imagine
>> to realize that the guy was simply going to walk around, take aim, pull the trigger, go to the next person, take aim, pull the trigger. He was executing people. When I did realize that, I thought, I've got him. I've got this guy. I reached for my purse that was on the floor next to me. Realized I had a perfect place to prop my arm. He was up. Everybody else in the restaurant was down. And then I realized that a few months earlier, I had made the stupidest decision of my life. I had begun leaving my gun out in my car because I did what most normal people would do. I wanted to be a law-abiding citizen. I didn't want to get caught with a gun and maybe lose my license to practice. I remember looking around and thinking, "Well, great. What do I do now? Throw a salt shaker at him."
At that point, my dad took my attention and he started to raise up. He said, "I've got to do something. I've got to do something. He's going to kill everybody in here." And I tried to hold him down by the shirt collar. But when he saw what he thought was a chance, he went at the guy.
>> Okay.
>> You have to understand though, a man with a gun in a crowded room has complete control. My dad covered maybe half the distance and the guy just turned and shot him in the chest. My dad went down in the aisle, maybe seven or eight feet from me, and he was still alive and still conscious. But as dreadful as this may sound, I saw the wound and I basically rode him off at that point. The good news is that it made the gunman change directions slightly. Instead of coming directly toward me, he went off to my left. And at that point, somebody way at the back of the restaurant broke out another window. And I remember hearing that crash and thinking, "My god, here comes another one." But instead, I saw people getting out that way. So, I looked up over the top of the table when the gunman had his back to me. I stood up. I grabbed my mother by the shirt collar. I said, "Come on, come on. We got to run. We got to get out of here." And my feet grew wings. I made it out that back window, ran into my manager friend that was coming out a side door, and he said, "Thank God you're all right." And I said, "Yeah, but dad's been hit and it's really bad." And I turned to say something to my mother and realized that she hadn't followed me out.
Now, to wrap the story up,
>> okay,
>> the police officers, several of them were patients of mine, told me a few days later they filled in the gaps. They said that they were actually one building away in a conference. And in an odd twist of gun control fate, the hotel where they were having their conference, the manager there didn't want them to be wearing their guns and potentially offending any of her clients or customers. So she had asked them to leave their guns in their cars. So precious minutes were lost while they retrieved their guns from their locked cars. They said that when they got over there and worked their way in through the broken window behind the pickup truck, they didn't know who the gunman was. There were bodies everywhere. But they said they did see a woman out in the aisle on her knees cradling a mortally wounded man. They said they watched as some 30some year old man walked up to her. They said she looked up at him. He put a gun. She looked down at her husband and he pulled the trigger. That's how they knew who the gunman was. They said all they had to do was fire a shot into the ceiling and the guy immediately rabbited to a back bathroom al cove area. He exchanged a little gunfire with them and then put a bullet in his own head. 23 people were killed that day, including my parents. Didn't occur to me at the time, but mom wasn't going anywhere without dad. They had just had their 47th wedding anniversary. So, you may think that I was angry at the guy that did it, but the truth is that's like being mad at a rabid dog. You don't be mad at a rabid dog. You take it behind the barn and you, but you don't be mad at it. But I've got to tell you, I was mad as heck at my legislators because I honestly believe that they legislated me out of the right to protect myself and my family. And I would much rather be sitting in jail right now with a felony offense on my head and have my parents alive to know their grandchildren. With that, I thank you.
>> I'm not sure I've ever heard like firsthand testimony of someone who has a story as poignant as the one that we just encountered here. um to know that you have a firearm and you have no access to the firearm because I'm guessing that there's a sign on the door that said, you know, no firearms in this inside of this building even though we are inside of the United States of America, but I get it. It is private property. Um and they do not want firearms on her property. She is without a doubt the Democrat's worst nightmare. Understand this here. Um this is a woman, okay? Uh she is speaking a story. She is telling the story of something that has happened to her um that was completely out of her control and she had no ability to protect herself uh her parents. These are the stories that need to consistently be told here. Like imagine how many other people have stories similar to this here where they experienced some type of home breakin and they couldn't do anything or they were they were in fear uh because they didn't have any type of like doctrine that was set up to protect your house. Imagine how many times this has happened in life here. And honestly, it makes me feel bad for any any state that specifically pushes against the idea of even having the ability to defend yourself with some type of lethality, specifically if lethality is for the most part happening kind of around you here. Guys, share this story with as many people as you possibly can. Like, the more people hear her story, maybe they can also have the ability to understand that there are good people with guns. And I would personally say here, if you are a law-abiding citizen who went and purchased your gun in a very legal manner, you're probably one of the good guys. All right, but listen, you guys have an absolutely amazing day. Enjoy your day thoroughly. If you guys are new here, please like and subscribe. And in the meantime, guys, share this as far as you possibly can.
>> Keep calling your legislators. Keep marching, keep demonstrating, keep calling, keep writing, keep doing what you're doing.
>> And I am grateful for Representative May Quaid's willingness.
>> Fellow Democrats applauded May Quaid as she returned to her regular seat, but the bills face an uphill battle here.
>> Those could be bills that could come forward. I think probably uh based on the fact that they didn't earn the support to get out of committee, they probably would need some changes um to get out.
>> Late today, DFL Senator Ron Latz announced he'll try to force the background checks bill onto the Senate floor tomorrow as an amendment. The polling shows this is not a partisan issue at