Father of Orlando Victim Wishes Son Had Been Armed

A common refrain from gun-rights activists following any kind of mass shooting is that if somebody else had been armed during the shooting, the shooter could have been stopped much earlier.

In the wake of the tragic mass shooting at a gay club in Orlando that killed 49 and wounded 53, one of the people coming forward to make this claim is Mark Allen Bando, whose son was one of the victims.

Calling into Sean Hannity’s radio show show Monday, Bando, who is a retired Detroit police officer said, “His mom talked to him on the phone that evening before he went to the club, so she knew he was going. When she woke up Sunday morning and heard there’d been a massacre there, she went over there — she hadn’t heard from him so she feared the worst — and just today they finally told us that he was one of the victims that was killed at the scene. He never even made it to the hospital.”

Bando went on to say that he wishes more Americans would arm themselves to protect against madmen like Omar Mateen, the Orlando shooter.

“There is a simpler solution, as Donald Trump has said many times, if you have somebody shooting back, the game’s over,” he said. “When the shooting started there wasn’t one person in there that wouldn’t have traded everything he owned in the world to have a loaded gun. But these people don’t realize it until they’re in a situation that’s far too late.”

Bando’s son, who lived in Orlando, had just turned 32 on June 1.

“He lived down there and I lived up here and I never got a chance to teach him how to handle firearms,” Bando said. “I think if we’d have lived in closer proximity, he would have become proficient. He probably would’ve gotten a [concealed pistol license] and carried a gun and that could’ve made a difference last night.” (For more from the author of “Father of Orlando Victim Wishes Son Had Been Armed” please click HERE)

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