The harrowing incident that played out in an Omaha, Nebraska Walmart on April 14, 2026 before 10 o’clock in the morning was eerily similar to one that occurred less than two years ago in North Olmsted, Ohio. In both cases the victims were three-year-old children.
Also in both cases, the attackers were mentally unstable women who had been arrested previously and determined to be dangerous and unstable, but released back into the public regardless. Both female monsters stole large kitchen knives to use as weapons (no background check or waiting period). After the Ohio incident, we (SOTG) made a desperate appeal to parents to arm themselves to be prepared to defend their children at a moment’s notice. We put forth the question as to whether or not you would have the skill/ability and confidence to make a lifesaving shot if given only a few seconds to do so.
Fortunately for the mother and child in Omaha, the child will live and the attacker is dead. The image taken from the Omaha Police Department bodycam showed the critical second where an officer had to make a life saving shot to prevent a monster from murdering a child. The prima facie lesson from both of these incidents would seem to be that responsible citizens need to be armed at all times. However, as a person engaged in martial firearms training, another lesson was glaringly obvious, yet it seems to be largely overlooked.
Lesson: Downrange Training is Critical
Thanks to everyone on planet Earth now having a camera on their phone and the desire to be an internet star, during the last several years we’ve seen videos of both good and bad firearms training and been treated to thousands of comments in regards to what we thought we saw.
One of the most famous and oldest controversies occurred circa 2009 when a video surfaced of my friend Jay “Nightmare” Gibson crouched down ahead of the firing line taking what are lovingly referred to as “hero shots” with his 35mm DSLR camera. The internet melted down and self-appointed training experts wet their panties nationwide. Interestingly, none of the aforementioned persons ever seemed to have a problem with photographers being downrange during the various industry sponsored gun games. It was going on then and continues to happen.
From a personal aspect, I’ve had my picture taken by Jay under similar circumstances and can tell you my front sight focus and trigger press were rarely more perfect than at that time. Whether the person ahead of the muzzle is a photographer, an instructor or another student, it’s always incumbent upon the person holding the gun to point the muzzle in a safe direction and not press the trigger until assured of their target.
If we adhere to Col. Cooper’s four universal firearms safety rules, Rule 4 is know your target and what’s beyond it. Then we have, “Never allow the muzzle to cover anything you wouldn’t be willing to destroy.”
When I teach classes, there are times when I need to step in front of the students, ahead of the imaginary line on the ground and address them. Our students are asked, “Whose responsibility is it to make sure that you don’t point a gun at something or someone that shouldn’t have a gun pointed at it?” The correct response is that it is the responsibility of the person holding the gun.
The True Purpose of Martial Training
We find it strange and completely disingenuous when folks claim that their training course supposedly teaches students how to perform under life and death circumstances, but then teaches “administrative” techniques and creates imaginary lines on the ground to somehow denote that the area behind the line is “safe” but the area in front of the line is “dangerous.”
The true purpose of martial firearms training is to create scenarios that move from the simple to the complex and force the student to think with a gun in their hands. We refer to this as ballistic problem solving and students practice making the correct choices while simultaneously holding a loaded firearm.
When it comes to which direction to point their gun, whether up, or down, or at a threat/target, students are challenged to think and make the correct decision based upon the circumstances of that moment. Regardless of how wonderful and wise your favorite instructor might be, the chances of them standing next to you when you are required to save a life with your concealed handgun are slim. It is you who must make the correct decision and act when seconds matter.
Another question to students goes something like this, “When you walk out of the doors of the grocery store and are crossing the parking lot, where is downrange?” You might alter that to, “When you are eating dinner in a public restaurant with your wife, where is downrange?”
When a psychopath is about to stab a 3-year-old child to death, where is downrange? Thankfully to all involved, a member of the Omaha Police Department had the skill/ability and confidence in himself to take a lifesaving shot when the innocent victim was downrange.
Yeah, but that guy was a cop and cops have better training. First, they might have better training than you, but that’s a personal problem. Secondly, if your default is that cops are better prepared for situations such as the Omaha incident, what happens when a cop isn’t there? If you’re carrying a firearm for self-protection, but don’t think you could have taken the shot to save the life of that child, that’s a problem.
If you would never engage in training where another person was in front of some imaginary line, you are not engaging in training that prepares you to deal with the real world. If you are carrying a concealed firearm and are forced to use it to save a life, do you believe that the only thing “downrange” is going to be the boogeyman? History would say otherwise.
There have been numerous court cases and decisions that have stated that police officers must be trained in areas and under circumstances in which they are expected to operate. Failure to properly train officers has been found to be grossly negligent. This is why officers must engage in “Shoot/Don’t Shoot” scenario training, low-light training, and various Use of Force training.
Confidence Can’t Be Faked
Despite what new age hippies would have you believe, self-esteem and confidence in your abilities don’t come from a participation trophy or playing no-score soccer games. One of the primary reasons we go through training, in addition to learning the mechanics of firearms operation, is to build confidence in our abilities. The target does not care about your self-esteem. You either put the rounds where they are supposed to go or you do not. You cannot fake it.
Do you have the confidence in your ability to handle a loaded firearm while making correct decisions in a stressful situation? How do you learn to do just that?
Consider this scenario, you are home with your small child in the middle of the day. The child is playing on the living room rug while you’re in the kitchen. Without warning you hear your front door being smashed in. As you run to the living room, you see two armed home invaders. Your child is between you and them, you have seconds to either stop them or submit to their attack.
Assuming you are properly armed, do you have the confidence to take the shot past your child?
We do not rise to the occasion or magically achieve superpowers under the extreme stress of a life or death scenario. Under such circumstances, you will default to the level of training you have mastered. When the time comes, you will either have the confidence in your abilities or you will hesitate because you do not.
Final Lesson: There’s No Such Thing as Safe Time or Place
I could not in good conscience close this out without pointing out what should be obvious. Both of the aforementioned horrific incidents took place during the daytime in areas we commonly think of as “safe places.” If you are in the habit of not carrying your concealed carry gun because you don’t go to bad places, you are doing what my pal Sheriff Jim Wilson calls “playing at self-defense”, you are not serious.
While we attempt to be good citizens and stay out of trouble, we must acknowledge that your desire to be a reasonable person has no bearing whatsoever on whether you are attacked as we saw both in Ohio and Nebraska. Were the mothers and their babies out looking for trouble or in places they should not have been?
Get realistic training, carry your gun, and be mentally prepared to defend your children’s lives. As my dearly departed friend, James Yeager, said a thousand times, your responsibility to be ready for the fight never ends.
Paul G. Markel is a combat decorated United States Marine veteran. He is also the founder of Student the Gun University and has been teaching Small Arms & Tactics to military personnel, police officers, and citizens for over three decades.