lains how a suspected shooter entered Silver Rail Elementary School and opened fire in a classroom and how a citizen was able to shoot and kill the suspect.

In some states, lawmakers have sought to put armed citizens in position to head off an attack as soon as possible in some public spaces.

Texas created a school marshal program in 2013 to allow trained teachers and staff to carry concealed firearms on campus. It expanded safety programs and requirements for armed security and personnel at schools after mass shootings at a high school near Houston in 2018, and at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde in 2022.

Texas has some of the least restrictive gun control laws in the country, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The group rates Oregon among the strongest.

Some prominent examples of armed citizens who confronted gunmen to help stop mass shootings:

Twin Falls, Idaho, In-N-Out

A gunman killed three people and wounded seven more at an In-N-Out Burger on Aug. 3. Law enforcement authorities said the gunman may have killed more if not for an off-duty officer who was a customer at the restaurant, and an armed civilian who exchanged fire with the gunman.

Jordan Salinas said he didn't hesitate to grab his gun and confront the gunman when he saw people fleeing the restaurant and heard gunfire. Under return fire, the gunman retreated and ultimately killed himself.

 He did not like it when bullets started flying both ways,  Salinas told the Idaho Statesman.  There's a task that needs to be done, and we're the ones who need to do it. 

White Settlement, Texas, church shooting

In December 2019, a man wearing a disguise and a trench coat pulled out a shotgun and killed two people during a Sunday service at West Freeway Church of Christ before he was killed by Jack Wilson, a 71-year-old firearms instructor who had also been a reserve sheriff's deputy.

Wilson stayed calm as worshippers scrambled for cover.

 The only clear shot I had was his head because I still had people in the pews that were not all the way down as low as they could. That was my one shot,  Wilson said in 2019.

Sutherland Springs, Texas, church shooting

A gunman killed 26 people at a small-town church in 2017. Stephen Willeford, a former National Rifle Association instructor who lived across the street, grabbed his rifle and ran in his bare feet to open fire at the attacker, wounding him.

The gunman fled and Willeford flagged down a passing driver. The two men chased after the gunman, who eventually killed himself.

 I kept hearing the shots: pop, pop, pop  when the gunfire started at the church, Willeford said in 2017.  And I knew every one of those shots represented someone, that it was aimed at someone.