Once Again Gun Beats Knife

The presence of a gun in the hands of a good citizen, who in this case happened to be an off-duty Sheriff's deputy, may have saved lives in a West Hollywood Target store:

A woman who stabbed and wounded four people in a busy Target store Monday afternoon was arrested when an off-duty sheriff's deputy pulled his gun and ordered the woman to the ground as screaming shoppers ran from the building, authorities said.

Layla Trawick started randomly stabbing people with a blade about the size of a kitchen knife at about 12:45 p.m., Los Angeles sheriff's Sgt. Josh Mankini said. The 35-year-old was arrested with the help of private security guards.

Several shoppers who saw the deputy pull out his weapon feared he was a gunman, adding to the sense of panic, Mankini said.

"There's a bunch of screaming going on," he said. "He orders her to the ground. She complies."
Three women and a man were stabbed and taken to area hospitals, Mankini said.

Thanks to strict concealed carry laws in California it's almost a sure bet that no one else in the store was armed and could have intervened had the cop not been there.