Lessons from Captain Moore

An Avoidable Death in Minnesota

Two years ago, I exercised my 2^nd Amendment rights and purchased a handgun. Thankfully, there was no incident that caused me to buy one, it was just a general concern about my personal safety. A few years earlier I had taken an introduction course to gun safety which included time spent shooting various caliber pistols and revolvers. Though it was useful and informative I never followed up with a gun purchase. However, when I found myself living in Texas, I decided that it was time to buy one.

Owning a gun is a serious responsibility that shouldn’t be taken lightly. As I only had some basic training, I knew I needed more. I also knew that I wanted to get a Texas License to Carry because I wanted to prove that I had basic gun skills and safety knowledge. This requires that you have a day of classroom instruction, passing a written exam, and demonstrating shooting proficiency.

The class was slated for a Saturday from 8:00 to 4:00. I arrived at the venue, Sharp Shooters Range and Gun Store in Corpus Christi, slightly early. After browsing the collection of rifles, shotguns and various handguns I went into the fluorescent lit classroom. It had white walls and about twenty individual grey tables and chairs in four rows of five with an aisle dividing the room in half and a lectern at the front of the room. I took a seat, and various other students wandered in, all men apart from one woman. A few minutes after 8:00 in walked an elderly portly gentleman. He held a cane in one hand and slowly limped to the front of the room. I thought to myself what a long day it was going to be and hoped I wouldn’t fall asleep. He reached the lectern put his cane to one side and said in a classic Texan accent,

“Good morning my name is Captain Oren Moore, I’ve been shot at five times, been hit twice, been stabbed three times and shot two men. Today I’m going to teach you some gun safety.”

Off he went in a slow and deliberate voice and created a memorable class. The day was filled with stories from his first year as a rookie cop in the Rio Grand Valley to joining the Texas Highway patrol and rising to the rank of Captain. But every story, bar one*, had to do with the responsibility that comes with owning and using a firearm.

One of the first stories he told was the night he pulled over a drunk driver on a lonely country road. While walking back to his patrol car after taking the man’s driver’s license shots started being fired. One hit him in the side and down he went. More shots rang out as he rolled into a drainage ditch on the side of the road. Then silence. He crawled along the gully and behind the man’s car and yelled “drop your weapon and put up your hands!”. He said he heard the clatter of a gun and saw it slide across the pavement. He hauled himself up and walked over to man who had his hands up.

“Please don’t shoot me! I knows you’ve got the right, but I don’t wanna die.”

“I looked him in the eyes, and he was a fella down on his luck. I knew if I shot him that look would haunt me all my life. I pulled him out of the car and cuffed him and called for backup. I’m telling you this because if you shoot someone, you’re gonna remember it all your life so think before you pull that trigger.”

One story revolved around him and his fellow officers testing out tasers and pepper spray on recruits. The moral of that story was pepper spray is the one to carry and use that first if can avoid shooting someone. Never escalate all the way if you don’t have to.

Though not a part of the exam Capt. Moore told us what we should do if we encountered law enforcement while carrying. He warned us that if you ever have any interaction with law enforcement while carrying a gun, have one in your car or within reach you should always tell them. He said, “If you don’t and they find it an officer will automatically get twitchy and then bad things can happen”.

When I read about the death of Alex Pretti I thought about my class and what we learnt. The death of Pretti was a tragic event but I have little sympathy for him. There is no evidence that he ever bothered to get any formal firearms training or instructions. That morning he armed himself knowing he was highly like to encounter law enforcement. When he did, Pretti confronted them, he didn’t tell them he was carrying, and ended up dead.

Through his stories Captain Moore taught me that as a gun owner and especially one who carries, concealed or open, you have duties, both legal and non-legal, to yourself, the community and to law enforcement officers. Pretti never learnt this and died because of it.

*As an aside the one story he told us that did not involve guns was the time he went to interview the serial killer, Henry Lee Lucas. There were a few unsolved hit and runs that the Texas Highway Police believed might have been done by Lucas. Capt. Moore said that Lucas would only talk if they brought him a milkshake. He described going into the interview room where Lucas was waiting and upon entering was overwhelmed by a sense of evil he had never before encountered.