WATCH: Hero Who Stopped Texas Church Shooter: ‘Without The Second Amendment, You Will Lose All Other Rights’

In an interview with Turning Point USA published Sunday (video below), Jack Wilson, who was awarded the Texas Governor’s Medal of Courage last week for his life-saving response to a mass shooter at his church, gave a powerful defense of Second Amendment rights, which he maintains, are essential to keeping all our other rights under the Constitution.

Jack Wilson, 71, is a volunteer member of the security team at the West Freeway Church of Christ near Fort Worth, Texas, where a mass shooter opened fire during a church service on Dec. 29, 2019. As Texas allows licensed congregants to carry in churches, Wilson, a former Texas Army National Guardsman and NRA instructor, was armed, along with other members of the security team.

The expert marksman responded with remarkable speed when the shooter opened fire. Within six seconds of the gunman’s first shot, Wilson shot him dead, undoubtedly saving many lives. For his heroic actions, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) Abbott presented Wilson last week with the Governor’s Medal of Courage, the highest civilian honor the state of Texas awards. 

After receiving the prestigious award, Wilson spoke with TPUSA about what prepared him for that harrowing moment when he confronted the shooter, including not only his years of training with firearms but his realist views on self-defense and the presence of “evil” in the world.

“There’s evil in the world,” Wilson told the conservative nonprofit. “Be prepared to protect yourself.”

“I killed evil. I took out evil,” Wilson said of the harrowing moment he took down the gunman with a single shot.

“I spent six years at Texas Army National Guard, 30 years in the defense world, D.O.D. world, had my own business for 21 years teaching people how to shoot,” said Wilson. 

“It doesn’t start at the moment that you need to protect yourself,” he explained. “You have to learn, choose a firearm you’re comfortable with, become proficient with it, train with it.”

“Without the Second Amendment — my opinion, very strongly — you will lose all other rights,” Wilson stressed. “The firearm is not the evil thing. The person behind it is either good or evil. It’s not a firearm issue. It is a person issue.”

Wilson also provided some details about how he and the rest of the security team was prepared for the actions of the shooter. When he first walked into the service, Wilson said he recognized him as an “obvious” potential threat in part because he appeared to be wearing a wig and a fake beard. “We were observed the individual, we were watching the individual,” he said, noting that he walked into the audio-visual room and instructed them to train one of the cameras on the individual.

“The individual got up and that’s when he turned … and pulled the shotgun … from underneath his coat,” he said. “Richard told him, ‘Drop the gun! Drop the gun!’ I had people in front of me that prevented me from taking a body shot, a torso shot. The only shot I had was the headshot. When I took the headshot, the subject went down. From the time the individual turned with the gun in his hand till I was over him was a total of six seconds.” 

“I did not do what I did … for hero status. I don’t see myself as a hero,” Wilson emphasized. “My role is more of a protector for anyone who happens to be in the congregation…”

In the end, he said, God is the one who should get the credit for the lives saved, saying, “God gave me the training, gave me the mindset, to be able to stop the situation.”

Video below via TPUSA: