The Truth About Guns group attempted to see whether an ‘armed civilian’ could have stopped the two gunmen who attacked magazine’s Paris office

A pro-gun rights group in Texas re-enacted the Charlie Hebdo attacks with paintball rounds, in an attempt to see whether an “armed civilian” could have stopped the two gunmen who attacked the Paris office of the satirical magazine, killing 12. The civilian “died” in almost every scenario except immediate flight from the scene.

Nick Leghorn, a member of the group, The Truth About Guns, downplayed the results of the unscientific experiment on psychology and safety during a terrorist attack, which took place last weekend.

“It’s the one people are Monday morning quarterbacking at the moment,” he told CBSDFW news, which first reported the exercise. “It’s interesting to see how people react under stress. It’s not what you’d expect people do.”

Leghorn is a former Homeland Security contractor for risk analysis.

The Truth About Guns created a set in Plano, Texas that resembled the office of Charlie Hebdo, which was targeted by gunmen after publishing images of the prophet Muhammed. With guns firing paintball pellets, two volunteers played the roles of Chérif and Saïd Kouachi, the gunmen who claimed links to al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. One volunteer, playing a civilian, was also armed with a paintball gun.

Over the course of several simulations, volunteers playing the armed civilian managed to hit a gunman in only two cases; no one “took out” both shooters in any iteration of the exercise. Of the 12 volunteers who participated as civilians, only one survived – by fleeing the scene at the sound of shots. The Kouachi brothers murdered 12 people on 7 January, including two armed policemen.

Participants were undeterred by their apparent inability to neutralize a threat even when armed.

“I still got killed but did I better than I thought I would,” volunteer Parks Matthew told CBSDFW. “If I’m in a movie theater and someone pulls a gun, what am I going to do?

“I know now I’m not gonna just fall on my kids and protect them. I need to advance on the threat.”

The Truth About Guns organizes events, runs an active online presence for gun advocates and publishes gun reviews and articles such as “Debunking the ‘No One Wants to Take Your Guns’ Myth”. It has also run simulations of mass school shootings, to try to determine whether armed teachers could stop a shooter.