Stephen Willeford, the hero who ended the November 5, 2017, Texas church shooting with an AR-15, spoke at the January 20, 2020, Virginia 2A rally in opposition to an AR-15 ban.

Willeford told the Washington Free Beacon’s Stephen Gutowski that he “absolutely” would have been at a disadvantage against the church shooter had he not been able to use an AR-15.

He said, “The attacker had Class 3 body armor,” describing it as a step above what many police departments use. The attacker’s armor meant Willeford had “a very clear disadvantage to start with,” and it meant Willeford would have to choose his shot to end the attack.

Willeford said, “I hit him a couple of times in his body armor and it didn’t stop him, but he felt it. Then when he turned to his side I could see where it [strapped] across form the front to back and I aimed for that spot and I hit him in the side and I hit him in the legs.”

I interviewed Stephen Willeford, the hero of the Sutherland Springs attack, about why he opposes Virginia’s proposed AR-15 ban and why he’s speaking at today’s rally in Richmond. pic.twitter.com/krkWPmms3j — Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) January 20, 2020

Willeford summed up his action again the attacker by saying, “On a moving target that was shooting at me those are pretty good shoots, and i’m not sure I could have done that with a pistol.”

“It’s none of the government’s business at all what I use to defend my life, my family, [and] my friends,” he said.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.