What if the gun didn't jam?

The gunman strode toward the Rev. Fred Winters shortly after 8 a.m. Sunday in the church, exchanged words with him, then fired a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol until it jammed. Churchgoers then wrestled him to the ground as he brandished a knife, Trent said.

So the churchgoers used violence to apprehend the gunman, but only after the pistol jammed. Do you think they would have been able to stop him if the man's gun didn't jam? What would have been the reaction of the churchgoers then?

Two worshippers tackled the gunman as he pulled the knife, and all three were stabbed — the gunman suffered "a pretty serious wound to the neck" while one worshipper had lower back wounds, Trent said.

Churchgoers knocked the gunman between sets of pews, then held him down until police arrived, said member Don Bohley, who was just outside the sanctuary when the shooting began.

Protective violence from good people stopped the predatory violence. I wonder what kind of small protective device would have allowed any one of those churchgoers to stop the attack immediately?