Leave it to the Republicans to turn this into a political issue. Arming the onlookers and giving them the power to shoot to kill as they see fit would have undoubtedly saved this one toddler's life at the same time ending many others across the country.
In this situation, I was thinking tazer , pepper spray , hatchet or tire iron. Not everyone finds traveling armed with firearms to be practical.
When the policeman showed up he presumably did the right thing using the tool that is the proper choice for the job. If one of the randomly chosen passerby had shown up with great enough force to halt the action sooner it is possible that the child would still have died , but this odds would be improved.
There will never be more police than civilians , so having someone show up well armed soonest would be best insured by arming every responsible citizen.
The statistics need not be considered subjective , in places where the level of gun ownership rose or the restrictions on gun ownership fell , the effect on crime rates as they actually occur can be measured directly. These stats generally seem to show that having plenty of guns in the public does not cause any sort of crime to rise , but does cause some sorts to fall. The only variable then is the time before and the time after.
This particular time though , I would have been quite happy with an umbrella or a cactus pad if its application had been successfull and the child had been saved , I do not insist on firearms.