being the ones going in, not waiting for a tactical unit, not waiting for s.w.a.t., but going in and getting the active shooter. right. try to eliminate the threat as quickly as possible. we just saw this a week or so ago in arizona where they didn t have the luxury of waiting for s.w.a.t. teams and negotiators and psychologists and snipers to take out a man with a 3030 hunting rifle firing rounds in the middle of a street, a crowded street with strip malls on each side. an enterprising police officer took action and took him out immediately. peter bergen, tom fuentes, thank you very much. as we ve been reporting the event was organized by the american freedom defense initiative. the president is pamela geller who the southern poverty law center describes as an anti-muslim movement s most visible and flamboyant figurehead. deborah feyerick reports on what we know about geller. reporter: pamela geller is well known to american muslims. she is a mascot of such a movement.
reporter: pamela geller is well known to american muslims. she is a mascot of such a movement. reporter: the movement muslims say, against their religion. critics call geller a muslim basher and friend to white supremists who doesn t mince her beliefs on radical islam. we will not abridge our freedom so as not to offend savages. reporter: geller led the 2010 crusade against building an islamic center in downtown manhattan. we will prevail. reporter: the controversial ground zero mosque never opened. she and colleague robert spencer co-founded what are considered two thinly veiled anti-muslim groups. the american freedom defense initiative and stop islamization of america. we list that group as a hate group. i would rank pam geller at the top of the list for anti-muslim figures in this country. certainly she and robert spencer
reporter: the movement, muslims say, against their religion. critics call geller a muslim basher and friend to white supremacists who provokes for a living and doesn t mince her believes on radical islam. we will not abridge our freedom so as not to offend savages. reporter: geller led the 2010 crusade against building an islamic center in downtown manhattan. we will prevail. reporter: the controversial ground zero mosque never opened. she and colleague robert spencer co-founded what are considered two thinly veiled anti-muslim groups. the american freedom defense initiative and stop islamization of america. we list that group as a hate group. i would rank pam geller at the top of the list for anti-muslim figures in this country. certainly she and robert spencer are at the top of the list. the ones who influenced anders bravic in his rage when he did
the american freedom defense initiative they sponsored this event, and are described as a hate group by the southern poverty law center. their president is pamela geller. she spoke to my colleague. take a listen. the first amendment protects all speech not just ideas that we like but even core political speech ideas that we don t like because who would decide what s good and what s forbidden? the islamic state? the government? inoffensive speech, alison needs no protection but in a pluralistic society, you have exchange of ideas. you don t shut down discussion because i m offended. she sounds like what alan is saying like she was mimicking alan. but do you think she was really after free speech amani? i really don t think this is an issue of free speech. honestly.
gunmen dead. he did what he was trying to do. he did a very good job. and probably saved lives. inside, this is the moment hundreds of guests hear about the gunfire as you see on the event s live stream. okay, shots just got fired. we don t know that for a fact. i think i d better wrap it up. ten minutes later, a s.w.a.t. leader orders an evacuation. 1:30, the bomb squad blows up the car s trunk which had several suit cases but no bombs. the group holding the contest the american freedom defense initiative. it s been called an anti-muslim hate group by the southern poverty law center. they had to shell out an additional $10,000 for security before this venue would even agree to host them. as much carnage as these terrorists were hoping to cause here, they only managed to shoot a school resource officer in the leg. he s at home doing just fine. so many people crediting that texas police officer and his pistol.