ARMED CITIZEN

MARCH 2009

 

NURSE WAS home with her sick children when a man knocked on the door. She’d never seen him before, so she quieted the children and

Didn’t answer. Undeterred, the man circled the house and tried to kick in the kitchen door, prompting the nurse to hide her children in a bedroom closet and tell the oldest to dial 9-1-1. The terrified child placed the call, saying, "We are going to die today.” But police say the nurse wasn’t going to allow that to happen. She retrieved a .38-caliber revolver, peered down the hallway and saw the burglar standing in the living room. "I came at him and started firing,” she recalls. The burglar fled the scene. Speaking to a reporter, the nurse urged other women to consider gun ownership and to take firearm-training classes. (The News Courier, Athens, Ala., 11120/08)

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POLICE SAY A would-be burglar is probably feeling pretty inept at his illicit trade. First, he was caught entering a bathroom window by the homes 70-year-old female occupant, so he fled the scene. Minutes later he attempted to burglarize a second home, this time entering the home of Richard and Phyllis Osborne. Mrs. Osborne heard a ruckus, but a quick investigation showed nothing amiss-that is, not until Mr. Osborne noticed the bedspread was out of place. A closer look revealed the suspect’s knuckles poking out from beneath the bedspread. Mr. Osborne aimed his shotgun at the suspect, ordered him to come out and held him for police. "I wasn’t scared, I was mad,” Mr. Osborne said. "I was mad because he scared my wife.” (Gaston Gazette, Gastonia, N.C., 11/24/08)

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GABRIEL GUZMAN WAS awakened by the incessant ringing of his doorbell. Worried about the bell ringer’s intentions, he peered out the window and saw an unknown man walking in his backyard. As a precaution, Guzman armed himself with a gun before investigating. "I opened up the door and yelled at him, and I just told him to get away,” Guzman explained. Instead, police say, the suspect pointed a

gun at Guzman. “... I thought he was going to shoot me-so I shot him,  Guzman said. Police arrested the wounded suspect, who they believe committed two other burglaries in the neighborhood before trying his luck at the Guzman home. (KCBD-TV, Lubbock, Texas, 11/24/08)

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BEING BURGLARIZED FOUR times was too much for 69-year-old Air Force veteran John Lewis. He decided he’d had enough. "I mean I’m not going to sit here and let somebody rob me over and over again,” he said. So when he heard an unexplainable sound one evening, Lewis quickly retrieved his .357-caliber pistol. "The alleged burglar made more noise than anybody I’d ever dreamed of trying

to break into a house,” he remembers. When Lewis approached the door, he found a man holding a flashlight and a pickax. "What’s there to think about?" he asks rhetorically. "I mean, he was going to hurt me or I was going to hurt him.” Lewis chose the latter, shooting his assailant. According to police, the suspect, who has a lengthy criminal record limped away and was arrested nearby. (WTVF-TY, Nashville, Tenn., / 11/24/08)

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A CAREER CRIMINAL’S night of mayhem was foiled by an armed citizen, according to police. The suspect had already burglarized one home that evening before moving on to a second residence. There, he went inside and confronted the homeowner, who fired two rounds from his handgun at the intruder. The uninjured suspect was apparently so frightened that he stole a truck in order to flee the scene more quickly. The suspect, however, committed a comedy of errors, one of which was most glaring-he left behind his personal vehicle! "Which was good for us,” joked Sgt. Kirk Cooper of the Vermont State Police. "That was a good clue.” The suspect was arrested the next day sitting outside his mother-in-law’s  apartment. (WCAX-TV, Burlington, Vt. 11/25/08)

 

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WHEN A 37-YEAR-OLD man started to unload items from his car, two men approached and jabbed what he believed to be a gun into his side. Fearing he was about to be shot, the man, who is reportedly an open-carry advocate, drew his 9 mm handgun and fired a round. He was unsure if he hit either of his assailants, but he heard a loud moaning sound as they fled. Police arrested one of the suspects when he sought medical aid for a gunshot wound. (News Journal, Wilmington, Del., 11/26/08)

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If you have had a firsthand "Armed Citizen" experience, call ILA!PR Communications at (703) 267-1193. Studies indicate that firearms are used more than 2 million times a year for personal protection, and that the presence of a firearm, without a shot beingfired, prevents crime in many instances. Shooting usually can be justified only where crime constitutes an immediate, imminent threat to life, limb or, in some cases, property. Anyone is free to quote or reproduce these accounts, which are condensed from individual newspaper clippings sent to "The Armed Citizen," 11250 Waples Mill Road, Fairfax, VA 22030-9400.

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AMERICA’S 1st FREEDOM I March 2009