Anti-Gun = Anti-Self-Defense

Observing the actions of 2nd Amendment opponents has convinced me that they fundamentally oppose the right to self defense... for us peasants, anyway. Supposedly anti-gun politicians and celebrities routinely surround themselves with well armed, professional security teams, and even avail themselves of concealed weapons permits. They deny the rest of us the right to own the most effective self defense tools (guns) because they deny our right to defend ourselves.

Most of the evidence for the above paragraph emanates from Europe, where, for example, a Danish girl was prosecuted for using pepper spray to defend herself from an attempted rapist. Every once in a while, however, "liberals" in the US provide us with obvious examples of their anti-self-defense stance.

Mr. Diallo in red shirt

Police initially charged Mamadou Diallo, 61 years old, with manslaughter after he repeatedly struck Earl Nash with a tire iron in the elevator bank of a Bronx apartment building Monday night...

... 

Mr. Nash, who has a long criminal history, has been in and out of state prison since 2006 and was most recently released in July 2015...

...

Nash

The wife told police that when she answered the door, Mr. Nash forced his way in, took off his pants, tried to tear off her clothes and attempted to rape her, the official said.

The [female] cousin heard the commotion and tried to fight off Mr. Nash, the official said.

While the cousin and Mr. Nash struggled, the wife used a cellphone to call her husband, who was outside, the official said.

As Mr. Diallo arrived in one elevator, Mr. Nash tried to flee in another, the official said. The wife pointed to Mr. Nash as her assailant and the men clashed in the elevator bank in a one- to two-minute fight that was caught on surveillance video, officials said.

This story reminded me of an earlier one from much more gun-friendly Texas, where a father beat to death a man who attempted to rape his 5-year-old daughter. The father wasn't even arrested, much less charged with a crime.

The father was never arrested, but the killing was investigated as a homicide. 

Philip Hilder, a Houston criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor, said he would have been surprised if the grand jury had decided to indict the father. Hilder said Texas law provides several justifications for the use of deadly force, including if someone commits a sexual assault. 

"The grand jury was not about to indict this father for protecting his daughter," he said.

The anti-2nd-Amendment Brady Campaign gave New York State an A- for its strict gun laws. Why only an A-? Presumably because 100% confiscation alone would satisfy the Brady Campaign.

By contrast, gun-crazy Texas received an F. Unfortunately, an F is the lowest grade the Brady Campaign awards, because Texas has since then legalized open carry, and freedom-minded folk take pride in low Brady scores. It's kind of like golf. Just ask the people of Wyoming. It won't take long. There aren't that many.

Here's the score that actually matters.

1. In anti-gun New York, a man will be prosecuted for beating to death his wife's attempted rapist.
2. In gun-friendly Texas, a man wasn't even arrested for beating to death his 5-year-old daughter's attempted rapist. 

Why? Because anti-gun actually means anti-self-defense. Hopefully, sanity will win the day, but it's Mr. Diallo's misfortune that he lives in an anti-gun, anti-self-defense, "liberal" state. 

Why do we conservatives support the 2nd Amendment? Because we believe humans have the right to live. In fact, the right to live is the foundation of all other rights, because one can only exercise ones other rights if one is alive. If a human has the right to live, then it stands to reason that he/she also has the right to defend his/her right to live. If a human has the right to defend his/her right to live, then it stands to reason that he/she also has the right to "keep and bear (carry)" the most effective tools with which to defend his/her right to live - guns.

One can't oppose a human's right to "keep and bear (carry)" the most effective self defense tools available and logically, simultaneously claim to support that human's right to defend his/her right to live.

Which is why "liberals" don't.  

Illinois Concealed Carry Fails to Reenact "Tombstone"

In January 2014, Illinois finally became the 50th state to issue concealed carry licenses to law abiding people living within its borders.  Predictably, hoplophobes predicted that Chicago's streets would run red with blood, as crazed concealed carry permit holders reenacted the shootout at the O.K. Corral. 

Source: IMDB

Sadly, for bloody-shirt-waving hoplophobes, but fortunately for everyone else, the hoplophobes' fantasies failed to materialize.  Again. 

Opponents of the concealed carry law in Illinois — which State Sen. Bill Cunningham (D-Chicago) said passed with "overwhelming support" — feared that it would increase rather than decrease crime, putting more guns into the streets that could fall into the wrong hands.

They always do.

In the year of concealed carry permits in Illinois, there have only been a couple incidents involving legal gun owners that have created headlines. In July, a concealed-carry permit holder in Crestwood tried shooting at a fleeing armed robber, hurting no one but forcing a police officer to duck for cover. In Chicago a member of the military who had a concealed carry permit shot and wounded an armed man who fired into a crowd on Chicago's Far South Side. 

Nevertheless, Hayes said he stopped opposing the concealed carry law when he realized that the past year has not resulted in the level of violence some anticipated. 

In fact, just the opposite happened.

Since Illinois started granting concealed carry permits this year, the number of robberies that have led to arrests in Chicago has declined 20 percent from last year, according to police department statistics. Reports of burglary and motor vehicle theft are down 20 percent and 26 percent, respectively. In the first quarter, the city’s homicide rate was at a 56-year low.  

Those of us who've been paying attention are not the least bit surprised.  After all, we've seen the same trend throughout the United States since 1993.  But those facts don't matter to hoplophobes.

But Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart's office has not changed its overall stance against the concealed carry law and its implementation, which as the Chicago Tribune reported recently, requires applicants to be vetted by a controversial state licensing board. 

"Sheriff Dart has been very vocal about his opposition," said Ben Breit, Dart's spokesman, adding that "it's a tough spot," because "the courts have spoken" to legalize concealed carry. 

"Gun violence is gun violence, whether it's in the suburbs or the city of Chicago," said Cara Smith, a Dart spokeswoman, acknowledging that the Sheriff's officers help police many of the county's suburbs.

Sheriff Dart and his fellow hoplophobes opposed concealed carry - supposedly - because they believed it would result in more crime.  The facts demonstrate that the opposite happened.  Crime rates dropped with concealed carry, just as they did throughout the US, yet Sheriff Dart and his fellow hoplophobes obstinately continue to oppose concealed carry.  Why?  Because Sheriff Dart and his fellow hoplophobes fear law abiding armed citizens more than they fear criminals.  Thus the term hoplophobe.

The next time a city or state considers relaxing gun laws, hoplophobes will again predict blood in the streets, because no matter how many times their prediction fails, it's the only trick they have.  Don't fall for it.

By the way, Tombstone still rocks, especially Val Kilmer's portrayal of Doc Holliday.

The Best Defense Against a Violent, "Unarmed" Bad Guy...

Is a good guy with a gun.

“This large gentleman just pounding on this lady, closed fist you know multiple times and heavy heavy elbows to the face and neck” says Kreag. 

Kreag has a license to carry a concealed handgun and he served in the U.S. Army for eight years. He worked as a private security contractor in Iraq and he’s a firearms instructor. 

“I was yelling commands at him to stop assaulting her, stop assaulting her.”

"He stopped attacking her and she was screaming, yelling for help and very much hysterical” says Kreag.

The man got out of the car but he was still very angry. 

“Then he turned his attention to the fire arm and was saying ‘don’t shoot me, don’t shoot me.’ I said I’m not going to shoot you, just stay still, don’t do anything crazy. The cops will be here any minute.”

The "large gentleman" (Mr Kreag is clearly being too kind) is MacMichael Nwaiwu.

By the way, is this an unfortunate coincidence?

I put "unarmed" in quotes in the title because the word seems to imply that the person is harmless, which is false.  According to the FBI's annual crime report, in 2012, murderers killed 678 Americans using only their hands and feet as weapons.  That same year, murderers killed 322 Americans using rifles - even those scary "assault rifles".  That's less than half.  Obviously, that doesn't mean that hands and feet are more dangerous than rifles, but it does mean that one should always assume that a violent person is capable of killing, even if that person possesses no weapon other than his/her own body.

It's fortunate that Mr Kreag had his gun at the time of the incident.  Without it, Mr Kreag may have chosen to not intervene.  We don't know how much damage Mr Nwaiwu inflicted on his victim, but it's clear that he would've inflicted much more damage had Mr Kreag not intervened.

If Mr Kreag had intervened without a gun, on the other hand, it seems clear that Mr Nwaiwu would have turned his wrath onto Mr Kreag.  We don't know what would've happened then, but real life isn't a Bruce Lee movie.  Good guys sometimes get curb-stomped.  A gun makes that far less likely.

That being said, good guys with their concealed weapons permits must always remember that a gun is no guarantee of safety either.  It's a tool, not a talisman.  And like every tool, it has limitations.

The Best Defense Against Three Bad Guys With Guns...

Is a good guy with a gun.  Even if he's 67 years old.  

According to witnesses, a man, his wife, and his 19-year-old granddaughter were home on Yedda Road in Lumberton when a black male knocked on their door and asked for water for his mechanical problems with his car. 

Two other people entered the home wearing black clothing, ski masks and gloves asking for money. All three suspects also had handguns, according to the release. 

The release states that the man and his wife were forced into the back of the house and advised to open the safe while the suspects attempted to rape the 19-year-old granddaughter. 

The man was then able to retrieve a weapon and several shots were fired between the man and the suspects in the house. The man was struck multiple times by gunshots and the suspects then fled the scene in his vehicle. 

Brandon Stephens (L), Jamar Hawkins (C) and Jamie Lee Faison (R): Source

The man was transported to Southeastern Regional Medical Center and later airlifted to another medical facility where he remains in serious condition, according to the release.
Officers later received a call from the McLeod Hospital in Dillon and discovered that Stephens and Hawkins had been shot. Both were airlifted to another medical facility for emergency surgery. 

Jamie Lee Faison, 20, was later found in the man's stolen vehicle deceased, where he had been shot, according to the release. 

During their first court appearances Friday, Stephens and Hawkins were each charged with first-degree burglary, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, possession of a firearm by a felon, first-degree sexual offense, kidnapping, and two counts each of robbery with a firearm and felony conspiracy. Bond for each suspect was set at $1 million secured. 

Stephens, Hawkins, and Faison are possible persons of interest in other home invasions, according to the release.

Another story from the Robesonian states that the grandfather is 67-year-old Kenneth Byrd.  Mr Byrd is still in serious condition after surgery, but is expected to recover.  "Recover", in this case, is a relative term.  I know several men who were shot in combat.  None of them ever fully recovered their health, and they were all young men when they were shot.

Mr Byrd is a hero.  He successfully defended his wife and granddaughter at the cost of his health, if not his life.  And, as the Robesonian points out, he was able to do so because he was armed.

We would never advise folks on how to protect themselves, but we think it’s fair to say that Kenneth Byrd and his loved ones are alive today because he had a weapon in the home and knew how to use it.

Thieves typically break into empty houses because doing so minimizes their probability of getting caught.  A criminal who invades a house he knows is occupied probably wants more than money.  A group of criminals who force their way into a house they know is occupied, beat up an elderly woman and attempt to rape a teenage girl probably want to eliminate witnesses, and that means murder.

Mr Byrd was able to prevent that because he was armed.  Suppose that, by some miracle, the confiscation crowd could make every gun on earth disappear and prevent anyone from making any more guns.  Imagine if the three criminals that invaded Mr Byrd's house had done so wielding knives and/or clubs, and Mr Byrd had no gun with which to defend his family.  How would a 67-year-old man defend his family against three much younger, stronger attackers?

He couldn't.  It's that simple.  Guns make it possible for the older, weaker and less numerous to defend themselves from the younger, stronger and more numerous, even when the attackers themselves have guns.

A Tale of Three Restaurants (and Guns)

The Pit Authentic Barbecue restaurant in Durham, NC posted a sign that read...

no weapons, no concealed firearms 

Shockingly, three criminals paid the sign no heed.

Authorities said just before 9 p.m. Sunday, three men wearing hoodies entered the restaurant through the back doors with pistols, and forced several staff members on the floor. 

Maybe that was the problem.  The criminals must have missed the sign because it was posted at the front of the restaurant and they busted in through the back.

Officials said the suspects assaulted two employees during the crime, but they were not seriously injured. 

That's a relief, but that outcome depended 100% on the restraint the criminals exercised over themselves.  Does depending on a violent criminal's self-restraint seem wise to you?

Owner Greg Hatem also said there were a few patrons in the dining room while the robbery was happening in the kitchen area. Workers were able to ask them to leave, and got them out safely through the front door. 

“We’re offering $2,000 for the arrest and conviction of these guys,” Hatem said. “We take this very seriously. We want to make sure our guests and our staff are taken care of.” 

By rendering them defenseless against armed, violent criminals?

That event inspired another restaurant owner to do the opposite.

Gun control is a hot topic across the country, and one East Tennessee restaurant owner is making her opinion very clear by posting a 'Guns are Welcome' sign on the front door of her family-friendly establishment.

...

Floyd said she posted the signs about a month ago after reading a story out of North Carolina. 

"They had put up a sign that said 'No Weapons Allowed' and they were robbed at gunpoint two days later. The convenience store manager was shot," said Floyd. "And that got me thinking. I lost a whole group of motorcyclists because they thought I didn't allow weapons. But I believe it's ok to carry as long as you have a permit." 

The restaurant does not sell liquor, and Floyd said she asks anyone who orders a beer if they are carrying.

That story reminded me of a previous one from Spokane.

Employees at a coffee shop in Spokane, Wash., are taking matters into their own hands after their store was robbed three times in less than a month. 

Sara Chapel, who owns Jitterz Java, is encouraging her employees to start carrying guns while on the job in order to protect themselves... 

“A couple of them bring handguns every day, no matter what shift it is. There is always a gun here now,” she said. “I would rather have it and need it, than need it and not have it.”

It's encouraging that in both cases in which the restaurants that supported the human right to self defense received mostly positive feedback from customers.

The coffee shop has so far received a flood of support on social media. 

“As long as the employees are well-trained in the use of firearms, I agree. Potential robbers will think twice before approaching them again,” Facebook user Mary Ann Gillispie Rohner wrote. 

“Citizens are the first responders in situations. I’m proud these ladies are prepared to protect themselves, like me!!” wrote Kelly Walker-Wincentsen.

The ladies of Jitterz Java also helped prove that armed self defense works.

On Sunday, a man aggressively tried to open a window at Jitterz Java and appeared to have a gun. The barista kept the window locked, grabbed her gun and called police. The man took off before police arrived.

To be clear, the owners of these establishments have the right to decide whether or not to allow guns on their property.  And potential customers have the right to decide whether or not to spend their money at those businesses for that - or any other - reason.

Murder Rates Decrease as Concealed Carry Increases

As I pointed out before, violent crime in the US decreased from its peak in 1993...

Source: Pew Research

...even as gun ownership increased.

Click to enlarge.  Source: NSSF

That doesn't prove that more guns = less crime, but it does prove "Liberals'" assertion that more guns = more crime false.  Now, the Crime Prevention Center published a study that demonstrates that murder rates in the US decreased as the rate of Concealed Carry Permit holders increased.

The study also breaks down the rate of Concealed Carry Permit holders in each state.  The states with the highest rate of Concealed Carry Permit holders are...

South Dakota   12.03% 

Indiana            10.79% 

Alabama          10.21% 

Utah                9.75% 

Tennessee        9.35% 

Pennsylvania    8.67% 

Iowa                8.53% 

Washington      8.49% 

Florida             8.23%  

Georgia            8.00%

Alaska, Arizona, most of Montana, Vermont and Wyoming do not require permits for concealed carry within the state.  Residents of those states that obtain CCPs do so in order to carry their guns legally when they travel to other states.  This is called reciprocity.  I mention all that because, although none of the states that allow Concealed Carry without a permit (often referred to as Constitutional Carry) are in the top ten, the proportion of people that carry in those states could very well be higher than any of the top ten states.  We can't know the actual proportion in those states because their residents can carry concealed firearms legally without a permit.

Every time the issue of Concealed Carry comes up, "Liberals" claim that CC leads to more violent crime, more accidental shootings, etc.  The argument I keep hearing and reading is that Concealed Carry results in wild west shootouts and blood running in the streets.

Obviously, the data prove those fever dreams false.  

Source: WaPo

All 50 states now have some form of Concealed Carry - every single one.  And yet, not only have dystopian "Liberal" fantasies about wild west shootouts and blood in the streets failed to materialize, homicides committed with guns, non-fatal crimes committed with guns and unintentional firearm-related fatalities decreased.

In other words, this doesn't necessarily prove that Concealed Carry results in less crime and fewer firearm-related accidental deaths, but it definitely proves "Liberals" wrong when they claim that Concealed Carry results in more crime and more firearm-related accidental deaths.

So, if Concealed Carry does not result in more crime or more firearm-related accidental deaths, why do "Liberals" continue to oppose Concealed Carry?  Because "gun control" ins't about guns, or crime or safety.  It's a bout expanding government control over law-abiding individuals.

Miss America Promotes Self Defense, "Feminists" Explode

Nia Sanchez (Nevada), the new Miss USA, just gave "Feminists" a whole new reason to hate pageants. 

Miss Nevada Nia Sanchez, a fourth-degree black belt in the Korean martial art of

Source: NYP

taekwondo, was crowned Miss USA 2014 on Sunday night.

...

Judge Rumer Willis, the 25-year-old daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, said 19 percent of U.S. undergraduate women are victims of sexual assault and asked Sanchez why she thinks this is being swept under the rug and what should be done about it.

Sanchez said bringing awareness to the issue was important, as well as women taking it upon themselves to learn how to defend themselves.

Naturally, "Feminists" - who claim that women are capable of doing everything men are capable of doing - took to Twitter to vent their rage at the idea that women are capable of learning to defend themselves.

Let's apply to other crimes - and to men - the "logic" that "Feminists'" applied to sexual assault and to women.

I'm sorry, but women shouldn't need to take self defense classes to protect themselves from rape #MissUSA—
Peter Simon (@PeterSimon12) June 09, 2014

I'm sorry, but men shouldn't need to take self defense classes to protect themselves from aggravated assault.

Miss Nevada was asked about rape at colleges and answered that women need to learn to defend themselves... OR MEN COULD JUST NOT RAPE.
Anna Garcia (@a_mariagaria) 8 Jun 2014

Miss Nevada was asked about murder in Chicago and answered that men need to learn to defend themselves... OR MURDERERS COULD JUST NOT MURDER.

Miss Nevada described how individuals need to protect themselves from rape, instead of teaching others not to rape. Stop the victim blaming.—
Haley Ploucha (@hallepalouka) June 09, 2014

Miss Nevada described how men need to protect themselves from armed robbery, instead of teaching others not to rob at gunpoint.  Stop the victim blaming.

Women shouldn't need to learn to protect themselves against rape #missnevada  educate and respect yourself as a woman #rapeculture
Anna Beth West (@annabethwest) 8 Jun 2014

Men shouldn't need to learn to protect themselves against home invasions educate and respect yourself as a man (home invasion culture).

Yes, I refuse to use hash tags in my writing.

Sexual assault is a crime.  All crimes are violations of an individual's rights to life, liberty and/or property.  Evil people who violate others' rights have always existed and always will.  Therefore, the need for individuals to defend themselves from evil people has always existed and always will.

It's why we lock our doors.  It's why we buy security systems for our houses and cars.  It's why we avoid high crime areas.  Advising people to take practical precautions to avoid being a victim is not victim-blaming.  That remains true even if the crime is sexual in nature.

It's also why our Bill of Rights includes the Second Amendment.

The Second Amendment protects the individual's right to own the most effective self defense tools available - firearms - so that the individual may defend him/herself from those who would violate his/her rights - whether the violators are ordinary criminals or criminal governments.

In fact, the worst thing I can say about Nia Sanchez's response is that she failed to mention using a gun in self defense.  Nobody's perfect.

But the vast majority of "Feminists" abhor the Second Amendment.

I guess the idea of a woman having the power to effectively defend herself against her attacker(s) is just too empowering for the average "Feminist" to consider.

15-Year-Old Boy Shoots Attempted Abductor

From K2 Radio in Wyoming:

GILLETTE, Wyo. (AP) — Campbell County sheriff’s officials say a 15-year-old boy fatally shot a man who was trying to abduct a woman in Wright. 

The shooting happened Wednesday night. 

Sheriff’s officials said Friday they had responded to reports of an attempted abduction at a home in Wright. They arrived to find 48-year-old Sammy Michael Fears, of Casper, wounded in the driveway. Fears died on the way to the hospital. 

It’s not clear how the teen became involved. Sheriff’s Cpl. Gary Sams says the teenage shooter had no family relationship to either Fears or the woman.He says Fears and the woman had a history of domestic violence going back a few years. 

Gillette media is reporting that the teen has not been charged.

Wyoming probably has the least restrictive gun laws in the US.  Its laws - like the US constitution - restrict the state, not the citizens.  Article 1, Section 24 of the state constitution states that...

The right of citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and of the state shall not be denied.

According to the NRA...

Any person 21 years of age or older, who is not prohibited possessor, may carry a weapon openly or concealed without the need for a license. All non-residents must possess a permit issued by the state of their residence. A Wyoming resident may also apply for a concealed carry permit issued by this state in order to be able to carry concealed in those states requiring a permit.  

It seems like that's working pretty well for them.

One final thought: If this young man had shot up a school his picture would be on every front page, but because he committed an act of heroism with a gun, you'll never hear about him in the national media.  Does that seem right to you?

Mom Defends Her Children With an "Assault Rifle"

Nobody needs an "assault rifle".  Until they do.

Recalling the panic she felt, the mom says "I let them know I had a gun once they were in the house. They said no you don't so I shot off the first round. I wasn't feeling anything at the moment, I got scared afterwards."

In a follow-up, WXYZ Detroit reports:

Her husband is thankful she and the kids are safe.He gave her the weapon just two weeks ago and showed her how to use it."If I hadn't prepared my wife for this kind of situation, I could have came home to a family that was gone," he says. 

Let that be a lesson to you, gentlemen.  Fortunately, the Detroit police chief says "she did the right thing".

Armed Citizen Stops Mass Shooting In Gary, IN

We're in Indiana, they [are] from Illinois, they don't know people got permits to carry guns, so bang bang, that is what happened. ~ Jessie Sturgis

Gary, IN is one of the most crime-ridden cities in the US, and it's just down the road from the South Side of Chicago, where the crime rate is also famously high

Clearly, residents of both municipalities need to exercise their right to self defense.  It's also clear that the situation in the unfortunately named Safe and Sound Senior Citizens Club was exactly the kind of situation opponents of armed self defense claim make armed self defense impossible.  The assailants shot four club patrons, including 65-year-old Mr E. C. Robinson.

E.C. Robinson, 65, a Gary resident, was shot but managed to defend himself and others with his own gun.  "He shot him twice, that is when E.C. started shooting back," said one witness. 

Despite being shot twice, Mr Robinson returned fire and hit his attacker.

Police say the suspected gunman is a 23-year-old from Chicago. They believe his motive was to rob people at the senior citizens club....The suspect hid in the bathroom after he was shot until police came and took him into custody.

Opponents of armed self defense claim one has to be a Navy SEAL to effectively use a gun to defend oneself, but Criminologist Lawrence Southwick wrote in the St. Louis University Law Review that...

Somewhere around 0.8 to 2.0 million violent crimes are deterred each year because of gun ownership and use by civilians. In addition, another 1.5 [million] to 2.5 million crimes are stopped by armed civilians.

More specifically, opponents of armed self defense claim it's impossible for an ordinary person to defend him/herself in mass shooting situations because they are inherently chaotic.  Mr Robinson, and many others, prove them wrong.

But we all know that "gun control" isn't about guns, it's a bout control.  It's about controlling people.  Facts are, therefore, mere inconveniences.

Armed Brit Citizen Saved 100 Lives in Kenya Terrorist Attack | Mail Online

British hero of the mall massacre: Ex Royal Marine with a handgun saved 100 lives as terrorists ran amok | Mail Online

"Liberals" claim no one with a concealed weapon ever saved a life in a mass murder attack.  Wanna bet?

The former soldier is said to have returned to the building on a dozen occasions, despite intense gunfire. 

A friend in Nairobi said: ‘What he did was so heroic. He was having coffee with friends when it happened. 

‘He went back in 12 times and saved 100 people. Imagine going back in when you knew what was going on inside.’ 

Sources said the soldier was in the Royal Marine and now lives in Kenyan. He cannot be named for security reasons. 

The British military regularly train and operate out of Kenya, and have been involved in tracking UK citizens involved with hardline Islamists in Somalia and Yemen. 

Former members work with both the UK and Kenyan governments and security firms across East Africa.

I don't know about British Marines, but American Jar Heads don't like being called Soldiers.  Just a hint. Anyway, you can see a pistol in his waist band.  Hopefully we'll get more details.

Defensive Gun Uses (Part 2)

"Liberals" continue to deny the reality of defensive gun uses.  National media outlets refuse to cover them.  If a psychotic Obamaphile kills 12 people in a "gun free" military installation, he receives international wall to wall coverage (not the Obamaphile part, that would damage the narrative).  But if a pregnant woman in Texas defends herself and her unborn child from two home invaders with a gun... not a peep from the national media. 

In the internet age, however, it's easy to find the coverage local media outlets provide.  Therefore, "Liberals" who claim to not know about defensive gun uses are clearly willfully ignorant.

Let's start with this one from Atlanta.

She said a neighbor armed with a gun of his own came outside and chased the men off after hearing her screams.  

"He pushed me straight down on my chest," Mallory Hastings said.  

"That's when he started to reach in my shirt and tear at my shirt." 

Hastings said she took the $300 she earned in tips that day and handed it over. The men also took her iPhone, purse and identification.  

"I had my hands straight up. When he put the gun to my face and I was just screaming "No, no, no, no, no," Hastings said. 

A neighbor heard those screams and came running outside. Hastings describes the neighbor as ex-military and said he was armed with his own gun as the two men attacking her ran to a car parked nearby and drove off toward Peachtree Road. 

In Rockford, Illinois, an armed home owner stopped two thugs on a crime spree.

A Rockford home-owner fights back after police say the man shot at 2 suspects accused of breaking into 5 homes this morning. The crime-spree happened in the city’s Churchill Grove Neighborhood which is near Harlem Blvd.....Police have arrested an 18-year-old man believed to be responsible multiple burglaries in the Rockford area. 

Antrone Cook was arrested shortly after noon on September 6th, 2013 in the 1300 block of Taylor Street. 

Rockford Police Detectives conducted additional follow up on Cook’s involvement in Residential Burglaries within the City of Rockford. Cook was charged with the following: 

Residential Burglary 804 Soper Avenue (warrant)
Residential Burglary 1804 Genoa Street 

Additional Burglaries cleared as a result of Cook’s arrest include the following: 

733 Hartford (Burglary to Vehicle)
1319 Boilvin (Residential Burglary)
1005 Furman Street (Residential Burglary)
1220 Taylor Street (Residential Burglary)
1507 Sherman Avenue (Residential Burglary)

Elsewhere in Illinois, "gun free" Chicago is the murder capital of the US.  We wouldn't want all those vulnerable South Side residents to have the means with which do defend themselves from all the gang violence in their neighborhoods.

In Jacksonville, Florida, an armed convenience store employee defended himself, his fellow employees, customers and store from two armed robbers.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office responded to a reported robbery late Friday night at Hungry Howie's on Normandy Boulevard. 

According to JSO at the scene, two robbers armed with handguns entered the Hungry Howie's. 

One of the employees of Hungry Howie's then shot at the robbers. One of the robbers is in life-threatening condition and the other robber escaped.  

In Powell, Tennessee, a business owner used a shotgun to defend against a burglar.

A man who was shot Sunday morning as he was allegedly breaking into a Powell business is now charged with theft, criminal trespass, and burglary. 

Michael Johnson, 26, was shot and wounded early Sunday during the alleged break-in at Lett Construction, 101 W Beaver Creek Dr. 

Knox County investigators say James Lett saw Johnson breaking into the business, and when Johnson tried to flee Lett fired three warning shots with a 12-guage shotgun. 

At least one of those shots hit Johnson, but he continued to flee. 

Finally, an oldie but goodie from Texas, in which an armed citizen helped save a police officer in a stand-off with a criminal.

Stacy raised his gun, fired, and landed one hell of a shot – by his estimate “a good 165 yards” – with a pistol (we do not know the make or caliber at this time). Stacy wasn’t even sure if he could make the shot at that distance: “I hope this magnum bullet’ll hold up, you know, this distance. And sure enough it did and I hit him in the thigh.”....Stacy “hit him again and put three more in him … The patrolman got two shots in him with that AR-15. And it seems like he’s all over with, then.”

As always, it's impossible to know how any of these cases would have ended if no armed citizen had been present.  However, we can be reasonably certain that in at least some of these cases, innocent people would've been killed or wounded.

The person best qualified to decide whether or not a gun is the best tool to use against a violent criminal is a person at the scene of the crime, not some distant politician, government bureaucrat or "Liberal" talking head behind multiple layers of armed security guards.

Defensive Gun Uses (Part 1)

Recently, I watched Piers Morgan's interview with Emily Miller.  During the interview, Ms Miller cited Gary Kleck's study that concluded that Americans use guns to defend themselves from criminals 2.5 million times per year.

Morgan replied that he doesn't believe the figure because "you never see them on the news".  Ms Miller, rightly, responded that media "Liberals" like Morgan suppress news stories about ordinary people using their guns to defend themselves from criminals.  As Ms Miller points out, it's because of this suppression that most Americans don't know that their fellow Americans use guns to defend themselves far more often than criminals use guns to commit crimes.

Fortunately, local news outlets are far more likely to cover DGUs than national media.  Even more fortunately, in the internet age we can access this local coverage from anywhere.  Morgan and his ilk are un-educate-able.  They're willfully ignorant.  They've reached a conclusion, and no amount of facts will convince them otherwise.

But not everyone follows Morgan's example.  Some people actually look at facts align their beliefs with them.  So, I thought I'd start compiling some of the DGUs I see online for those who are willing to look at the facts.

Let's start with Kari Bird.

Kari Bird, a mother of three and a law school student, was returning to her home in Indianapolis, Indiana around 11:30 p.m. last Wednesday when a group of young men approached her, pulled out a gun, and demanded the keys to her vehicle.

Speaking of carjackings, this one almost happened in Houston.

The victim told police he had just rented a couple of movies from the Redbox outside the restaurant when he was forced out of his car and pushed on the ground by two men.
Police said the men were apparently going after the victim’s car. The carjacking victim pulled out a gun and shot both men. One died at the scene while the other one ran away wounded. Police said a third suspect drove away in the getaway car.

In another one from Houston, a homeowner defended his family from a naked home invader.



In another one from Texas, a pregnant woman who used to be anti-gun defended herself from two drugged-up home invaders with a gun her husband insisted she learn to use.

 I was against him buying a gun maybe 7-8 months ago, but I told him, ‘I don’t know if I told you, thank you for doing that’ because it changed the situation completely

Why, yes.  Yes, it did.  A gun is the only tool that gives an ordinary person - even an untrained one - the power to turn the tables on bigger, stronger, even more numerous assailants.

In Little Rock, a pharmacy owner armed with a Glock .45 stopped an attempted robber armed with a machete.

Police are searching for a man who was armed with a machete when he tried to rob a pharmacy last week but was stopped when the owner pulled out a gun.
Police say when the man raised the machete, the shop owner pulled a .45 Glock pistol and the suspect took off.

Like the vast majority of DGU's, this one ended with zero shots fired, which is one reason they don't get reported.  It doesn't bleed, so it doesn't lead.

Here's one that actually made national headlines.  In Missouri, a store clerk who openly carries his pistol stopped an armed robber.  Again, no shots fired.

An armed man entered the store and pointed a gun at Jon Alexander. But the clerk, a 30-year veteran of the military, quickly pushed the robber’s gun away and drew his own — placing the gun at the robber’s mouth.  The would-be robber held his gun at his side and quickly backed out of the store.

Finally (for now), in Kansas City, a home owner defended himself, his wife and their 18-month-old child from an invader, fatally ending the dirt bag's crime spree.

KCTV5

Obviously, we can't know what would've happened to each of these people if they'd been disarmed as "Liberals" desire.  We can be reasonably certain, however, that at least some of them would be dead, some grievously injured.

The question is this: who knows better if an individual facing a dangerous criminal should defend him/herself and his/her family with a gun - the individual facing the criminal, or some distant "Liberal" politician or pundit safe behind an armed security detail?

Guns are the most effective self defense tools available to the ordinary person today.  Those who wish to disarm ordinary people, would deprive ordinary people of the most effective tool with which to defend themselves and their families, thereby violating their right to defend themselves and their families.

12-Year-Old Girl Shoots Intruder

According to the anti-self-defense crowd, civilians shouldn't be allowed to own guns for self defense because only a SWAT-trained expert is capable defending himself with a gun.  And we know they think women, in particular, are too stupid, flaky, paranoid and impulsive to be trusted with their own self defense. This 12-year-old girls proves them wrong.

By the way, the dirt bag she shot has a history of kidnapping young girls.

Gun Grabbers' War on Women

All last year we heard Leftists accuse those on the Right, and Republicans in particular, of conducting a "war on women".  The "thinking" goes that those of us who don't want to be forced to pay for others' contraceptives and abortions deny women's basic human right to never have to pay for their own contraceptives and abortions.

But let's think - and I mean actually think - about this.  The most basic of all human rights is the right to live, because one has to be alive to exercise any other right.  The right to live is spelled out in the Constitution of the United States.

No person shall be... deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law

Note that life is the first on the list.  Why?  Because one can't exercise any of the others if one is dead.  Pretty simple, right?  If the right to live is the foundation of all other rights, it stands to reason that the second most basic human right is the right to defend ones life from those who threaten to violate ones right to live.

The right to self defense is not spelled out in the Constitution, probably because at the time it seemed to blindingly obvious that it wasn't necessary.  That is no longer the case, apparently.  However, the framers did include the most effective means by which a person can defend ones life.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

The framers meant the 2nd Amendment as a last-ditch measure by which the states and the people could defend themselves from enemies, foreign and domestic.  However, by guaranteeing the individual's right to "keep (own) and bear (carry) Arms (firearms; i.e. guns)", the 2nd Amendment guarantees the individual's right to own and carry the most effective tools - guns - for defending him/herself from whomever might threaten his/her life.

The right to keep and bear arms, therefore, is the third most fundamental of all rights, because it supports ones right to defend ones right to live, without which all other rights are meaningless.

Though crucial for all humans, the right to bear arms is more important for women than men, because men are - on average - bigger and stronger than women and most criminals are men.  A gun can give a woman the power to defend herself from a rapist....



...or a violent home invader...

The woman was getting out of the shower when she was met by a strange man with a kitchen knife, police said.... 

The woman tried to fight the man off with a shower a rod, and he forced her into her bedroom, police said. They said she told her attacker she had money in the room. But she grabbed a .22-caliber handgun and shot the man nine times, police said. 

Police said the man ran out of a back door and collapsed in the yard. He later died at the Gwinnett Medical Center. The victim, who was injured in the scuffle, was also taken to the hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

...or defend her sister from a violent home invader.

Debi Keeney says she last fired her gun 15 years ago, when she took shooting lessons. 

Debi Keeney (right) and her sister Donna Carlyle

Keeney, 55, said a man forced his way into her apartment in Highland, threw her to the floor and then put her sister, Donna Carlyle, 47, in a choke hold. He demanded money as Carlyle gasped for air. 

“All I could see was Donna’s face going blue, like her life was being choked out of her,” said Keeney. 

The alleged intruder, 33, was being treated at a hospital Sunday for two gunshot wounds and was listed in critical condition, police said.

A gun can help a great-grandmother overpower two criminals.



A gun can even empower a little girl to defend herself from three criminals.



By the way, I freaking love that the gun she used to defend herself is pink!  Also, note that none of these women were particularly well trained.  Good training is always better, but the hoplophobes' (people with an irrational fear of armed citizens, i.e. gun grabbers) insistence that one has to be SWAT trained to successfully operate a gun in self defense is a lie (not that they'd let you own a gun even if you are "qualified").

But hoplophobes just don't see it that way.  They think you ladies simply don't possess the judgement necessary to even identify a threat, much less neutralize it with a gun.

It’s why we have call boxes, it’s why we have safe zones, it’s why we have the whistles. Because you just don’t know who you’re gonna be shooting at. And you don’t know if you feel like you’re gonna be raped, or if you feel like someone’s been following you around or if you feel like you’re in trouble when you may actually not be, that you pop out that gun and you pop … pop around at somebody.

Got that, ladies?  You're too stupid, flaky, paranoid and impulsive to be trusted with your own self defense.  That may come as a surprise to the following lady.

According to deputies, the woman says Sandoval grabbed a knife, put the knife to her chin and told her to take off her clothes. The woman told deputies she then reached under her pillow, grabbed a loaded gun and shot him. She fled from her home and called 911. 

Officials say Sandoval died at the scene.

Besides, according to "Liberal" blowhard, Bob Beckel, campus rape is a myth.



That might come as a surprise to Amanda Collins.

Amanda Collins is a young rape survivor. While in college in 2007, she was raped 50 feet away from the campus police department office at the University of Nevada-Reno and was lucky to get out alive. Her attacker was James Biela, a serial rapist who raped two other women and murdered another. He attacked her at gun point in a gun free zone. At the time of the attack, Collins was in possession of a concealed weapons permit but was not in possession of her firearm due to university policies prohibiting carrying concealed weapons on campus. She was also a second degree blackbelt at the time and walked to the parking garage with a large group of people. 

"If I had been carrying that night, two other rapes would have been prevented and a young life would have been saved...  I could see the police cruisers less than 50 feet away from me, from where I was being attacked but the moment I saw those cruisers, I knew at the same time that no one was coming for me....they were all off duty. The offices had closed. They weren't in their cruisers, there was no one there. A whistle wouldn't have gotten anybody's attention. It was isolated, it was late at night. It's really frustrating that I'm supposed to hand over my own protection to a man but they're not able to guarantee our protection and the comments that this representative made about women not knowing if they're going to be raped or accidentally shooting the wrong person was extremely offensive because he specifically targeted female students. So, is he saying that all women are unable to make sound decisions in the midst of that, that we should go against our God given gut instinct that something was wrong? I knew something was wrong the moment I was grabbed from behind." 

Red-tape and university policies led to this happening and empowered Biela while punishing Collins. 

"I was legislated into being a victim," Collins said.

Got that?  She was in a "gun-free", "safe zone" when serial rapist Biela raped her at gunpoint.  Boy, those "gun-free zones" sure prevent crime, don't they?  Just ask anyone in Chicago.

What advice would a hoplophobe give a potential rape victim on campus?

Be realistic about your ability to protect yourself.
Your instinct may be to scream, go ahead!  It may startle your attacker and give you an opportunity to run away.
Kick off your shoes if you have time and can’t run in them.
Don’t take time to look back; just get away.
If your life is in danger, passive resistance may be your best defense.
Tell your attacker that you have a disease or are menstruating.
Vomiting or urinating may also convince the attacker to leave you alone.
Yelling, hitting or biting may give you a chance to escape, do it!
Understand that some actions on your part might lead to more harm.
Remember, every emergency situation is different.  Only you can decide which action is most appropriate.  

Got that, ladies?  "Only you can decide which action is most appropriate", unless you decide using a gun is the most appropriate action to defend yourself, in which case, you're too mentally unstable to be trusted to make your own decisions.  Besides, urinating, defecating, menstruating, diseases and whistles are far superior defensive weapons than guns.  Everybody knows that.  Oh, and passive resistance, too.

A 36-year-old Miami mother of two was walking out of a restaurant Thursday when she was held up for her purse. CBS4 out of Miami reported even after she relinquished her bag, the robber still shot her in the face.

But those are just some morons in Colorado and an idiot on TV.  They don't represent "Liberals" in general, right?  Maybe they do.

“I said, ‘Jill, if there’s ever a problem, just walk out on the balcony here, walk out and put that double-barrel shotgun and fire two blasts outside the house,’” Biden said. 

“You don’t need an AR-15—it’s harder to aim,” he added, “it’s harder to use, and in fact you don’t need 30 rounds to protect yourself. Buy a shotgun! Buy a shotgun!”

Not only is the VP's advice tactically unsound, it's illegal.

Garey said that under Biden's scenario, Jill Biden could be charged with aggravated menacing, a felony, and reckless endangering in the first degree.

But, more to the point of this blog post, the lady who asked him the question believes his answer was sexist.

“I think it was poor advice, and it comes off a little sexist,” Ernest added. “Like, ‘Let me tell you what you need’ versus, you know, ‘Arm yourself or protect yourself in a way that you feel necessary.’”

Here we go again.  Women just can't be trusted with an AR-15, which probably comes as a surprise to every woman who's ever served in the US Army and Marine Corps.  But, really, that's what it comes down to for all of us; "let me tell you what you need".  "Liberals" believe they know what you and I need better than you and I do.  What do you think?  Who knows better what you need; some politician somewhere, or you?

So, who's conducting the real "war on women"?  Nobody has the right to force anyone else to pay for their lifestyle choices, but unless a person has voluntarily relinquished their rights by committing a crime, every human being has the right to defend themselves.  "Liberals" want to take away a woman's best self defense tool, thereby violating her right to defend herself, thereby empowering anyone who wants to violate her.

"Liberals" are conducting the real war on women.

Gun Crimes Increase 89% in UK

How's that "gun control" working out for the UK?

The latest Government figures show that the total number of firearm offences in England and Wales has increased from 5,209 in 1998/99 to 9,865 last year  -  a rise of 89 per cent.  

In some parts of the country, the number of offences has increased more than five-fold.  

In eighteen police areas, gun crime at least doubled. 

The statistic will fuel fears that the police are struggling to contain gang-related violence, in which the carrying of a firearm has become increasingly common place. 

How can that be?  How could gun violence and "the carrying of a firearm" "become increasingly common place" in a country that declared itself a "gun-free zone"?  Isn't that what "gun control" is supposed to prevent?

At the same time, violent crime has dropped steadily in the US since its peak in 1991.  As I wrote recently...

the murder rate in the US was far lower in 2011 at 4.7/100,000 than its 1991 peak of 9.8/100,000.  

In other words, murder rates have decreased steadily since 1991, even though gun sales increased.

Still, there are millions of Americans who don't get it, and do things like make schools "gun free zones".  How's that working out?

Dressed in black fatigues and a military vest, a heavily armed man walked into a Connecticut elementary school Friday and opened fire, shattering the quiet of this southern New England town and leaving the nation reeling at the number of young lives lost. 

Within minutes, 26 people were dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School -- 20 of them children. Among the six adults killed were Dawn Hochsprung, the school's beloved principal, and school psychologist Mary Sherlach.

Once again, an evil, depraved person broke the law (surprise!) and took loaded guns into a "gun-free zone" and killed his defenseless victims at will and with zero opposition.

Young students described being ushered into bathrooms and closets by teachers as the first shots rang out. Janet Vollmer, a kindergarten teacher, locked her classroom doors, covered the windows and read a story to her 19 students to keep them calm.  

What if the government hadn't violated those teachers' Second Amendment rights?  What if at least one teacher had the ability to fight back?  How many of the people who are now dead would still be alive?

Glenn Reynolds highlights the insanity of "gun-free zone"-thinking.

"After a shooting spree," author William Burroughs once said, "they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it."

There are a lot of problems with this approach, but one of the most significant is this one: It doesn't work. One of the interesting characteristics of mass shootings is that they generally occur in places where firearms are banned: malls, schools, etc. That was the finding of a famous 1999 study by John Lott of the University of Maryland and William Landes of the University of Chicago, and it appears to have been borne out by experience since then as well. 

In a way, this is no surprise. If there's someone present with a gun when a mass shooting begins, the shooter is likely to be shot himself. And, in fact, many mass shootings — from the high school shooting by Luke Woodham in Pearl, Miss., to the New Life Church shooting in Colorado Springs, Colo., where an armed volunteer shot the attacker — have been terminated when someone retrieved a gun from a car or elsewhere and confronted the shooter. 

Policies making areas "gun free" provide a sense of safety to those who engage in magical thinking, but in practice, of course, killers aren't stopped by gun-free zones. As always, it's the honest people — the very ones you want to be armed — who tend to obey the law.

 Gosh.  Maybe "gun control" has nothing to do with preventing crime!

UPDATE: Psychiatrist, Dr. Keith Ablow, writes... 

One other thing:  Those who call for gun control after incidents like this contribute nothing to the solution.  Gunmen like Friday’s plan their actions, right down to wearing military garb.  They could certainly procure illegal firearms or use incendiary devices to kill.  I only wish the kindergarten teacher and principal in Connecticut had been armed.

I suspect that those who call for gun control after incidents like this don't actually want solutions.