Self-defense works

Via Tam:

Prowling teen gets two shots to chest from homeowner.

A 15-year-old prowler was shot Friday night in a face-off with a South Knox County homeowner, authorities said.

The shooting happened just before 11 p.m. at 837 Lester Road, Knox County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Martha Dooley said. The homeowner, Jonathan Stevens, 20, told deputies he and his wife were watching television and heard their dogs barking.

When Stevens, pistol in hand, walked outside into the driveway with his wife, the teen confronted them with a shotgun, Dooley said.

“He shot twice at the couple,” Dooley said. “He never got in the house. The homeowner shot twice at the suspect.”

Both bullets hit the teen in the chest. The couple weren’t hurt.

The boy ran. Deputies found him lying in the road, Dooley said.

Fifteen years old, and already looking to attack people with a shotgun. No doubt the Brady's will include him in their "tragic child victims of gun violence."

This part is rather chilling:

Three other teenagers lurking outside the home ran, KCSO spokeswoman Ashley Haynes said.

What were four teenage males planning to do to a young couple at gunpoint? Would they have stopped at robbery, or would they have 'entertained' themselves with the man's wife before killing them both?

Even without being shot at right away, that makes it seem like a pretty clear case of self-defense. Remember, despite what the Brady Bunch and most anti-gunners would like you to believe, criminals often will hurt or kill you even if you cooperate (stories collected by Zendo Deb at TFS Magnum). Do you really want to trust your life to the 'honor' and goodwill of someone who is stealing from you and threatening your life?

Even without being shot at right away, this seems like a clear-cut case of self-defense.

Gunman Stopped by Armed Citizen!

Found this on Snowflakes in Hell, who found it at Dustin's Gun Blog. The basic story is that a man went into a Nevada bar and started shooting, killing two and wounding two. When he stopped to reload and then started shooting again a bar patron with a concealed carry permit shot and killed him. The police and District Attorney have determined that it was a justifiable homicide under Nevada law.

First things first: THANK YOU, UNNAMED CITIZEN! You have shown your true colors as a good, caring, person. I hope you have friends and family who will support you. Killing is not easy (and I never want to meet someone for whom it is easy), but remember, you did the right thing! Never let anyone tell you differently.

Now, several points come to mind:

a) There were only two reasons for this guy to reload. Either he didn't get the people he was there for, or he was just going to keep shooting until someone stopped him. Either way, he wasn't done killing. Most likely this was a mass murder in the making. He brought extra magazines. With most targeted killings or confrontations that escalate, the shooter fires a few times and then runs, trying to avoid police. This guy stayed and reloaded, indicating that he was going to keep shooting. This could have been a very bad incident. According to the story, there were about 300 people "in and around" the bar.

b) With an armed, law abiding citizen on scene, the whole incident was over by the time the police arrived. Even with an extremely fast reaction and response time by the police, there would have been a much higher body count if this good man had not been allowed to carry his weapon. Remember, the killer was reloading when he was stopped. Even if he was after a specific person, he obviously didn't care about hurting innocent bystanders. Out of an entire "high capacity" magazine, only four people were hit. How many shots missed? How many of those four was he actually aiming at? This is a perfect example of how armed citizens prevent such mass shootings. [Correction: He had already reloaded, and had started shooting again, when he was stopped.]

c) "High capacity" handgun. "At some point during this shooting spree Villagomez allegedly stopped and according to witnesses reloaded his high capacity handgun and began shooting again." They do not clarify what they mean by "high capacity." Chances are, it was just a regular gun, i.e. 10-14 round capacity. This appears, on it's surface, to be intentionally inflammatory language, and smacks of biased (and therefore bad) journalism. Leave the bias to the editorials, and report the facts - all the facts - and let the readers draw their own conclusions.

All in all, an excellent example of how armed citizens can save lives. I shudder to think of what might have happened if this had happened here in Virginia, where concealed carry is illegal in any establishment that is licensed to serve alcohol. Unless there was an off duty cop present (they're exempted), it would have been a massacre. (Surprisingly, open carry is allowed in such places, but even many who carry regularly are uncomfortable with doing so openly in a bar.) [Note: I'm not against open carry anywhere, even in bars. I'm just surprised. I would have assumed that if anything was allowed, it would be the other way around. But that's another post for another time.]

Fresno Student Shot, Killed by Police Officer After Bat Attack

Full story here.

Here's what apparently happened:

A police officer shot and killed a 17-year-old high school student Wednesday after authorities said the teenager clubbed the officer with a baseball bat on the packed, urban campus.

The officer fired at the student shortly before noon, after the Roosevelt High School sophomore allegedly came from behind and struck the officer in the head with a crude wooden baseball bat, Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said.

The officer fell down dazed, and reached for the gun in his hip holster, but the clip fell out.

As the student came at him a second time, the officer grabbed a secondary weapon — a semiautomatic handgun he carried as backup — from his ankle holster and fired one or two rounds, Dyer said. The student reportedly died within a few minutes.

As soon as I read the details, I knew there would be something like this:

Silvia Carrillo, whose daughter is a sophomore at Roosevelt High, said the shooting did not seem justified.

"My son and my brother went to school here too, and nothing like this ever happened. I think this wasn't enough for him to kill the kid," she said.

Let's get this straight: A baseball bat IS a deadly weapon. It can be used to kill you. He attacked a police officer with a deadly weapon. The officer was justified in responding with deadly force when his assailant moved to continue the attack.

The officer was injured, on the ground, with an assailant moving towards him with a deadly weapon. Any chance the officer might have had to hold the assailant off at gunpoint was lost when his primary weapon failed. By the time he was able to draw his backup weapon, the attacker was probably right on top of him, too close for a warning. Based on the facts available from the story, this sounds like a fully justified shooting.

Frankly, I'm surprised he had time to get the backup gun out without getting hit again. By necessity, an attacker with a baseball bat is only about 4 feet away when he hits his victim, maybe closer. Just at a guess, the attacker may have hesitated when the officer drew his primary weapon, and hesitated again from sheer surprise when the magazine fell out. This officer is very lucky he's still alive.