Jan. 20, 2023: A concealed carry permit holder in Chicago shot and wounded an armed robber who pointed a gun at him on a CTA train during rush hour. Neither the permit holder nor any bystanders were injured. The robber has been arrested.https://t.co/jGVcSrEBJw
— Defensive Gun Use Tracker (@DailyDGU) January 21, 2023
Category: Self Defense
Driver fires shots at would-be carjackers in Oak Law
OAK LAWN, Ill. — Police are looking for two suspects after a driver thwarted a carjacking in Oak Lawn on Wednesday.
The incident occurred just before 3:30 p.m. in the 6500 block of W. 89th Place. Police say the two armed suspects tried to steal a car but the driver had a gun and fired at about eight shots toward them.
The individuals took off in a black Jeep, which police later located in the 6200 block of W. 90th Street.
According to police, an unidentified getaway driver picked up the suspected carjackers in an older white Dodge Charger with damage on the rear passenger door.
The victim was not hurt.
Teen stops home invasion with mother’s handgun
MONTVILLE, Ohio (WJW) – Brayden Jarrett says he was home from school last Tuesday, looking out the living room window, when he noticed a strange car parked sideways in his driveway.
“The car stood in the driveway for a little bit, so I walked into our kitchen because we have a window in the kitchen and I looked out and I saw the dude and I’ve never seen this dude in my life,” said Jarrett.
His mother was at work, but Jarrett, who is 16 years old, knew that she kept a 9mm handgun in the house and he knew where it was stored.
He says he is familiar with guns, in part, because he has been hunting.
“I knew there was a gun in the home. My mom had a gun, I knew it. I grew up with guns, so I knew about the safety, I knew where the gun was and everything,” he told FOX 8.
“My gun is unloaded. The clip is next to it and he knows where it’s at, so he grabbed it and he held onto both pieces and he stood in this (living room) doorway,” said Ashleigh Jarrett, his mother.
Brayden said he stood there watching the door as the outside door opened. He knew if it was a delivery service dropping off a package that they would leave it there.
But when the intruder started opening the inside door, he says he loaded the gun.
“I didn’t say anything but when I cocked the gun back and pointed it at the door, he said, ‘Oh (expletive),’ and ran,” Brayden said.
He immediately called his mother at work.
“When he called me, he asked smart questions first. ‘Did you have anyone coming over?’ ‘Were you expecting any packages?’ before he then said, ‘Well, I think someone tried to break in and I had to pull your gun,’” said Ashleigh.
Brayden said the car drove past their house again, and after Ashleigh posted about the break-in on social media, neighbors helped identify it.
At the Geauga County Sheriff’s Office, Brayden says he was able to pick the suspect out of a photo lineup.
The Geauga County Sheriff’s Office has charged Zachary Stutzman, of Hartsgrove, with burglary.
Ashleigh Jarrett says she knows Stutzman only as a friend on social media, although they may have mutual real acquaintances in real life.
She believes he may have used her posts to learn her routine.
But they were only into the second day of a new routine for her son, who he may not have expected to be in the house.
She is now cautioning people about what they post on social media.
“Anyone can see your schedule. If you are posting that you are at your place of business or you are posting that you are out and about and for someone who is mostly alone, it leaves you open for vulnerability and it gives somebody just a key into your life,” she said.
Ashleigh says she now has cameras watching over the inside and outside of her house, something she never thought she would have to do.
She is grateful to have a teenage son who is now also her protector.
“He’s so laid back. I have more anxiety about this than he does for sure. I lined up the school and told them to set up a counseling meeting if he needed it and his exact words were, ‘I’m not afraid of guns. All I had to do was pick a gun up and aim it, I didn’t have to use it,’” said Ashleigh.
“I didn’t want to pull the trigger on the guy. That would have been a whole different situation, but when I knew when it first happened, I had to stay calm,” said Brayden.
Escambia County shooting deemed self-defense; Juvenile shooter won’t be charged
ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. — Deputies say a juvenile who shot a 47-year-old man Monday in Escambia County will not be charged.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office says the shooting around noon on Saxon Street is a self-defense case.
According to the sheriff’s office, the man who was shot — 47-year-old Patrick Antoine Davison — is charged with Aggravated Battery (domestic violence). Jail records show he is also facing charges of fleeing/eluding police, resisting arrest and driving without a license.
Davison was hospitalized for his injuries Monday afternoon following the shooting.
Wichita man shot by gas station employee after fight breaks out near downtown
Wichita police are investigating a shooting at a gas station near downtown Wichita early Sunday that left a man seriously injured, police spokesperson Juan Rebolledo said in a news release.
The shooting was reported around 1:25 a.m. at the JumpStart gas station at the intersection of Broadway and Murdock. Officers arrived and found a 28-year-old Wichita man who has been shot in his upper body, Rebolledo said.
The man was taken to a hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. He underwent surgery and is now in stable condition, Rebolledo said.
Investigators learned that the man got into an argument with two JumpStart employees after he was asked to leave the business. The man refused and got into fight with the employees, according to Rebolledo. One of the employees pulled out a handgun and “fired at the suspect after the suspect began to attack him a second time,” a police news release read. The 28-year-old man is cooperating with detectives.
Utica man slices Applebees worker in face, another diner steps in with gun
New Hartford, N.Y. — After an Applebees worker was slashed in the face by a man with a knife a diner stepped in and held the man at gunpoint Saturday, police said.
Esteban Padron, 28, entered the Applebees on Commercial Drive in New Hartford at 6:42 p.m. and started fighting with workers, according to a news release from the New Hartford police department.
Workers recognized Padron because he had previously been to that Applebees and been forced to leave for disorderly behavior, police said. He was asked to leave and started fighting with workers, police said.
Padron went behind the bar and grabbed a steak knife, slashing a worker in the face with it, police said. Another worker was also injured during the fight, police said.
A man eating in the restaurant noticed Padron’s behavior and pulled his gun on him, ordering him to the floor and to release the knife, police said. The man is licensed to carry the gun, police said.
Padron went to the ground and let go of the knife, police said. The man kept him at gunpoint until police arrived, they said.
When police arrived, they arrested Padron and charged him with second-degree attempted assault, two counts of third-degree assault, and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, police said. He was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital for a mental health evaluation, police said.
Armed customers stop husband, wife trying to rob North Georgia gas station at gunpoint
GILMER COUNTY, Ga. — Police arrested a north Georgia couple they say tried to rob a gas station clerk before other customers intervened.
Ellijay police and Gilmer County deputies received a call Monday night about an attempted robbery at the Ideal Mart off Old Northcutt Road.
Police said Shawn Sutton, 39, pretended to be a customer, while his wife Melody Sutton, 39, waited outside in the car. Police said Shawn Sutton wrapped a pair of women’s underwear around his neck and face and pulled a gun on the store clerk demanding money.
This caught the attention of two customers who were inside the food mart. The first customer pulled his gun out to stop the robbery attempt while the second customer ran to his car to get his gun, according to police.
As Sutton tried to escape, police said a third customer who was armed came to help. The first customer noticed that Sutton was disarmed and told the other two customers not to shoot him. Police said all the customers had legal permits for their guns.
Police then arrived on the scene and tried to take Sutton into custody. However, officers said he became unruly and ignored their commands to stop. That is when one of the officers used their stun gun.
Sutton faces charges of armed robbery, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Officers found Melody Sutton inside the car on the side of the store. She faces charges of armed robbery, intimidation and taking control of a substance.
Resident shoots, kills suspected burglar who kicked down door of North Side apartment
SAN ANTONIO – A man shot and killed a suspected burglar who kicked down the door to his apartment north of downtown on Tuesday morning, according to San Antonio police.
The incident happened at about 7 a.m. in the 500 block of W. Euclid Avenue, near San Pedro Avenue.
According to an SAPD spokesperson, an apartment resident said a man kicked down the door in an attempt to burglarize it. Since the door was bolted, police said, that man had to use immense force to kick down the door.
The resident pulled out a gun and shot the intruder, police said. The suspected burglar was pronounced dead at the scene, and his name and age were not released.
Police said the resident acted in self-defense, and there have been calls to the apartment in the past.
The incident occurred near Advanced Learning Academy, which is part of the San Antonio Independent School District.
A spokesperson for SAISD said the campus is open and SAISD police officers are present to help with traffic and student drop-off.
The military has used 62 grain 5.56mm RRLP – Reduced Ricochet Limited Penetration – frangible bullets for both CQB live fire practice on steel targets, and ship boarding operations (where unplanned holes in hulls are a bad thing) for a long time. The ballistic gel tests I’ve seen show the ammo should be quite effective if used for home defense.
Frangible Ammo for Self-Defense and Concealed Carry
(and the last shall be first….)
Mother shot intruder dead after he forced his way into Hammond home
HAMMOND – A convicted felon was shot to death after he forced his way into a house while armed with a shovel and lug wrench, deputies said.
According to the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office, deputies found Robert Rheams, 51, dead at the home on Klein Road after responding to a reported home invasion early Sunday morning. Deputies later learned the victim was there with her two young children when Rheams got into the home.
The department said the woman confronted Rheams and fatally shot him.
Rheams was out on parole at the time of the shooting, having served 20 years in prison for armed robbery. Deputies also believe he tried to carjack someone just hours before the shooting.
No one was arrested, but prosecutors are expected to review the case.
Chief Deputy Jimmy Travis said in a statement that it appeared to be a case of “a homeowner exercising second amendment rights to protect herself and her children.”
California concealed carry holder shoots ax-wielding attacker on his property
The California suspect, Luis Larios, suffered a non life-threatening gunshot wound
[just my opinion but the homeowner might make good use of a course on accuracy]
Police in the northern part of California’s central valley say that an ax-wielding man was shot after allegedly attacking a property owner who has a concealed-carry permit.
In a Facebook post, the Merced County Sheriff’s Department says deputies received a call Tuesday evening of an assault taking place in the city of Dos Palos, California.
On the way to the scene of the incident, deputies were informed by dispatch that the victim was a legally permitted CCW holder who shot the adult male in self-defense.
That suspect, according to police, had attempted to hit the victim with an ax.
Deputies arrived on the scene and found that the suspect, identified as Luis Larios, suffered a gunshot wound that was not believed to be life-threatening.
The Facebook post says that Deputy Machado administered a tourniquet to Larios as they waited for an ambulance to arrive.
“Deputies determined that the property owner located Larios sitting in his vehicle on the property and was stuck in the mud,” the Facebook post said.
“The property owner then tried to help him get his car unstuck when Larios became angry and grabbed an axe from the trunk of his car. He then began swinging the axe in a threatening way.”
The shooting was determined to be justified self-defense and Larios is currently in custody “pending criminal charges”, according to the release.
Increased gun sales for minorities due to rational reasons
Gun sales for minorities in the United States have been surging for quite a while now. While the popular image of gun ownership continues to be older white dudes, the reality is very, very different.
More and more gun owners are women and many of those are black or Hispanic.
So why are some of them buying firearms?
Well, here’s why one of them did, and she’s unlikely to be an exception.
Andréa “Muffin” Hudson is an activist for incarcerated individuals, directs two criminal justice nonprofits, and believes prisons do catastrophic harm. She is also a gun owner.
When Hudson, 47, drives around Durham, her G2C 9 mm pistol sits beside her on the passenger seat. She carries it with her everywhere, wearing it like a “fanny pack.” She leaves her gun behind only when she goes to the Durham County Courthouse to pay cash bonds.
Hudson lives with her son, 18, and daughter, 28. Her round cheeks frame her easygoing smile as words flow out, her deep voice suited to the seriousness of her work.
Each room in Hudson’s house has a gun in it. Even the bathroom.
“So if you’re in the bathroom, and somebody breaks in while you’re in the bathroom, you can protect yourself,” she said, laughing. “You know, I watch a lot of movies.”
…
Donald Trump’s presidency inflamed deep-seated racial animosity, lent new muscle and momentum to white nationalists, and stoked the fears of people like Hudson. She bought her first gun in 2017.
“I got it because Trump won, became president, and people were acting erratic,” said Hudson, who is Black. “I was thinking that folks were going to start doing stuff to harm other people. I was thinking about The Walking Dead and Armageddon coming, and I wanted to give us a fighting chance to survive.”
Now, a lot of people would read that and roll their eyes. They’d argue that white supremacy isn’t nearly the threat the media makes it out to be.
Here’s my take: It doesn’t matter.
If you think there’s a potential threat to you and yours, it behooves you to arm yourself and prepare to defend your life and the lives of your family members. That means buying guns.
Yes, it may not be as big of a threat as it feels, but most of us are unlikely to be the victim of a violent crime, either, yet we still carry a firearm.
However, for those like Hudson who do have these concerns, I’d offer a suggestion. If you feel this way, you should start pushing the lawmakers asking for your support to oppose gun control.
After all, if you’re a minority and you’re worried about racial strife, who do you think is most likely to be targeted by gun control? If this is such a racist nation, why wouldn’t black and Hispanic gun owners be the target of anti-gun efforts?
If racism is such a prevalent concern, then why not work to make it impossible for those racists to disarm you and eradicate your ability to defend yourself?
Arming up in response to your concerns over a threat isn’t just rational, it’s smart. Yet you should also be prepared to dig in and fight to preserve the ability for everyone to do the same thing.
Why do gun owners want to carry in restaurants, day care centers, nursing homes, or any other place these editors would apparently deem it laughably unnecessary? Here’s 500,000 to 3 million reasons a year why:
LaGrange police arrest suspect after home invasion leads to gunfire
LaGRANGE, Ga. (WRBL) — LaGrange police arrested a man on multiple charges after a home invasion resulted in gunfire.
On Thursday, Jan. 5 around 11:55 p.m., LaGrange police responded to a person shot near Mitchell Avenue and North Greenwood Street. Around that same time, officers were also dispatched to a home invasion involving gunfire at Lafayette Court.
After being treated and released, Fanning was arrested on attempted murder, as well as three counts of aggravated assault and one count of first-degree home invasion. Fanning is currently being held at the Troup County Jail on these charges.
Shooting at Bingo Paradise: Citizens hold alleged suspect at gunpoint
ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. (WKRG) — A Pensacola man was charged with aggravated battery and aggravated assault after he allegedly shot at two women who were asking for jumper cables Wednesday night on Mobile Hwy., according to Escambia County Sheriff’s deputies.
Lee David Wilkerson, 38, was charged with aggravated assault, aggravated battery, firing a weapon, possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, a weapon offense and trafficking amphetamine.
As deputies arrived at the business, deputies saw a white male, wearing a gray jacket and blue jeans lying on the floor with two unknown citizens holding him at gun point. Deputies said several customers inside the business began screaming and pointing at the white male on the ground saying, “He is the one who was shooting.”
Deputies said they detained Wilkerson and found a large baggie containing a crystallized rock substance and a fixed blade knife. Deputies said the crystallized rock substance tested positive for methamphetamine.
Deputies said they spoke with a victim who said Wilkerson had shot at her and her friend. The victim said she went to the business to get jumper cables from her mother who was playing bingo inside. She said she saw Wilkerson and another female standing outside of the business. According to the arrest report, the victim asked Wilkerson if they could go inside and tell the victim’s mother her daughter was here to get the jumper cables. The victim said Wilkerson told her, “no.”
According to the arrest report, the victim and her friend began to walk inside to get her mother, at which time Wilkerson and the other female began “acting strange.” The victim said at that time the woman started attacking her. The victim said that is when Wilkerson removed a small handgun from his right side, took the firearm and hit her in the left side of her head. One of the victim’s said Wilkerson then pointed the firearm at her and the other victim and began shooting towards them. According to the arrest report, one of the victims ran inside the business and the other went back to her vehicle and left the business. According to the victim inside the business, she heard more shots being fired as she entered the business.
Deputies said they spoke with a witness who was inside the business calling out bingo numbers. The witness said he heard a commotion outside, at which time he turned around and saw Wilkerson pull a firearm from his pants and begin shooting. The witness said he told everyone in the building to get on the ground. According to the arrest report, two minutes later, Wilkerson came into the business and then two citizens pulled concealed weapons and held Wilkerson at gun point until deputies arrived.
During the investigation, other deputies on scene discovered “numerous” .380 caliber shell casings in the parking lot and near the front entrance to the business. Deputies said a firearm was located in the dumpster where Wilkerson said he threw the gun.
Wilkerson was transported to Escambia County Jail, where he was booked on a $156,000 bond.
Carjacker killed when victim accelerates, slams into L track support beam in the Loop
Kinda hard on the car
Chicago — A carjacker was killed in the Loop on Thursday evening when the victim fought back, accelerated her car, and slammed into a beam that supports the L tracks, Chicago police said. The Cook County medical examiner’s office identified the deceased man as 18-year-old Elijah Treadwell of Uptown.
Treadwell and a 16-year-old female accomplice entered an Infiniti FX35 in the 100 block of East Lake and tried to carjack a woman around 5:42 p.m., officials said. A struggle ensued, and the victim’s car accelerated into the L support column near Wabash Avenue, trapping the victim and both offenders inside, police said.
Chicago Fire Department workers extracted everyone and took them to hospitals. Treadwell was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. The female and the victim have both been stabilized, according to the fire department.
Chicago Critter posted close-up video of the wreckage as crews were preparing to tow it away:
Close look at the vehicle. pic.twitter.com/E0feTqWfoN
— CHICAGO CRITTER (@ChicagoCritter) January 5, 2023
ARE YOU PREPARED?
BE READY FOR THESE FIVE CATEGORIES
Where’s the danger? Those who carry a weapon in public are constantly asking this question. We’re always in what Jeff Cooper popularized as Condition Yellow. No threat has been recognized, but we’re actively alert for anything that might come up. Once a potential threat has been identified, we move to Condition Orange and begin planning for an attack. We evaluate the threat, the availability of cover and concealment, look for other threats and evaluate the overall environment in case we need to use lethal force. Condition Orange is a critical stage because you’ve identified the threat and must prepare. I propose some threats are already known to us, but most are not adequately prepared to respond.
Threats come in many forms. We can’t always know where they will come from. When we do, however, we’re always better off if we have already prepared rather than waiting until it is staring us in the eyes. A prepared response is always better than an improvised one. This is especially true when the threat is deadly. Massad Ayoob has an oft-repeated phrase for this: “Know where the threats are most likely to come from and have a proven strategy prepared to counter it.” You can’t prepare for everything, so you’ve got to prioritize.
Learning the most common instances where lethal force was used can give you valuable information about where your focus should be. I was listening to the Armed Attorneys (YouTube) discussing this recently. According to them, civilian uses of force cases (as opposed to law enforcement) overwhelmingly come in five categories:
Central Texas homeowner shoots home intruder
BOSQUE COUNTY, Texas (KWTX) – William Strauser, of Valley Mills, was booked into the Bosque County Jail on charges of attempted burglary of a habitation, criminal mischief, and criminal trespass after Strauser was shot by a local homeowner, Sheriff Trace Hendricks said.
At approximately 6:50 p.m. on Jan. 3, Bosque County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a call from a resident on County Road 3505 regarding an attempted burglary resulting in the homeowner shooting the alleged intruder.
The deputies who arrived at the residence found a man lying on the sidewalk in front of the residence with the homeowner holding the suspect at gunpoint.
The home owner was disarmed and deputies rendered first aid to the suspect, who was suffering from a gunshot wound in the upper region of his right leg.
The homeowner told the deputies the intruder rammed his vehicle through the locked gate, accessed the property, approached the residence’s front door, and “aggressively” attempted to break into the residence.
“Evidence at the scene supports this statement. The intruder was transported by ambulance to Hillcrest ER where he was treated for the gunshot wound and released,” the sheriff said. “Once released medically, deputies took the suspect into custody.”
Deputies confirmed the “parties involved were known to each other and that this was not a random burglary attempt.”
What the Media Can’t – Or Won’t – Tell Us About Armed Self Defense.
Don’t confuse the news with the truth. The corporate news media is in the business of delivering eyes and ears to their advertisers. That is how they earn their money. The assignment editors, reporters and the copyeditors are not against honesty and proportion, but cash comes first. That means they are biased in their reporting. They must ignore the common but important stories in order to leave room for the shock and outrage that keeps us watching and listening. I study armed defense. Ordinary citizens like us defend ourselves, our family, and innocent strangers every day. You wouldn’t know that from watching the news. This is why the corporate media does such a bad job of reporting.
To be fair, we have our own biases. Most of us think that armed defense looks like something from a John Wick movie or from the Matrix. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I have to describe what ordinary people do because most of us are not even familiar with the terms.
Armed defense is when the intended victim of a violent crime uses a firearm to deter or stop the criminal.
That includes something as simple as grandma shouting for an intruder to go away because she has a gun and that she called the police. The police might not classify it as a defensive gun use, but grandma thinks it was. She thinks the home-invasion robber changed his plans because she had her firearm. The criminal thinks grandma’s gun was important too.
Armed defense is when an armed mom is crossing the parking lot late at night. She tells her kids to get back in the car, she turns toward three young men, and puts her her hand into her purse. She yells “Stop!” and the three young men change direction. They get back into their car and drive away.
Homeowner shoots, kills burglar breaking into Lady Lake home
LADY LAKE, Fla. — Lake County deputies said a man is dead after he was shot while breaking into a home in Lady Lake.
Deputies said they were called to a home on Lakeview Street around 5:30 p.m. Monday for reports of a home invasion.
Officials said Ryan Michael Baldasare, 35, had broken into a home through a window and was shot by someone inside.
Baldasare was pronounced dead at the scene as deputies investigated the shooting.
Lake County deputies said that based on the evidence gathered so far, the incident appears to be a case of self-defense and the victim is cooperating with detectives.
Elderly man, homeowner shoots and kills 22-year-old during home invasion, armed robbery attempt
TOWN OF ELDERON, Wis. (WAOW) — A 22-year-old man is dead after it is believed he followed a 79-year-old man home from a local establishment in an armed robbery and home invasion attempt early Tuesday morning in Elderon, according to the Marathon County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies from the Marathon County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched at approximately 2:37 am to a residence in the Town of Elderon for a report of a man who was assaulted and stabbed in the face as he exited his vehicle in his garage, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The release also stated:
The (elderly) man was in possession of a firearm and fired one round that struck the (22-year-old) suspect prior to the firearm being wrestled away from him. The suspect suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and died while fleeing the scene. The suspect’s identity is being withheld pending family notification.
The 79-year-old man sustained non-life-threatening injuries and is recovering at a local hospital.
Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, no further information can be released at this time. The Sheriff’s Office will provide updates as additional information is available.
Will Phobias About AR-15s Keep Schools From Adopting This Innovative Product?
Time is of the essence in mass public shootings. Civilians and police stop a lot of mass murders by carrying handguns, but sometimes you need a larger round than is available in a traditional handgun. It often simply isn’t practical to carry around a rifle. And school staff might not have time to run to a locker to retrieve the needed gun.
Andrew Pollack, whose 18-year-old daughter, Meadow, died in the 2018 Parkland school mass murder that left 17 people dead, is fighting to give school districts the tools they need. Byrna, a company that makes innovative self-defense tools, has donated eight backpacks containing collapsible AR-15s to Pollack’s “Meadows Movement” nonprofit. These guns fire .223 caliber rifle rounds and are more powerful than traditional handguns.
On January 4th, Pollack will give the backpacks to the Bradford County Sheriff’s Office for use by school resource officers (SROs) and Will Hartley, superintendent of Bradford County Schools.
“The folding rifle is easy to carry throughout the day for a school resource officer inside the bulletproof backpack,” Pollack said. “The seconds to get minutes lost retrieving a rifle from a locker vs. pulling the bulletproof backpack into a vest and having the rifle on hand equates to the number of lives that could have been saved.”
The school superintendent echoes his comments. “I wish more people could have it,” Hartley notes. “Because if someone comes on your campus and they have a long gun, we need to be able to meet their force with the same kind of force.”
Bradford County Schools is smart enough to have multiple layers of protection. Even when school resource officers are in the right place at the right time, they have a tough job. Uniformed guards may as well be holding neon signs saying, “Shoot me first.” Attackers know that once they kill the sheriff’s deputy, they have free rein to go after everybody else.
To prevent that, the Bradford County schools are part of Florida’s Guardian Program. As in nineteen other states, teachers and staff are trained to use guns to protect people. But their guns are concealed. Permit holders make guards’ very difficult job easier. If an attacker tries to kill a school resource officer, he reveals his position and makes himself a target to someone with a concealed handgun. As with concealed handgun permit holders generally, the whole point is that the attacker doesn’t know who else he needs to worry about.
Instead of a sign in front of these schools saying “Gun Free School Zone,” they are replaced with signs warning: “Please be aware that certain staff members at Bradford County Schools can be legally armed and may use whatever force is necessary to protect our students.”
But, unfortunately, there are plenty of schools around the country that haven’t learned the lessons that Bradford County has. And these backpacks, with their built-in bullet-resistant vests and ARs will help protect school resource officers from surprise attacks from behind them and will give them more potent firepower if they get into a firefight with attackers. In literally just a couple of seconds, the bullet-resistant vest can also be put on their front side.
Technically these guns are called AR-pistols rather than AR-15s, but the difference in terms is entirely arbitrary and results from nonsensical government regulations on how to define a rifle. Instead of a stock, an AR-15 pistol usually has a tube, but the two guns are functionally identical.
Pollack so believes in Byrna’s products that he is now their chief public safety officer.
It will be a shame if school districts’ phobias about AR-15s prevent them from taking advantage of this innovative product.