Self Defense – Page 62

Clare police investigating home invasion, where homeowner shot and killed alleged intruder

CLARE, Mich. (WJRT) May 5 – The Clare Police Chief is one of the witnesses of a shooting, as an alleged suspect in a home invasion is shot by the homeowner.

It was around six this morning in Clare when a 911 call was made from a homeowner saying someone broke into his house.

The home is attached to a popular business in the city and police say they got to the home in about two minutes.

Clare Police Chief David Saad was just getting to work when the 911 call went out that there was a home invasion in progress on McEwan Street.

McEwan Street runs through the heart of the city of Clare, population of about 3,200

It was six o’clock in the morning when police chief David Saad was just getting to work and was called to this home for a reported break-in.

“My officer and I arrived at the scene, it was six am so I was just coming into service as well as him, when we responded down over here, we received the call, and as we were making entry into the residence that’s when the shots went off,” says Saad.

Saad was in the home and saw the gunshots being fired.

He says the suspect in the home invasion was shot to death. The male homeowner, Saad and the officer were not injured.

The Michigan State Police Crime Lab was on the scene collecting evidence throughout the afternoon. The shooting happened in a home connected to the popular Dairy Phil restaurant.

“A separate residence is in the back, but the individual that owns the Dairy Phil also lives in the back residence,’ he says.

Saad confirms it was the owner of the Daily Phil that shot the man. He did not want to comment on whether the home invasion suspect had a weapon of any kind.

“To my knowledge they are not acquainted to each other,” he says.

He says gun used in the shooting was registered to the homeowner. Saad says its not typical for a home invasion to occur at that time of the day.

“Pretty uncommon around 6 am, most of the time they occur in the middle of the night,” he says.

The chief did not release the name of the man who was shot and he says once their report is done, it will be sent to the prosecutor’s office to review.

While I don’t agree with the premise that possession stats should be publicized, the fact that ‘more guns’ means ‘more safety’ is undeniable.

More guns, more safety

Late in 2008, the Memphis Commercial Appeal, a leading Tennessee newspaper, unleashed a whirlwind of controversy when it decided to publish a database of all state residents with permits to carry handguns. The information was already available through the Tennessee Department of Safety, but the state website wasn’t especially user-friendly.

With the publication of the newspaper database, however, it became easy to search for people with gun-carry permits by name, ZIP code, or city. For a while, the database was the most viewed item on the newspaper’s website, with more than 65,000 page views per day.

Firearms owners and their advocates were furious, as WMC-TV reported at the time:

Some Mid-South gun owners are outraged over a website that lists handgun carry permits, claiming the site gives away too much personal information.

Tom Givens, who runs the Range Master pistol range, said the database, published by the Commercial Appeal, has many of his clients upset.

“First, it’s an invasion of privacy,” Givens said.

Using the database, a visitor to the website can look up the name of anyone who has a permit to carry a hand gun in the state of Tennessee. Information listed includes the owner’s year of birth, along with his or her city, state, and ZIP code of residence.

Givens said his phone has been ringing off the hook from clients upset about their personal information being so accessible.

“By publishing this database your employers, your co-workers, church members, even relatives that may not know you have a permit, now know that you’ve got one,” he said.

On gun owners’ message boards, complaints abounded. A common concern was that residents with carry permits would be put at particular risk, since the paper’s database enabled any would-be thief looking for a gun to steal to know exactly where to find them. “I’m not happy about it at all,” fumed one resident on the City-Data web forum:

I’m not a criminal — just a law-biding citizen who has a clean background and has undergone background checks in order to exercise my right to protect myself from all the thugs in this world. I could see the database used to “shop” for homeowners to rob who probably have guns in the house. I see no legitimate reason to have this information online other than to demonize permit holders in some way.

The National Rifle Association’s CEO and executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre, denounced the Commercial Appeal for engaging in what he called a “hateful, shameful form of public irresponsibility.” Added another NRA official: “What they’ve done is give criminals a lighted pathway to [burglarize] the homes of gun owners.”

But the paper’s editor, Chris Peck, argued that newspapers should be a comprehensive source for community information, and that it was neither illegal nor unethical for the Commercial Appeal to make public records more accessible to the public. In fact, he pointed out in a lengthy column, the Commercial Appeal eliminated street addresses and birth dates from the Department of Safety data it published. That meant that the “posted list of permit holders for concealed weapons has less information about individuals than the phone book, your voter registration form, or the credit card you use to buy dinner at a restaurant.”

As for the potential danger to gun owners from burglars looking for weapons to steal, Peck turned that argument on its head:

Think about it for a minute. Many, if not most, households in Memphis possess a firearm. So you don’t really need a list to find a house with a gun.

And, if criminals were checking the permit-to-carry list before picking a target, would they likely choose a house where they know the owner could be carrying a gun, or would they more likely steer away from that house to avoid a possible confrontation?

Neither logic nor common sense is carrying the day on this issue. It’s emotion.

Peck went on to explain why, in his view, there was “a powerful case to be made both for a permitting process to carry concealed weapons and for keeping that permitting process public.” The Commercial Appeal, he insisted, “isn’t anti-gun” but “pro-news and -information.”

I thought it was a good column, though I doubt it changed the minds of LaPierre and the gun owners who were certain the Commercial Appeal’s reasons for publishing the database weren’t benign. I’d guess, too, that they didn’t buy Peck’s contention that, far from endangering them, the database would lead criminals to avoid their homes.

But now we know: He was right.

After Memphis-area gun permit data was published, districts where more residents were licensed to carry saw a decrease in crime.

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Just how many defensive gun uses are there each year?

Gun control will be a hot topic for a very long time. However, one area that doesn’t get discussed nearly enough is the total number of defensive gun uses.

While the media spends a lot of time talking about how many people die from gunshots each and every year–typically conflating suicides with homicides–in an effort to advance a gun control agenda, they ignore the many times law-abiding citizens use firearms defensively every year.

But just how many defensive gun uses are there?

How often are firearms used defensively in the United States? According to the most-recent study, about 1.6 million times annually. Over a lifetime, about a third of gun owners will use a firearm defensively at least once. This recent data is broadly consistent with decades of social-science research.

The first pollster to ask about defensive gun use (DGU) was the Field Poll in California in 1976. Over the subsequent 18 years, polling companies such as Gallup, Hart and Tarrance, as well as scholars and media, conducted their own surveys of DGU. They reported results as low as 764,000 annually (Tarrance, 1994) and as high as 3.6 million (Los Angeles Times, 1994).

In 1993, Florida State University criminology professor Gary Kleck conducted a survey that was much more methodologically sophisticated than all the above polls. Kleck included safeguards designed to weed out respondents who might misdescribe a DGU story. Kleck and his coauthor Marc Gertz found a midpoint estimate of 2.5 million DGUs annually, with a possible range of 2 to 3 million. Their study is described in the Kleck and Gertz article, “Armed Resistance to Crime: The Prevalence and Nature of Self-Defense with a Gun,” in the Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology (1995), which is available on the web, and is further described in Kleck’s 1997 book Targeting Guns. The book and the article also examine all previous surveys.

Oh, but some claim, Kleck’s work has been debunked.

Has it, though?

The same journal issue that published the Kleck & Gertz study also published a response by Marvin Wolfgang. He had long been the most-influential criminologist in the English-speaking world, and he was past president of the American Society of Criminology. Wolfgang wrote: “I am as strong a gun-control advocate as can be found among the criminologists in this country … . I would eliminate all guns from the civilian population and maybe even from the police. I hate guns … .

Nonetheless, the methodological soundness of the current Kleck and Gertz study is clear … . The Kleck and Gertz study impresses me for the caution the authors exercise and the elaborate nuances they examine methodologically. I do not like their conclusions that having a gun can be useful, but I cannot fault their methodology. They have tried earnestly to meet all objections in advance and have done exceedingly well.”

Wolfgang isn’t exactly an NRA supporter.

Of course, most of us have long known these numbers. We knew how many millions of defensive gun uses there are each year. It well outstrips the number of lives claimed by gunshot wounds, that’s for sure.

However, it’s interesting how even the smallest estimates for defensive gun use outstrip those numbers as well. Literally no credible study shows otherwise. Even the more heavily biased studies that put defensive gun uses at 100,000 each year still argue there are twice as many lives saved by guns than taken.

Why is the media ignoring this reality?

We all know why. They can claim they are simply neutral parties in the debate all they want, but they always seem to miss this. Even if they report the studies themselves, they never seem to make it into later stories about guns and gun control.

But the number of gun deaths always does.

Funny how that shakes out, isn’t it?

Tacoma hotel employee shoots man who threatened 3 employees with a knife

TACOMA — A hotel employee shot a man who was threatening three employees with a weapon Tuesday night in Pierce County.

Police say a 45-year-old man, who brandished a knife, threatened workers at the Quality Inn and Suites Tacoma in the 8800 block of South Hosmer Street around 11:45 p.m.

A 32-year-old female employee shot the man, who was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. He was shot in the left abdomen, according to the police scanner. The woman called 911 claiming she shot someone outside and the victim was still moving on the ground.

The man was booked for three counts of assault upon being released from the hospital.

Homeowner justified in fatal shooting of armed intruder, Kent County prosecutor says

KENT COUNTY, MI — A Kent County homeowner who traded gunfire with an intruder trying to steal his truck keys, killing the man, was justified in using deadly force, prosecutors have ruled.

Kent County Prosecutor Christopher Becker issued a ruling Tuesday, May 3 on the March 30 shooting at a Byron Township home on 108th Street just east of Wilson Avenue.

He ruled that homeowner Alan Lenhart was within his right to shoot and kill 39-year-old Christopher Carl-James Worth of Middleville…….

Los Angeles armed suspects scramble for cover after employee whips out his own gun
Gunfire erupted when four suspects tried committing an armed robbery in the Compton smoke shop, authorities said

Two suspects are wanted in connection with an armed robbery in a Los Angeles smoke shop that resulted in a shootout between a security guard and four others in which one person was killed, authorities said.

The gunfire broke at the “Smoke Shop” just before 7 p.m. in Compton, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department said. Four people entered the store and pointed handguns at an employee behind a counter.

An employee appears to be wearing a ballistic vest with “SECURITY” written on it, according to security footage released by authorities Wednesday. One suspect can be seen taking out a gun and pointing it at him.

Four suspects got into a shootout with a smoke shop employee in Compton, California during an armed robbery. One suspect later died, authorities said.

Four suspects got into a shootout with a smoke shop employee in Compton, California during an armed robbery. One suspect later died, authorities said. (Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department)

The employee pulls out a gun and a gun battle ensued. The suspects trip over each other as they try to flee and fire several rounds at the store employee.

He was shot in the neck and face but was later released from the hospital.

A half-hour after the gunfire exchange, deputies responded to Martin Luther King Hospital for a gunshot victim. Investigators said the victim was one of the four suspects at the smoke shop who had been wounded.

The sheriff’s department told Fox News that suspect later died. A second suspect was arrested the following day on April 4.

Keith Rachel and Kahlel Lundy. (Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department)

Kahlel Lundy, 23, and Keith Rachel, 21, were identified as the other two participants in the robbery and are wanted for murder, authorities said.

Chicago shooting: Would-be robber shot, killed in Calumet Heights; 1 in custody

CHICAGO — One person was taken into custody after a man was shot to death while trying to commit a robbery Saturday afternoon in Calumet Heights on the South Side.

Two men were walking back to their vehicle from a store about 3:45 p.m. in the 1500 block of East 95th Street when they began talking with the 32-year-old, Chicago police said.
The pair then entered their Volkswagen SUV and the man got into the backseat, struck one of them with a handgun and demanded their belongings, police said.

One of the men then pulled out their own gun and shot the would-be robber, striking him in the forehead, left leg and chest, police said.

He was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center where he was later pronounced dead. He was identified as Xavier Johnson by the Cook County medical examiner’s office. One person was taken into custody.

A man who was being robbed by two Norristown teens killed them in self-defense, prosecutors said

Two Norristown teens who attempted to rob a man late Friday died after their intended victim shot them with a gun he was licensed to carry, prosecutors said Saturday.

The shooting occurred about 8 p.m., as the man was walking to his car from a home nearby on Warren Street, according to a statement from Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele. Steele did not release the man’s name because no criminal charges have been filed in the case.

Detectives determined that a fight broke out after one of the two 17-year-old males pulled a gun on the man. During the scuffle, the man shot both teens, Steele said.

The man called police and attempted to give medical aid to the teens, but both were pronounced dead at the scene. Officers found an illegal ghost gun — a firearm assembled from a kit that lacks a traceable serial number — with an extended 30-round magazine nearby, authorities said.

Steele declined to release the names of the teens, saying there is “a lot of work” to be done in the investigation.

The law considers using a fake gun the same as if it was a real one

Armed Robbers Had Replica Guns, One Robber Killed

FRANKFORT, IL — One person is dead following an armed robbery early Saturday morning at Ryan’s Pub, 7928 Lincoln Highway in Frankfort, according to Will County Sheriff’s Deputy Chief Dan Jungles.

The WCSO said two armed men wearing masks, gloves and hoods went into the bar around 3:15 a.m. demanding money from patrons. The armed robbers threatened to shoot all of the patrons and employees if they did not comply with the robbers demands, according to the WCSO.

It was later discovered that the guns used by the robbers were “replica firearms,” similar to airsoft guns, according to an update from the WCSO. One of the replica guns was found near the body of the dead robber, and the other was found in a parking lot outside of Ryan’s Pub, according to the WCSO.

A patron in the bar was also armed and shot one of the robbers several times, according to the WCSO. The other robber fled the bar on foot into a nearby vehicle, which sped away heading eastbound on U.S. Route 30, according to the WCSO.

The robber who was shot was pronounced dead at the scene by Frankfort Fire Protection District, according to the WCSO…….

Park-goer walking dog with girlfriend at Memorial Park forced to shoot at ‘would-be’ burglars

HOUSTON – What officials say was supposed to be a peaceful trip to Memorial Park turned violent and dangerous Wednesday night around 9:30 when burglars targeted a car in a parking lot near East Memorial Loop and Arnot.

Instead of getting away with stolen property, the suspected bad guys were met with a fiery surprise.

“Our officers arrived on the scene and met with a complainant who witnessed his vehicle being broken into,” said Houston Police Department Lieutenant Mike Barrow.

On top of that, Houston police say one of the three would-be burglars had a gun, but so did the victim.

”The complainant took a shot and missed,” Barrow said.

No one was hurt, according to Barrow, who says officers patrolling the area were able to respond almost immediately. Police caught one suspect, Billy Ray Chavis, and arrested him. The other two suspects ran away.

Park-goers say they’ll be more vigilant. “It’s shocking to hear that something like that could happen here,” said Abiel Cano.

”Today’s world is very scary,” said Cindy Dickerson.

HPD says they have ramped up security in the park because they want the public to feel safe.

Investigators and the victim, who declined an interview, hope someone who knows where the other two suspects are, will give authorities a call.

Woman fatally shoots man who broke into Southeast Side home with kids inside

SAN ANTONIO – A woman fatally shot a man who broke into her Southeast Side home on Thursday night, according to San Antonio police.

The shooting happened at 10 p.m. in the 600 block of Kashmuir Place, not far from Kellis Avenue and South Side Lions Park.

Police said a woman in her 30s was in her house with her three children when she heard a man break into her home. The man entered via the laundry room in the back of the house, police said.

The woman grabbed a gun and shot the intruder in the chest, police said.

When officers arrived at the scene, they found the injured man in the woman’s backyard, sitting on a chair and bleeding from gunshot wounds.

The man died on the way to the hospital. His name and age have not been released.

The shooting is under investigation.

Ukrainian Politician Calls for More Civilian-Owned Guns, Support From American Gun Owners

Ukrainian gun-rights advocates are searching for greater support from American gun owners two months into their fight against Russia’s invasion.

Maryan Zablotskyy, a member of Urakaine’s legislature, visited Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to rally support for his country’s fight. He met with gun-rights activists and Capitol Hill insiders, according to The Washington Times. He said he’s hoping to cultivate relationships with people who can help arm his countrymen.

“I want to work more closely with the American government and gun owners so that maybe some of them can share their weapons to Ukrainians, at least to the regions that have been most affected by violence,” Zablotskyy told the paper.

He was also looking for advice on reforming Ukraine’s gun laws to make it easier for civilians to own guns. The country’s legislature passed a law expanding access to firearms and enshrining a right to self-defense in the immediate lead-up to the invasion. As Russian tanks began to roll into the country, the government handed out rifles en mass to any civilians willing to take up arms.

Even Ukrainian lawmakers began taking up arms when the capital city of Kyiv was threatened.

Still, Zablotskyy estimated only about two percent of Ukrainians own guns, and most of those are not rifles useful for resisting an invading army. He hopes to bring more rifles from the United States into the country. He also said the gun laws remain too strict.

“I received a firearm myself in Ukraine, but again, it was stipulated that after ten days or the war ends, I have to surrender it back to the government,” he told The Times.

He said there is now “overwhelming support” for expanding gun rights in the wake of the invasion. Ukrainians have mobilized hundreds of thousands of volunteer fighters to bolster their forces since the war began. Armed civilians have played a significant role in key fights throughout the country, including defending a strategically-important bridge town outside the capital.

Zablotskyy argued the war crimes carried out by Russian soldiers against civilians in Bucha, Ukraine would have been impossible if the population had been armed.

“I’m pretty sure that no massacre would ever have happened if residents of Bucha had firearms,” he told the paper. “They had zero. So, I want to arm those regions that have been most affected who understand the need for arms.”

Mother says son shot 2 teens in self-defense in Orlando neighborhood

ORLANDO, Fla. – A mother said her son had a gun pointed at him while in their own driveway in Orlando early Thursday morning, so he fired back in self-defense.

Orange County deputies said the call first came in at 2 a.m. for a report of a car burglary with shots fired on Martinwood Drive in Pine Hills. Maria Vasquez told FOX 35 it started as two teenagers were trying to steal his car.

“He say, ‘what are you doing? Why are you watching my car?,'” Vasquez said.

According to deputies, the man told them he confronted two people who were burglarizing a car and when they made a threatening move toward him, he fired several shots. Deputies said the two teens were taken to the hospital with non life-threatening injuries.

“Was your son injured?” FOX 35 reporter Valerie Boey asked Vasquez. “No he’s good,” the mother replied.

Vasquez said one of the teenage suspects broke into her car on April 8. Deputies confirmed that break-in. “He go to my car, open and taken my credit card and ID, and my ID for employers and copy,” she said.

She said they stole a copy of the key to her son’s car and came back around 2 a.m. to steal the Toyota Camry. Maria said investigators discovered her son’s car key in the suspect’s pocket. Deputies confirmed that one of the suspect’s in this burglary had evidence from the previous burglary.

“My son is a good person. He works a lot.,” Vasquez said.

According to deputies, the teens are ages 13 and 16. Investigators have to determine whether criminal charges are appropriate.

“He feared for his life. He was defending his space,” resident Judith Stokes, said. Stokes said the Pine Hills neighborhood is usually peaceful.

“To have something like this go on, it is startling,” Stokes said. She believes the teens should have been home, instead of out at 2 a.m.

Vasquez hopes they have a quick recovery.

“Do you hope the teenagers will be ok?” Boey asked, in which Vasquez replied, “Yes, I pray.”

Woman pulls out gun to thwart would-be robber

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. — A man who pointed a gun at a woman after asking her for money, fled after she pulled out a gun of her own, according to court records. He is now facing one count of intimidation.

On April 25, South Bend Police responded to 27th Street and Mishawaka Avenue for reports of a man pointing a handgun at a woman.

The victim told police a man, later identified as Garland Adams, walked up to her and asked for money. When she didn’t give him money, he pulled out a gun and pointed it at her face, according to the probable cause affidavit.

The woman then backed up and pulled out a pink handgun of her own, reports said.

The man then fled on his bike.

Two people at a gas station nearby witnessed the incident.

Officers searched for the suspect and located Adams at 36th Street and Mishawaka. Police said he had a black gun in his right hand, reports said.

When police knocked the gun to the ground, it broke into three pieces, police said.

The gun was a BB gun with the orange tip removed to make it look like a real gun, reports said.

Adams was taken to the gas station where the witnesses identified Garland as the man who pointed the gun at the victim, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Officers also obtained footage from the gas station that showed the incident.

The video showed Garland approach the victim as she backed away. Garland advanced towards the victim, pointing the gun at her, as she continued to try to back away, reports said.

The victim ran out of view and took up a firing position with her pistol behind some trash cans, the video showed.

The suspect pointed his weapon in her direction before getting on his bike and fleeing the area.

Adams was taken into custody on one count of intimidation. He was charged on April 27.

The victim was also arrested for carrying a handgun without a license, but was released with no charges filed.

The thug didn’t get a slug, but as she could have, stories like this qualify.

Akron homeowner holds intruder at gunpoint until police arrive

AKRON, Ohio – A local couple was startled late Monday when they heard noises and found a woman standing in their kitchen after kicking in their back door.

One of the homeowners called police while her husband escorted the intruder to the back porch where he held her at gunpoint until police arrived.

“We were able to get her on the back porch. We need the police here immediately,” the woman told police dispatchers.

“Are they not able to get out?” asked the dispatcher.

“OK, do you know who this woman is?” the dispatcher then asked.

“No, never seen her before in my life and my husband is armed. OK, he has a permit to carry a gun. No one is hurt, but she is sitting on our back porch and we are not going to let her leave until the police get here,” the caller responded.

“She wasn’t overly afraid, but you could tell the gravity of what just took place was very concerning to her and her husband,” said Akron Police Lieutenant Michael Miller. “That’s a homeowner exercising their rights to ensure that they are safe. It also shows a homeowner’s decision making and restraint in that it didn’t escalate.”

The homeowners declined to go on camera, but they did show FOX 8 their damaged back door after having been repeatedly kicked to force open.

Police arrested Erin Myers, who was in the Summit County Jail on Wednesday charged with burglary.

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Man shoots carjacker who jumped in driver’s seat while he pumped gas at North Side QT

SAN ANTONIO – A man shot a carjacker who tried to steal his car while he was pumping gas at a North Side gas station, police said.

San Antonio police said a driver pulled into the QuickTrip in the 9900 block of San Pedro near W. Ramsey and was putting gas in his Honda Accord when another man pulled up alongside his vehicle in a truck.

The man got out of the truck and into the driver’s seat of the Accord and tried to drive off, police said.

The car owner got in the passenger side and fought with the man as the suspect put the car in reverse and hit the gas, driving over a sidewalk. That’s when the car owner pulled out a gun and shot the suspect multiple times, police said.

That suspect was transported to a local hospital in critical condition. The car owner was not injured.

Police are still investigating.

Fatal shooting outside downtown Tampa restaurant was self defense
The shooter was being beaten by three men outside a downtown restaurant when he opened fire, prosecutors conclude.

TAMPA — The shooter who killed a man outside a downtown Tampa restaurant on Feb. 27 was acting in self-defense and will not face criminal charges, the Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office has determined.

Prosecutors said an argument inside Bello Bar & Kitchen, 903 N Franklin St., extended outside that night, where the eventual shooter was thrown to the ground and attacked by three men: Adrian Diaz, Kevin Zayas and Freddy Santiago Jr.

Prosecutors said the shooter, whose name was not released, pulled his gun and fired multiple shots, with one bullet striking Diaz, 23, in the head and killing him. Zayas and Santiago, whose ages were not available, survived and will face battery charges, prosecutors said.
A news release from the State Attorney’s Office details the events that led up to the shooting:

The victim was inside Bello Bar & Kitchen with his girlfriend when he got into an argument with Zayas, which prompted Santiago and Diaz to “crowd” around him until he left for his car. While the victim was gone, security footage captured Santiago arming himself with a butter knife and a drinking glass.

The victim then returned to the bar. Zayas walked over to him and punched him, which prompted the staff of Bello Bar & Kitchen to force the group outside. Things escalated there, with Santiago throwing the glass at the victim and stabbing him repeatedly with the butter knife.

The three then got on top of the victim and beat him. The victim got onto a knee, drew his gun and fired.

The State Attorney’s Office said the victim initially fled the scene but called 911 from a nearby intersection. Once police arrived, he returned and gave his handgun, which he has a license to carry, to officers from the Tampa Police Department.

Security cameras captured the entire encounter, the State Attorney’s Office said, which backed up the victim’s story.

“After our thorough analysis, we have determined that the facts and evidence of this incident prove that the victim reasonably believed he was in fear of imminent death or great bodily harm when he used deadly force,” the State Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

Neither Zayas nor Santiago had been booked into the Hillsborough County Jail as of Monday afternoon.

Wellllll. It seems that Polk County Florida Sheriff Grady Judd isn’t alone in his thoughts about how to handle bunglers

Florida sheriff promotes gun safety course for residents to shoot home invaders: ‘We prefer that you do’

Florida sheriff says homeowners are ‘more than welcome’ to shoot intruders

A sheriff in Florida is encouraging residents to take gun safety courses after a homeowner fired multiple shots at an intruder on Wednesday, stopping the individual who allegedly broke into several homes.

Police arrested Brandon J. Harris, 32, who was arrested after allegedly breaking into several homes in Pace, Florida, and was stopped by a homeowner who fired multiple gunshots at him, according to the Pensacola Daily News.

Calls of the break-ins began to come into the sheriff’s office at around 4:30 p.m., according to police. Harris is being charged with attempted burglary with assault, resisting arrest, criminal mischief, attempted larceny, and several other charges.

Brandon J. Harris

Brandon J. Harris (Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office )

Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson said in a press conference on Thursday that one of the homeowners fired gunshots at Harris, and said that he was arrested after being cornered in a house that he allegedly broke into.

“Probably 20 deputies get there, the dogs are out, and he’s jumping fences and breaking into houses as he goes,” Johnson said. “One of the homeowners, he was breaking into their house, and they shot at him. So he continues to run, we finally corner him in a house that he broke into on Tom Sawyer and we cornered him in a bedroom.”

Johnson also encouraged other residents to follow in the homeowner’s footsteps and take gun safety classes, adding that they are “more than welcome” to shoot anyone who is breaking in to their house.

“I guess they think they did something wrong, which they did not. If someone’s breaking into your house, you’re more than welcome to shoot them in Santa Rosa County. We prefer that you do, actually. So, whoever that was, you’re not in trouble, come see us. We have a gun safety class we put on every other Saturday,” Johnson said.

The sheriff added that residents who take the course will shoot a gun “a lot better,” and maybe save taxpayers some money.

“If you take that, you’ll shoot a lot better, and hopefully you’ll save the taxpayers money,” Johnson said.

Johnson also described Harris as a “frequent flyer,” noting that he has been arrested 17 times before.

“You hear me talk about frequent flyers all the time. Our first interaction with this individual came when he was 13 years old. Since then, he’s had like 17 arrests,” Johnson said. “We sent him to prison for six and a half years for home invasion, and he just can’t seem to get the picture of crime does not pay.”

Suspected burglar shot by Geneva Co. homeowner

FADETTE, Ala. (WDHN) — Early Friday morning, a Wiregrass homeowner shot an intruder twice with a handgun — after telling him to leave and then a struggle between the two.

Authorities say the suspect was in the process of burglarizing the rural residence when the homeowner awakened to a sound from the back door.

Emergency responders arrived at a trailer off Audy Lane in eastern Geneva County’s Fadette community, just after 3 a.m. this morning.

Geneva County Sheriff Tony Helms says he and Geneva/Dale District Attorney Kirke Adams will gather all the evidence before charging the suspect.

“We worked the scene at the time, we’ve spoke to several witnesses there and several other locations and we’ve referred to the District attorney,” Sheriff Helms. “And determine what the charges will be. But at this time we don’t see any charges against the homeowner.

Sheriff Helms says once the suspect is released from the hospital he will be arrested and charged with the “Home invasion”

BLUF:
The concept that an openly armed person is a provocation to attack appears to flow from a simple premise on the left: A person doing something a leftist does not like is a provocation to attack them. It is part of the broader philosophical abandonment of the rule of law.

Evidence for this theory exists in the left’s theory of speech from any opponent. Speech from an opponent is considered to be violent, and worthy of attack. Violence, from the left, on the other hand, is considered to be speech………..

Defining open carry of weapons as a legal provocation is Orwellian word manipulation.

Is Carrying a Gun Provocation to be Attacked

In the law of self-defense of almost all states, If a person is attacked, and reasonably fears for their life, they may legally defend themselves with deadly force. A small minority of states require a person to retreat from the situation if they can do so in complete safety.

In all states of which I am aware, a person may not use deadly force in self-defense, if they provoked the attack with the intent of using deadly force.

It is not legal to start a fight so the person who started the fight can kill someone who they provoked.

Mere possession of an openly carried weapon is not a legal provocation to attack.

The Left has been floating the idea that mere possession of a weapon is a provocation. They contend the sight of someone in possession of a weapon is sufficient provocation for a person to attack the person who possesses the weapon.

This creates a bizarre world where mere open possession of a weapon is sufficient to justify a deadly attack on the possessor. Apply this to the police. They almost always carry a deadly weapon, openly.

This concept is contrary to common sense and the experience of thousands of years.

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As Crime Grows, Biden’s Radical War On Self-Defense Is Alienating Voters

President Joe Biden’s unpopular gun control moves are doing little to appease his gun control donor class. Worse, those same moves are distancing him from voters that clearly see crime as a central issue and gun ownership as a right to be protected.

Among the unpopular policy positions dragging down his presidency is his myopic focus on gun control instead of crime control. The Biden White House has pursued the most far-reaching and radical gun control agenda of any president, previously naming a gun control lobbyist to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) whose nomination was defeated when not even all Senate Democrats could support the nominee.

Biden has since nominated Steve Dettelbach, who once campaigned for public office on a gun control platform. President Biden is also circumventing Congress’s authority to write laws by issuing an administrative rule to redefine frames and receivers and ban arm braces on AR-style pistols and instituting a top-down policy of “zero tolerance” inspections that would revoke licenses of firearm retailers instead of working with small business owners to correct minor clerical errors.

On top of that, President Biden is facing two additional factors not working in his favor on gun control and lawful gun ownership. Gun control groups are livid that President Biden hasn’t delivered their goal of disarming the American population. He was rated just a “D+” by gun control groups exasperated that he hasn’t ruled like a dictator to unilaterally ban entire classes of firearms and delivered a laundry list of gun control “must-haves,” including a Cabinet-adjacent position that’s outside of Senate confirmation to push even more gun control policies.

Voters Are Worried About Criminals, Not Legal Gun Owners

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These 10 Incidents Highlight Importance of Second Amendment for Women

Since 1987, the United States has recognized March as Women’s History Month to celebrate the vital role of women in American history. Unfortunately, far too often we find that the armed women of history are overlooked or completely forgotten, and the vital role of the Second Amendment in the lives of American women is ignored.

Women long have availed themselves of the right to keep and bear arms in defense of life, liberty, and property—from Harriet Tubman, the famed “conductor” of the underground railroad who was known to carry loaded pistols, to Mary “Stagecoach Mary” Fields, the first black woman to be a mail carrier, who notoriously kept a .38 revolver in her apron to fend off bandits and wild animals alike.

Tubman and Fields haven’t been alone.

Almost every major study on the issue has found that Americans use their firearms in self-defense between 500,000 and 3 million times annually, according to the most recent report on the subject by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For this reason, The Daily Signal each month publishes an article highlighting some of the previous month’s many news stories on defensive gun use that you may have missed—or that might not have made it to the national spotlight in the first place. (Read other accounts here from 2019, 2020, 2021, and so far in 2022.)

To honor Women’s History Month, we decided to highlight 10 incidents from last month in which the Second Amendment made all the difference for women, either because they were armed or because another armed person came to their defense.

The examples below represent only a small portion of the news stories on defensive gun use that we found in March. You may explore more by using The Heritage Foundation’s interactive Defensive Gun Use Database. (The Daily Signal is the multimedia news organization of The Heritage Foundation.)

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80-year-old homeowner shoots, kills intruder during break-in

FLINT TWP., MI – An 80-year-old man shot and killed a person who broke into his West Bristol Road home on Thursday night, according to Flint Township police.

Police were dispatched shortly after 8:45 p.m. Thursday, April 21, to the 1000 block of West Bristol Road for the report of a shooting.

A 31-year-old man had broke into the home and was confronted by the 80-year-old homeowner, police said. The homeowner shot and killed the intruder.

Police said the homeowner was released after the incident pending further investigation.

Are Gun Grabbers or Gun Owners Empathic and Distrustful?

Both sides of the gun debate feel that their position is correct. Both sides agree that horrible people do horrible things. Both sides of the debate want to stop that. That small point of agreement is where progress in the debate usually ends. I think both sides are empathic and distrustful but they are paying attention to very different things. A way to get farther in the debate is to ask a deeper question.

The anti-gun side says that the bad guys would become better guys if they were disarmed, and that the other side loves guns more than they love people. The self-defense side replies that gun-control disarms far more victims than criminals. They note that disarmed bad guys are still bad guys, and the vast majority of violent crimes are committed with fists, clubs, and knives rather than guns.

The pro-gun side of the debate says that the victims of violent crime would be less victimized if they were allowed an armed defense. The anti-gun side of the debate answers that guns are just tools of violence and violence is never an optimal solution.

Neither side changes their opinion because the argument never touches their core beliefs. I want us to join in the debate by asking a more fundamental question; can we be trusted with violence?

Most of us need to do some homework before we can put an answer together. Let’s look at the question piece at a time.

Can you judge when violence is justified? Have you studied enough to make that decision in a short amount of time? Can you recognize when violence is not only justified but a necessary evil that avoids a greater evil? Taken to the obvious limit, can you use a lethal tool to kill another person?

Those are difficult questions, but this isn’t a philosophy course where we have a semester to debate each answer. The hard part about the questions is that we will answer on our own in a very limited amount of time. We have neither the time to ask, nor is there an informed authority who knows our situation in enough detail to give us accurate and useful answers about what to do.

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