Category: Self Defense

The Most Important Shot
While some matters of self-defense have changed throughout history, getting that first round on-target remains important.

On July 21, 1865, in Springfield, MO, James B. Hickok and Davis Tutt were about to have what, at the time, was generally called a difficulty. Some claim it was over a woman; others claim it concerned a gambling debt, whatever. As was the custom of the day, the two men met to settle their differences.

Tutt, possibly acting a bit hastily, got off the first shot while Hickok was still 75 yards away. Tutt missed. Hickok, who might have been expecting such a move, braced his Colt Navy across his left forearm and fired before Tutt could trigger a second shot. Hickok’s bullet took Tutt in the left side and penetrated his heart. Davis Tutt expired shortly thereafter. As an interesting aside, I would note that Hickok made this 75-yard, one-shot stop with a revolver in the same power and terminal-performance level as a modern .380 ACP.

Fast forward to Dec. 29, 2019, and some folks were worshiping in a church in White Settlement, TX. The service was interrupted when a deranged gunman came in and started shooting people with a shotgun. In a matter of seconds, he killed two men and was about to shoot more when Jack Wilson (no relation to me) responded accordingly. Wilson, part of the church security team, fired one shot from his SIG Sauer P229 from about 15 yards and stopped the lunatic immediately with a head shot.

The significance of these two shootings, 154 years apart, is that some things change in this whole business of personal defense, and some things never change. Let’s take a look at some of each.

During Hickok’s day and for many years to come, it was considered acceptable for a man to arm himself and go confront another who was making threats against him. In addition, there are numerous “Not Guilty” verdicts on file when the deceased was not armed at all … “Well, he usually carried a gun and I saw him reaching for his hip pocket, where he usually carried his gun …”  Of course, there was the argument that was often made: “He needed killing.”

One should also realize that the local saloon was the men’s social club of the day. The fact that gambling, guns and booze were all together in one building didn’t seem to bother anyone too much. Apparently, the important thing was to protect one’s honor in spite of how much one had to drink or how many aces one might be holding.

Nowadays, none of that is OK with most of us who teach defensive techniques. We encourage the armed citizen to be a reluctant participant. If threats are being made, the thing to do is to file a police report and let the authorities handle it. And the best idea is to respond when you see your attacker is armed, not when you think he is armed. Today, the responsible armed citizen doesn’t shoot because they can; they shoot only because they have to.

Some things change and some things never change. For all that, you will note that Hickok and Wilson both solved the problem with a single shot from a .36-caliber pistol.

However, I sometimes wonder if we may sometimes be doing a disservice to today’s armed citizens. Personal-defense training has become a business for some folks, and they vie with each other for the customer’s attention. And maybe some things get complicated when there is really no need for it to be.

A good example would be the late Jeff Cooper’s Color Code. He came up with it to help his students understand and define levels of their own preparedness in the face of potential danger. It wasn’t long at all before others started adding colors to the scheme and using them to define what the attacker was doing instead of the mindset of the armed citizen. This led to confusing the whole thing, because they probably didn’t understand it in the first place.

And, as I have said previously, I think we put too much emphasis on gear. The suggestion, maybe only implied, is often that you won’t survive without this gun, that ammo or a particular holster. Students want to know what we carry and why. I wonder if they always get an honest answer. Too often, we may just be gun enthusiasts interacting with other gun enthusiasts, as opposed to being focused on helping those who are new to personal defense.

In addition to going into all the various defensive stances, techniques and philosophies, we might better spend our time teaching students how to avoid violence whenever possible. Perhaps we would be better off telling our students the importance of learning to handle their chosen gun quickly, efficiently and accurately.

In those two shootings, Hickok and Wilson each took care of business by delivering one well-placed shot to the threat. And that, I think, is the lesson for all of us. For all we can acquire, for all we can learn, for all we can cuss and discuss, the real challenge is to stand as calmly as possible, make a smooth, quick draw and deliver that first, fight-stopping shot.

Retailers are turning to good guys with guns

Mass shootings happen in grocery stores and malls. We’ve seen way too many of those cases over the years to think otherwise.

Further, a lot of these places don’t play well with the idea of good guys with guns. They are often gun-free zones, after all.

Yet after mass shootings in Buffalo, Colorado Springs, and El Paso, among others, it seems that retailers are thinking just a bit differently. They’re hiring armed security.

While a national debate rages over whether armed guards should be stationed at public places like schools, retailers around the country are beefing up armed security presence in stores, mostly using ex-police and military. Since July 2021, there’s been a 108% increase in demand for armed guards at grocery stores, according to Allied Universal, one of the world’s largest security staffing firms, which works with many of the nation’s biggest retailers and shopping malls.

“There’s been an absolute distinct change in security and the challenges” facing retailers since the pandemic, said Steve Jones, Allied Universal’s CEO. “All of them have had to relook at their security posture and all of them have had to add additional layers of security.”

In December, Iowa-based grocery chain Hy-Vee said it would be adding armed guards to its stores. The move was intended to “provide another layer of safety and security for our customers,” chief operating officer Jeremy Gosch said in a statement. The 285-store grocer released a video that shows security staff in black uniforms roaming the aisles, appearing to have badges, guns, handcuffs and pepper spray. The decision was not prompted by any one incident, the company said, but rather a rise in retail theft nationwide.

Another grocery chain, ShopRite, added armed guards at some stores in the early innings of the pandemic when it faced a crush of customers rushing to stock up on items for quarantine. Guards patrolled the aisles and stood at the front door.

Now, understand that these guards are there for far more pedestrian violent crimes than mass shootings. That’s also a good thing since those crimes are also far, far more common than mass shootings as well.

For any violent crime, though, what you need to prevent such things is good guys with guns, even if that means hiring one of your very own.

And that’s really what armed security is supposed to be. While they’re meant to be deterrents, it’s not because of a shiny badge that looks like a police badge if you don’t look too closely. It’s because there’s a good guy with a gun on the premises.

However, these stores should also remember that this isn’t a universal solution.

Private, armed security is a good thing, don’t get me wrong, but they’re not going to necessarily be able to stop all such violent crimes. After all, look at Buffalo. That store had armed security. The guard was killed early in the attack.

A uniformed, armed guard is a deterrent, but also a target for those who truly want to unleash horrors upon the world. What we need is more than just armed guards.

We need good guys with guns across the board.

We need average Americans to be not just allowed to carry but encouraged to do so. We need a legion of armed citizens–good guys with guns–who can go about their lives and, in the process, provide herd immunity from violence.

Armed guards are good. They’re not perfect, so why pretend this is enough? It’s not, so let’s do what we can to make sure they’re not someone’s only line of defense.

Stopping An Attack: Stopping an attacker as soon as possible is critical to surviving a criminal encounter.

Regardless of your state of residence, the justification for using deadly force is to stop someone who is placing people’s lives in immediate, serious danger. Of course, it is up to you to know the exact wording and particulars of your state law and abide by them. But, essentially, if we hadn’t taken immediate action, an innocent person would have been killed or sustained serious bodily injury.

It is important to understand that killing the bad guy is not, nor should be, our goal. We are acting because we want to stop the attacker right now, before any further damage is done. By the same token, if the bad guy dies because of our defensive response, that is unfortunate, but it is something he should have considered before placing others in danger.

And, in order to get him to stop as quickly as possible, we place our shots in what we call the vital zone. Rounds fired to the upper chest area are the easiest to make because the target is large. And these shots rely on the loss of blood and drop in blood pressure to incapacitate the criminal. As most deer hunters know, even a heart shot is not an instant stopper. Activity stops when fresh blood is no longer getting to the brain.

The more immediate stop comes from a head shot that impacts the brain or brain stem. The problem here is that the head is a much smaller target and is generally a moving target, as any turkey hunter can testify.

The current trends in thinking are that caliber doesn’t matter nearly as much as penetration. The bullet has to drive deep enough to impact the vitals in such a way as to cause the criminal to stop the attack. Okay, I’ll buy that, up to a point. A large hole in the heart or a major blood vessel is going to leak more blood than will a small hole in the same location.

For this reason, I still recommend the minimum defensive round to be 9 mm/.38 Spl. in size. And the defensive handgun should be loaded with premium bullets from a major manufacturer to insure that it will expand and penetrate in an appropriate manner. There is really no justification for going to a smaller caliber unless the person has some sort of physical problem that prevents it.

Essentially, the smaller the caliber and the lighter the load means that it is going to be even more difficult to get the crook to stop right now. And, remember, that is our goal. If your attacker dies from all those .22 bullets next week, or even in a couple of hours, there’s still plenty of time to continue this grievous attack. It is that attack that we want to stop … and we want to stop it right now!

17-year-old shoots, kills 2 armed men during attempted home invasion in Channelview

CHANNELVIEW, Texas (KTRK) — Two armed men were shot and killed by a 17-year-old while they attempted a home invasion, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.

On Friday at about 10:40 p.m., deputies with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office responded to an in-progress shooting call in the 16000 block of 1st Street.

Upon arrival, deputies said they located two men with apparent gunshot wounds on the lawn along the side of a residence.

Both men were pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics, according to Gonzalez.

Investigators said the two men and a third unidentified suspect were armed and wearing masks during an “attempt to force entry” into the home.

A woman, a 12-year-old boy, and two 17-year-old men were inside the home during the attempted home invasion but were not injured, according to Gonzalez.

Deputies said one of the 17-year-olds retrieved a shotgun and discharged it several times, striking the two intruders.

The third suspect fled the scene in an unidentified dark-colored, 4-door sedan.

There were no other reported injuries.

This is an ongoing investigation.

 

This being on a Bloomberg site, I can’t tell if this is a “*gasp*! Horrors!” article or not.( I hope it is, and that Bloombutt gets more indigestion)

Judge’s Ruling Maps Strategy for N.Y. Concealed-Carry Gun Cases

A federal judge has written what could become a blueprint for challenging New York’s concealed-carry law.

New York and other states including California, rushed to pass legislation after the US Supreme Court threw out a century-old law that limited who could carry a handgun in public.

New York banned concealed weapons in most public places. Private business owners can opt to allow concealed weapons in their establishments under the law and must post signs saying so.

Though US District Judge Glenn T. Suddaby denied a request last week to stop the law from taking effect, his 78-page decision described at length why the law could be found unconstitutional.

Among his reasons:

  • The new law omitted the phrase “other than in self-defense,” which could create a Second Amendment problem;
  • The state’s list of “sensitive places” is extensive, and automatically declaring private property a restricted location usurps private property rights;
  • The law’s social media and character reference requirements grant too much discretion to licensing officers and risk punishment for political speech in violation of the First Amendment;
  • Fifth Amendment concerns stem from an applicant having to incriminate themselves by providing all the information required for the permit.

Attorneys involved in other cases are sure to notice Suddaby’s contention that the plaintiffs would have had a “strong likelihood of success” on several of their claims, noted Margaret Finerty, co-chair of the New York State Bar Association’s Task Force on Mass Shootings.

“I think they’ll learn from the judge’s ruling,” said Finerty, a partner with Getnick and Getnick LLP and member of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Gun Violence.

“The judge basically said we were right,” said William Robinson, communications director for Gun Owners of America New York.

The state Republican Party said it plans to take the judge’s decision into consideration as it prepares a suit to be filed jointly with the Conservative Party.

“As the judge stated, Kathy Hochul’s law is blatantly unconstitutional and we have full confidence that it will ultimately be overturned,” GOP Chairman Nick Langworthy said in an emailed statement. “We are working with top legal experts to ensure that when filed, our case moves forward successfully.”

Concealed Carry Permits

The New York law increased requirements for obtaining a concealed carry permit—for example by requiring a list of former and current social media accounts from the past three years, seeking four character references who can attest to the applicant’s good moral character, and requiring 16 hours of in-person training and two hours of live-fire training.

The law followed two shootings on New York City subway trains that injured dozens and left one man dead. A racist gunman also killed 10 Black people in a mass shooting at a Buffalo, N.Y., supermarket May 14.

“Responsible gun control measures save lives and any attempts by the gun lobby to tear down New York’s sensible gun control laws will be met with fierce defense of the law,” State Attorney General Letitia James (D) said. “We will continue to defend the constitutionality of our laws to protect all New Yorkers.”

Case Dismissed

Gun Owners of America, its New York branch, and Ivan Antonyuk, a member of the gun owner group, filed suit July 11 alleging the new concealed-carry law is unconstitutional. He took issue with several aspects of the legislation, including the extensive list of sensitive places, and “incredulous demands for carry license applicants.”

The judge dismissed the case, largely because Antonyuk didn’t specify that he intended to carry a concealed weapon after the law took effect, only that he would like to.

Intent to carry and evidence of an imminent threat of arrest or prosecution by law enforcement would have been required to seek an injunction, Suddaby wrote.

Suddaby also took particular issue with a part of the law that says no license will be issued or renewed unless the person is an applicant of “good moral character” with the judgment necessary to only use the weapon in a manner that does not endanger oneself or others. The legislation didn’t include the phrase “other than in self-defense,” and without it, New York residents are left with a statue “plagued by a profound Second Amendment problem’,” he said.

The plaintiff would have had a “strong likelihood of success” in challenging that omission and also could have prevailed on their excessive training claims, he said.

“We will be back in court,” said Robinson. “The US Constitution is on our side, so we’re going to win this.”

Pending Cases

Buffalo real estate developer Carl Paladino on July 11 filed suit contending that the provision making private businesses automatically off-limits to concealed weapons violates the US Constitution.

A concealed-carry license applicant also has filed suit contending the law’s social media, character reference, and training requirements violate the right to free speech, to bear arms, and to due process.

The New York State Jewish Gun Club has said it, too, plans to file suit, taking issue with banning guns from houses of worship.

It’s understandable why the state wanted stricter gun laws, more training, and scrutiny of social media, Finerty said, noting that the Buffalo shooter posted his plans online and then live streamed the attack.

“I think the state has a lot of good arguments they can make to support the law,” Finerty said. “Many people feel it’s just overbroad, and it will be very interesting how it plays out in court.”

Everytown for Gun Safety advocates for universal background checks and other gun control measures. Michael Bloomberg is the majority owner of Bloomberg Government’s parent company and serves as a member of Everytown’s advisory board.

The cases are Antonyuk et al. v. Bruen, N.D.N.Y., Case 1:22-cv-00734-GTS-CFH, Decision 8/31/22; Paladino v. New York State Police Superintendent Et al., W.D.N.Y., Case 1:22-cv-00541, Complaint 7/11/22; and Jonathan Corbett v. Kathleen Hochul, S.D.N.Y., Case 1:22-cv-05867, Complaint 7/11/22.

Get the Word Out About Kyle’s Law

A prosecutor who uses his or her authority to virtue signal to the public to advance his or her political career is more dangerous to society than all but the most violent criminals.

Insurance will cover many forms of property crimes, and you can legally use deadly force against somebody who menaces you with death or serious bodily injury.

A prosecutor, though, can bankrupt most people by filing unfounded criminal charges against them, ruin their lives with prison time and criminal records. Unless the case is particularly egregious like that of Mike Nifong (D-NC), or with crooked judges like Mark Ciavarella (D-PA, a.k.a., federal inmate #15008-067) or Mike Conahan (D-PA, home arrest), there is little or no recourse against these “jurists.”

To put this in perspective, Pennsylvania attorney Frank Fina was suspended from the practice of law for his role in convicting Penn State President Graham Spanier of putting children at risk. Pennsylvania’s current Attorney General, and gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro (D-PA), worked hard to reinstate Spanier’s conviction while tweeting that Spanier had been told that Jerry Sandusky was sexually assaulting children on the Penn State campus. The witness, Mike McQueary, testified, however, under oath, that he did not see Sandusky do anything he deemed reportable to police while his father and a family friend, both of whom are mandated by law to report abuse, did not encourage him to report to child protective authorities whatever he thought he might have possibly heard.

I believe that Shapiro, like Scott Harshbarger (D-MA) and Martha Coakley (D-MA) who ruined the lives of the Amiraults, used his position to “virtue signal” his concern for the children prior to the election. The latter is my perception of Shapiro, Harshbarger, and Coakley rather than a statement of fact because I cannot read their minds.

Kyle’s Law

Attorney Andrew Branca, whose opinions often appear on William Jacobson’s blog Legal Insurrection, has proposed what he calls Kyle’s Law due to what he and I both regard as a politically motivated prosecution of Kyle Rittenhouse for what was obviously self-defense.

“Too often, rogue prosecutors bring felony criminal charges against people who were clearly doing nothing more than defending themselves, their families, or others from violent criminal attack. …The only motivation of the prosecutor is personal aggrandizement and political capital.” Kyle’s Law would sanction not only the jurisdiction but also the prosecutor who brings a junk case, to be defined as one in which the prosecutor lacks even preponderance of evidence rather than beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did anything wrong.

The American Bar Association’s Rules of Professional Conduct state meanwhile, “A lawyer shall not bring or defend a proceeding, or assert or controvert an issue therein, unless there is a basis in law and fact for doing so that is not frivolous…” and also “The prosecutor in a criminal case shall: (a) refrain from prosecuting a charge that the prosecutor knows is not supported by probable cause…” and probable cause requires a “reasonable belief” that the defendant has committed a crime.

If, for example, a video of a self-defense shooting shows clearly that the person who was shot initiated a deadly confrontation, perpetuated it by not allowing the subject of their attack to retreat in complete safety, and menaced the shooter with immediate deadly force, as did all three of Rittenhouse’s assailants, that’s proof beyond a reasonable doubt in favor of the shooter that the shooting was justified. If we look within the four corners of the charges against Rittenhouse, the prosecutors did not contest this version of the events.  Joseph Rosenbaum initiated a confrontation in which he attempted to strong-arm rob Rittenhouse (a violent felony by itself) of a firearm he could have turned against Rittenhouse on the spot and also one which, as a convicted felon, it was unlawful for Rosenbaum to handle. Anthony Huber the domestic abuser was a member of a mob (which constitutes disparity of force and therefore deadly force) that pursued Rittenhouse while yelling violent threats, thus putting Rittenhouse in reasonable fear for his life and denying him the opportunity to retreat in complete safety. He then menaced and struck Rittenhouse with a deadly contact weapon when Rittenhouse was on the ground. The third man, Gaige Grosskreutz, pursued Rittenhouse with a drawn handgun, which again constituted an implied threat, along with the immediate means of carrying it out.

Another example would be, for example, if a politically ambitious prosecutor had tried to show his “woke” credentials by charging the officer who shot Hakim Littleton even though the latter was on bodycam video firing a handgun at the head of another officer at roughly three paces. It was fortunate that Littleton was a bad shot or it would have been “end of watch” for that officer or, as Black Lives Matter and Antifa would put it, he would have “oinked his last.” This did not, however, happen because the local prosecutors saw the open and shut case of self-defense.

Poster Children for Kyle’s Law

  • The Amiraults were convicted on the basis of “evidence” that included, among other things, accusations that one of them sexually assaulted a boy with a butcher knife that somehow left no injuries, along with a “secret room” and a “magic room” that were never found.
  • Police officer Grant Snowden was railroaded to prison on the watch of Janet Reno (D-FL).
  • Police officer Garrett Rolfe was charged with murder for shooting Rayshard Brooks after Brooks took an officer’s Taser, which the prosecutor stipulated is a deadly weapon under Georgia law, and discharged it at the officers. The charges were finally dropped but should have never been filed.
  • Nikolas Fernandez was charged with felony assault for shooting Daniel Gregory, who reached through the window of Fernandez’s car to punch him. Gregory even admitted openly, “I catch him, I punch him in the face.” He claims that he was trying to stop Fernandez from running over “demonstrators” but the video shows clearly that Fernandez had come to almost a complete stop by the time Gregory reached into his car. Note also the barrier that another “demonstrator” shoves in front of the car which a reasonable person would construe as a prelude to a carjacking or Reginald Denny-style beating.
  • Here is a long list of wrongful convictions in the United States, some of which involved willful prosecutorial misconduct and/or misconduct by rogue police officers eager to get convictions no matter what.
  • Prosecutors should not be afraid to do their jobs just as police officers should not be afraid to do their jobs. Kneeling on a helpless suspect’s neck as Derek Chauvin was convicted of doing is not, however, a police officer’s job, and Chauvin is now in prison as a result. Junk prosecutions whose sole identifiable purpose, at least from the perspective of a reasonable person, noting that nobody can read the prosecutor’s mind, is to advance a prosecutor’s legal and/or political career, should similarly bring the consequences recommended in Kyle’s Law and maybe professional disciplinary action as well.

Largest-Ever Survey of Gun Owners Finds Diversity Increasing, Carrying Common, and More Than 1.6 Million Defensive Uses Per Year

A survey of 16,708 gun owners provides updated answers to some of the most pressing questions surrounding guns in America.

The National Firearms Survey, conducted in 2021 and updated earlier this year, examines the breadth of gun ownership and the use of guns throughout the country. It found more minorities and women own guns than previous surveys indicated, half of gun owners report carrying a handgun for self-defense, and nearly a third report having used a firearm to defend themselves–a number that translates to over 1.6 million defensive uses per year. William English, the Georgetown University professor who created the survey, told The Reload it is the most comprehensive look at American gun ownership yet produced.

“The biggest difference between the results of this survey and many earlier ones is that this survey goes into greater depth regarding types of firearms owned, the details of defensive gun uses, and frequency of defensive carry of handguns,” Professor English said. “This survey is also the largest survey of gun owners ever conducted, providing more statistical power than earlier surveys and much more information about the demographics of gun ownership and use. Its results are largely consistent with other recent survey work when it comes to general ownership estimates, which increases the confidence in its accuracy, but it goes into greater depth with regard to many details of interest.”

The sweeping survey will likely influence both the political and legal landscape surrounding firearms. The debate over guns has primarily centered on how common the ownership of guns is and how often they are really used to protect people rather than endanger them. Much of the evidence cited in that debate is decades old. So, the introduction of not just more thorough but more recent evidence may disrupt the decades-old conversation on guns. Its effect may be particularly stark in federal courts where the Supreme Court has placed significant weight on protecting guns in “common use for lawful purposes.”

The survey could also shake up how academics study guns in America. Up to this point, most gun ownership surveys have not been much larger than traditional public opinion polls. That means their samples can not be generalized down from their nationwide scope to more specific areas, such as the state level, without introducing further uncertainty. Most studies have attempted to control for that uncertainty by relying on indicators of gun ownership, including local suicide rates, rather than direct measurements.

However, Professor English’s survey established a representative sample of gun owners in all 50 states. He said the estimates in his survey are similar to the Rand Corporation’s widely-cited estimates on some of the more populous states but vary significantly in smaller states. The new data has the potential to upend the results of many studies that have relied on less straightforward ways of estimating gun ownership in the area they’re studying.

The survey also advances the understanding of defensive gun use. It shows many American gun owners report actually using their firearms to defend themselves.

“Given that 31.1% of firearms owners have used a firearm in self-defense, this implies that approximately 25.3 million adult Americans have defended themselves with a firearm,” English wrote in a preprint report on the study published on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN). “Answers to the frequency question suggest that these gun owners have been involved in a total of approximately 50 million defensive incidents. Assuming that defensive uses of firearms are distributed roughly equally across years, this suggests at least 1.67 million defensive uses of firearms per year in which firearms owners have defended themselves or their property through the discharge, display, or mention of a firearm (excluding military service, police work, or work as a security guard).”

However, English noted it also paints a more realistic picture of defensive gun use than what’s often shown in movies or TV. Instead of an altercation with many shots fired and the assailant ending up shot, the vast majority of defensive gun uses did not involve the defender firing any shot at all. Brandishing a gun was enough to end the threat to the gun owner in 81.9 percent of cases.

In cases where defenders did fire, a single shot was enough to end the confrontation in nearly half of the cases. Taking two shots was the next most common outcome, with each additional shot becoming less common.

Gun-control advocates and researchers have critiqued survey-based defensive gun use estimates, including the oft-cited work of criminologists Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz, as overestimates and elevated estimates in the tens-of-thousands range, calling into question the primary practical benefit of gun ownership. English said the paradoxically non-violent nature of most self-defensive use of firearms is why survey-based estimates like his differ significantly from those that use more restrictive metrics, such as the number of justifiable homicides or emergency room visits for gunshot wounds. He said his survey’s estimate aligns well with estimates for the number of emergency room visits once you factor in how few shots defenders say they fire and factor in the likely hit rate of those shots.

“The key to the puzzle is the fact that shots fired in self-defense rarely hit their target,” English told The Reload, citing studies from 2008 and 2018. “Studies of police have found that something like 65-85% of shots fired by officers miss. Note that these are trained professionals, and if they are engaged in a shooting incident, this will typically be pursued at close range until the perpetrator has been apprehended or incapacitated, meaning it’s not sufficient to simply fire a shot to scare an aggressor away. I wouldn’t be surprised if more than 90% of shots fired in self-defense by ordinary people didn’t hit anyone. Ordinary people should be less accurate, on average, than professional police officers. And, in most cases, the spectacle of gunfire is likely enough to get an aggressor to flee, which is sufficient for protecting a victim.”

English said his survey addressed another common critique of previous work in the field. He said previous studies that tried to estimate yearly defensive gun uses relied on respondents not only remembering that they used a gun in self-defense but also that it happened within the previous year. English designed his questions to avoid that pitfall, betting people are more likely to remember if they experienced a traumatic defensive encounter rather than the exact timeframe it happened in.

“My survey took a different approach, asking about defensive use at any time, not simply the last year,” he told The Reload. “The results show that this is not a rare event at all, with something like a third of gun owners reporting having used a gun in self-defense. Because of how the question was asked, I don’t have to engage in the exercise of extrapolating out estimates from measures of rare events in a restricted window of time.”

There are other potential weaknesses of English’s approach, though. He noted the survey only asked questions about defensive gun use to those over 18 years old and those who self-identified as gun owners. He said that might explain why his yearly estimate is on the lower end of Kleck’s previous estimates, which topped out at 2.5 million per year.

“There are also reasons to think that the [defensive gun use] estimates of this survey are conservative,” English said. “Kleck had found that a large proportion of those who had used guns in self-defense did not personally own a gun.”

English also looked at areas beyond what other researchers had attempted to survey at scale before. The survey found that AR-15s and similar rifles are in the hands of a wide swath of American gun owners, as are magazines that hold more than ten rounds of ammunition. What’s more, it found carrying pistols for protection is commonplace as well.

“In sum, about 31.9% of U.S. adults, or 81.4 million Americans, own over 415 million firearms, consisting of approximately 171 million handguns, 146 million rifles, and 98 million shotguns,” English said in his report. “About 24.6 million individuals have owned a up to 44 million AR-15 and similarly styled rifles, and 39 million individuals have owned up to 542 million magazines that hold over ten rounds. Approximately a third of gun owners (31.1%) have used a firearm to defend themselves or their property, often on more than one occasion, and guns are used defensively by firearms owners in approximately 1.67 million incidents per year. A majority of gun owners (56.2%) indicate that they carry a handgun for self-defense in at least some circumstances, and about 35% of gun owners report carrying a handgun with some frequency.”

The survey of over 44,000 Americans, from which 16,708 gun owners were identified for further questioning, was conducted through the internet between February 17th and March 23rd 2021 by the polling firm Centiment. It is part of a larger research project by English on guns in America. He said he plans to publish several more academic papers on it in the coming months, ultimately culminating in a book on the topic.

Intruder Shot In Face While Climbing Through Woman’s SE OKC Bedroom Window

OKLAHOMA CITY – Two scenes, which are four miles apart, are involving two Oklahoma City metro police departments.
Oklahoma City police are investigating after a man was shot in the face Tuesday while climbing into a woman’s bedroom window.

Police said the alleged intruder managed to drive himself to a friend’s home in Del City. The man was taken to a local hospital with a serious gunshot injury to his face.

“It was early this morning when police responded to an apartment complex,” Oklahoma City Police Department Master Sergeant Gary Knight said.

The shots fired call came from the Cherry Hill Apartments near Southeast 44th and Sunnylane Road. A man and woman told officers they were asleep when they heard a noise around 2:55 a.m. coming from their bedroom window.

“They heard the window air conditioning unit being removed,” Knight said. “Looked up and saw a man climbing into the residence.”

Police said the man inside the apartment grabbed a gun and shot the intruder in the chin. The injured suspect ran to a white truck and drove away while the armed man with the shot at the truck three times.

Several minutes later, Del City police were called to a home near Delmar Road and Bryant Avenue.

“A person at that home called police and said, ‘Hey, I just had someone show up at my house, a friend of mine, and he’s been shot in the face,’” Knight said.

Meanwhile, Del City and Oklahoma City police were tying the pieces of the shooting together. The suspect was allegedly breaking into his ex-girlfriend’s apartment where he lived at one time.

The woman’s new boyfriend shot at him, not realizing who he was.

“There have been no arrests at this point,” Knight said.

Oklahoma City police will turn their investigation over to the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors will determine if anyone will be charged.

 

Homeowner shoots, kills ‘home invader’ early Sunday morning,

KEIZER, Ore. — A homeowner in Keizer, Oregon shot and killed someone after waking up early Sunday morning to find a “home invader” in his residence, police said.

Keizer Police officers responded at about 2:20 a.m. to reports of someone with a gunshot wound at a home on Mayfield Place North.

The homeowner told police he woke to someone inside his house. He then fired a shot at the person, who was pronounced dead.

Police said they are continuing the investigation, and that the Marion County District Attorney’s Office is also handling the case.

Oklahoma man shoots and kills burglary suspect who entered his condo

An Oklahoma man shot and killed a suspected burglar who broke into his Tulsa home in the early hours of Sunday morning, according to local reports.

The homeowner told police that he opened fire as a man was entering his home at Brandy Chase Condominiums around 2:00 a.m., according to FOX23 News.

The alleged burglar was found dead by police at the bottom of a staircase with a gunshot wound.

The attempted burglary and shooting happened about seven miles south of downtown Tulsa.

Another suspect may have been involved but fled the scene,

Texas private school to allow staff to go about day armed

Armed staff may well be the best way to protect students in our schools. Yes, it’s a shame that we should even need to have this discussion–our schools should be safe from such monsters–and in a perfect world, we wouldn’t have to. Yet we don’t live in a perfect world, though. We live in this one.

As a result, bad things happen in schools, as we’ve seen all too recently. What’s more, armed staff actually can protect our kids.

For one private school in Texas, that fact stands and they’re not going to pretend it doesn’t.

Faith Academy is planning on implementing a program that will allow teachers and staff to carry weapons at school.

The private Victoria Christian school is joining several area school districts in taking advantage of a Texas law that gives school officials the authority to let private individuals have guns on school premises, which is otherwise illegal.

This provision is often called the “guardian plan” or “guardian program,” though that name is not official.

Unlike most of the public school districts that have implemented such a plan, Faith’s teachers and staff will have the guns on their person during the school day, according to Principal Larry Long.

These staff members will be trained and certified, but I’m mostly shocked at the idea that some of the armed staff in the public schools don’t carry the firearm on their persons.

What are they supposed to do, ask the mass shooter for a time-out so they could get their guns? “Excuse me, Mr. Killer? Can we press pause for a moment so I can get my gun, then we can do this all fair-and-square?”

Yeah, let me know how that goes.

Victoria Academy is clearly thinking straight on this. If the teachers have their guns on their person, they can respond in an instant, as opposed to potentially having to run to wherever they’re stored and gaining access under stress.

Look, schools are a favorite target of mass shooters. Part of the reason for that is because they know they’re unlikely to face much in the way of armed resistance. The idea that the supposedly armed staff don’t actually have ready access to their weapons isn’t likely to be much of a deterrent.

Yet this case? Yeah, I can see things going very differently if someone were to pick this school.

However, I also think that it isn’t going to happen. For one thing, mass shootings at a school are very rare, but also because now people know the teachers at Victoria Academy are armed and will have their weapons on them.

The two things combined provide a blanket of protection over this school like few others.

Anti-gun voices can scream about armed staff at schools if they want, but we’ve seen too many instances where a good guy with a gun made the difference. The last thing I want to ever write about again is innocent kids being killed in their classrooms.

Teachers and staff with guns can make sure I never do.

Intruder arrested after being shot by homeowner in Charleston County

A homeowner in his 60s shot a man who broke into his Adams Run residence after midnight on Sept. 3.

The suspect, Lawrence Butler Jr., of Adams Run, was immediately taken to a hospital for treatment. Charleston County Sheriff’s deputies booked the 37-year-old man into the county jail later that morning on charges of first-degree burglary and cocaine possession, according to spokesman Andrew Knapp.

Knapp said deputies responded before 3:30 a.m. to Mauss Hill Road to a report of a home invasion and shooting.

Two residents — a man and woman in their 60s — were inside the home when a man broke a glass window in the front door, Knapp said.

As the suspect crawled through the hole inside the home, the homeowner fired a gun in self-defense, hitting the intruder’s left arm, according to an initial investigation by the Sheriff’s Office. Knapp said deputies found Butler lying inside the home near the door suffering a gunshot wound that was not life threatening.

Butler told detectives he was fleeing a nearby party and had consumed drugs and alcohol, Knapp said.

The victims were not hurt, Knapp said. No charges for the homeowner are expected.

Don’t Believe Anti-Gun Lies About Armed Self-Defense

Most America’s 1st Freedom readers are well aware that anti-gun politicians, gun-ban advocates, and the so-called “mainstream” media tend to play fast and loose with the facts. One specific area where they tend to flat out lie is in the frequency of armed self-defense episodes by law-abiding Americans.

“People very rarely use guns successfully to defend themselves from crimes—both in their homes and in public,” Laura Cutilletta, managing director for the anti-gun Giffords Law Center, wrote in a recent op-ed titled “Debunking the ‘Good Guy with a Gun’ Myth.”

Cutilletta further pontificated: “Having access to a gun doesn’t better protect people from being injured during a crime compared to other protective actions like calling law enforcement or fleeing the scene.”

Of course, she’s completely wrong, as we’ve detailed before. Back in 2013, even the Centers for Disease Control wrote: “Studies that directly assessed the effect of actual defensive uses of guns (i.e., incidents in which a gun was ‘used’ by the crime victim in the sense of attacking or threatening an offender) have found consistently lower injury rates among gun-using crime victims compared with victims who used other self-protective strategies.”

Four Southern gun owners became living proof of that fact during a five-day period in late August.

On Aug. 28, in League City, Texas, a couple was at their home in a trailer park at about 10 p.m. when a man broke into the trailer and threatened them with a knife. Fearing for their lives, one of them fired a shot, hitting the intruder.

Officers responding to the shooting found the home invader dead inside of the trailer. The incident is being investigated as an act of self-defense.

A day earlier, in Loganville, Ga., a 23-year-old man had gone to attend a family event when another man approached him and started an argument. The man told police officers that he retreated and attempted to get away, but the other man pursued. Believing the aggressor to be armed and fearing for his life, the first man shot him.

The attacker was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. While it has been reported that “(e)vidence at the scene corroborated” the claims of the man who said he acted in self-defense, police continue to investigate the case. No charges have been filed.

Three days before that, a Boones Mill, Va., homeowner used his legally owned firearm to defend himself and his family. According to media reports, a man unknown to the homeowner came to the house and an altercation ensued. The homeowner shot 26-year-old Christopher Hill, who died at the scene. Police are still investigating the incident.

That same day, in Hialeah, Fla., a man used his firearm to protect himself during an alleged road rage incident. Police say one man blocked in another man’s car with his own, got out of the vehicle, approached the other car in an aggressive manner, and confronted the other driver.

Fearing for his life, the second man shot the aggressor in the chest, killing him. Police are still investigating the incident and treating it as a case of armed self-defense.

“This case is still open and active but appears to be an act of stand your ground,” the Hialeah Police Department told Local 10 News via email. “The shooter is fully cooperating in the incident and is facing no charges as of this writing.”

The truth of the matter is, armed citizens across the country save their own lives and the lives of others many times every day. The anti-gun narrative that says otherwise is clearly fake news.

Woman shoots man to death after he attacked her and another woman

PASADENA, Texas — A man was shot and killed after outside of a laboratory business in Pasadena after attacking two women and crashing into several cars, according to police.

The incident began just after midnight Wednesday on South Houston Road outside of Univar Solutions laboratory.

Investigators said a man was standing outside of the business when he started yelling at a woman and hitting the side window of her car. The woman was able to eventually get in her car and drove out of the gated parking lot.

According to investigators, that’s when the man got into a car and drove through the closed electric gate of the parking lot, hitting several cars.

Another woman grabbed her handgun and confronted the man before shooting him twice after he attacked her, police said.

The man later died at the hospital and neither woman was injured.

Armed Citizen Stops Man Randomly Shooting People in Detroit; 3 Dead 1 Wounded

It took an armed citizen to stop a man that was randomly shooting people in Detroit that spanned over two hours.

This past Sunday, a 19-year-old man started randomly shooting people. He shot and killed three people, including a 28-year-old and a 43-year-old.

The shooter then shot a 4th person, who was an 80-year-old man walking his dog. A neighbor witnessed the incident, grabbed his gun, and fired back at the suspect.

“He saw my weapon, and he went from predator to prey. He had that look of shock,” said the neighbor. via WXYZ

Another neighbor said he saved the 80-year-old man’s life because had he not shot at the suspect, he would have walked up and shot the victim multiple times like he did his other victims.

The suspect was arrested a few hours later and is currently in custody pending charges.

This senseless act of violence was only stopped due to someone else having a gun to stop the threat. And this is why you should always carry and be prepared to use your gun in self-defense. If only someone were there to stop the threat before this coward could take his first victim.

Stafford Auto Shop Employee Shots Man In Self Defense After Heated Fight

An altercation in Stafford [Virginia] forced an auto shop employee to shoot a man in self defense, police said.

On August 30, at around 11:45 a.m., an officer, who was driving near Tires and Wheels Unlimited on Warrenton Road, saw a man bleeding from his abdomen coming toward her, according to the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office.

Timothy Greenage, 33, told the officer that an employee of the auto shop had shot him, but there was more to the story, officials said.

Law enforcement’s investigation revealed that Greenage threatened the auto shop over the phone because the business supposedly over-charged Greengage’s niece, authorities said.

Once Greenage arrived at the business, a fight ensued and Greenage pushed an employee to the ground before pulling out his own firearm, police said.

The employee shot Greenage in his abdomen, to protect himself, and luckily, no one was hurt when Greenage fired his gun back, officials said.

Due to witness testimonies that Greenage incited the incident, he was charged with reckless handling of a firearm and assault and battery, after he was treated for his injuries, police reported.

Greenage was held at the Rappahannock Regional Jail on a $1000 secured bond.

The Deep Concealment Gun: Possibly Your Most Important Personal Weapon

The Deep Concealment Gun: Possibly Your Most Important Personal Weapon

We preach carrying as much gun as possible, but for people who live in the real world in which professional and social obligations do not lend well to dressing around a full-size gun, a deep concealment pistol is needed. When out and about in casual clothing, I carry a double-stack 9mm pistol, but when I need to dress formally for certain social obligations, I usually carry a small revolver. However, this is not the only circumstances in which I use the small gun; when exercising in gym shorts, when working outside in the yard, and when simply lounging around the home, the small gun is either in the waistband or in a pocket. I suspect that many concealed carriers out there are similar in this regard; the small gun gets carried often.

With this in mind, I would submit that for many concealed carriers, the deep concealment option, which is often considered secondary, is likely the most important defensive weapon due to the amount of time it is actually used. Many concealed carriers may feel that they wear their “full-size” gun most of the time, but in fact, they don’t. If one is honest in their self-assessment, they will likely realize that the small gun is getting carried for the occasions that require something small, but likely, far more often than just that.

Is there anything wrong with carrying a small gun more often? The argument to carry “as much gun as you can” is well-intentioned and well-reasoned. With the increase in criminal activity involving multiple aggressors and with the increase in mass killer events, carrying a capable fighting pistol makes good sense. A larger handgun with more ammunition capacity is typically more shootable, and more capacity is a good thing. However, most would agree that a small pocket pistol or small-frame revolver that gets carried all the time is far more valuable than a more capable gun that is carried only part-time. It is human nature to go with the easier solution, so small guns get carried a lot. Thus, for most, it is the most important gun.

Staying Consistent with Deep Concealment

Know the Limitations
Unfortunately, the majority of concealed carriers that use a small gun rarely practice with it. Even if the small gun gets carried ninety percent of the time, the big gun that only gets carried occasionally tends to get all the training time. Again, human nature, big guns are easier to shoot. However, if you are carrying your deep concealment gun most of the time, then it warrants significant training effort.

The first benefit gained through training with your small gun is understanding the limitations. How much do you give up in performance compared to your full-size carry gun? Three constructive elements will emerge from knowing this: first, you will understand the limits of your range, accuracy, and speed with the small gun. Second, you will better determine how often you should be carrying the small gun compared to the more capable pistol. Third, you may well realize that much of the limitation can be overcome through more practice with the limited platform.

Determine the Role of the Small Gun
If you utilize a small revolver or a pocket pistol chambered in 380ACP or the like, then you should acknowledge that you are, indeed, giving up significant capability compared to carrying a full-size or compact autoloader. The new breed of micro guns that are chambered in 9mm, yet have a substantial capacity of ten plus rounds may be a solution that can be carried anywhere, and these guns, indeed, greatly close the gap between service pistols and pocket-sized guns. If one of these tiny but higher-capacity guns works for carrying all of the time, in all circumstances, I would propose not losing sleep over it. Simply maximize your training with it.

But, If you must use something that is even smaller for deep concealment like the aforementioned small revolver or tiny pocket auto, then having an honest assessment of when you can carry more is warranted. Again, if you only carry such a diminutive option, but you carry it all the time, you are ahead of the curve compared to the general public. However, there is probably a great deal of time when you can carry more. While carrying any gun is far better than carrying no gun, I am always inclined to suggest carrying “as much gun as you can” in light of the current state of the world.

When out in public during times that you can be dressed casually, which is probably quite often, there is no reason not to carry a larger, more capable gun. With modern holster options, most people can conceal compact, or even full-size, pistols under an untucked or open-front shirt. Consider the escalation in active killer events, the prevalence of multiple assailants in armed robbery, or the increase in gang activity; an auto loader with duty capacity is in order.

Still, we return to the reality that determines the course of most concealed carriers’ choices, and even for those committed to carrying enough gun, there are many circumstances that limit this choice. The small, deep concealment pistol is likely the one that will get carried most often when combining the need to accommodate non-permissive environment carry, gym or jogging carry, and home carry. Therefore, do not neglect training with your deep concealment gun, which might be your most important defensive tool.