Self Defense – Page 42

‘They would have to kill him’: Safford man fatally shot after breaking into neighbor’s home with a knife
The Safford Police Department said that Miguel Garcia entered his neighbor’s home after killing another victim in his own house.

SAFFORD, Ariz. — The Safford Police Department is investigating the events around a homicide and attempted double murder that ended with the killer dead in his would-be victims’ home, officials said.

Police responded to a burglary call near 1200 Central Avenue at 1:52 a.m., police said in a post on the department’s Facebook page.

The homeowners told officers that their neighbor, Miguel Garcia, had broken into their home armed with a knife, police reports said.

As the two homeowners fled into a bedroom, then later a bathroom, Garcia continued to approach saying that “they would have to kill him,” officers said.

One of the victims was able to retrieve a pistol and shot Garcia, killing him.

While trying to reach out to a next of kin to inform them of Garcia’s death, officers were unable to get a response and entered Garcia’s home. There, they found another victim dead in one of the home’s bedrooms.

Police did not share the victim’s identity or cause of death beyond being connected to Garcia.

Officials said that evidence suggests that Garcia acted alone. The investigation is ongoing and details are subject to change.

Neighbor fatally shoots 22-year-old accused of opening fire on mother in N. Harris Co.

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — Deputies said a good Samaritan saved a woman’s life when her son began shooting at her point-blank in north Harris County.

Investigators said they counted more than 20 bullet holes in one door at an apartment in the 300 block of Highland Cross. It’s unclear why the son allegedly targeted his own mother, officials said.

The 58-year-old woman was transported to the hospital with multiple gunshot wounds and underwent surgery. She is expected to survive.

The 22-year-old gunman was shot to death by someone investigators described as a good Samaritan.

Things reportedly took a bad turn during a Fourth of July barbecue overnight, where neighbors said the son was starting to act weird.

The mom and son went back to their apartment, and investigators believe the son injured his mom. She was reportedly bleeding from her face.

That’s when shots rang out at the apartment around 12:45 a.m. Tuesday. Harris County sheriff’s deputies said at least 20 bullets went flying into the door of a neighboring apartment.
Inside that apartment was a 16-year-old who was very close to getting hit, officials said. Thankfully, she was not injured.

Investigators believe the son was armed with an AK-47.

At some point, the mother managed to get out of the apartment. That’s when another neighbor saw what was happening and grabbed his gun to try and help her. Investigators said gunfire may have been exchanged between the son and the neighbor, but no one was hit.

The mother was trying to hide behind a tree, but the son found her and stood over her, firing several shots, deputies said. That’s when the neighbor shot and killed the son, according to Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.
“The way the suspect was just firing indiscriminately, just point-blank shot the mother apparently as he stood over her, was a dangerous individual that likely could have continued shooting. He was already shooting. He damaged not only his apartment, but the neighbors,” Gonzalez said. “The neighbors are shaken up because a 16-year-old daughter was sitting at the table where the shots rang out into the main living area. Another apartment was also shot up. Thankfully, that owner, we’re told, was away from the apartment at the time.”

Deputies applied two tourniquets to the mother before she was taken to the hospital.

Two firearms, a pistol and a semi-automatic rifle, were found on the ground next to the son, investigators said.

Gonzalez said this case will now be turned over to a grand jury who will ultimately decide if any charges will be filed against the neighbor.
(Texas state law requires all cases of homicide be presented to a Grand Jury)

The charging of Jose Alba and the war on self-defense.

The war on self-defense continues, in New York City this time.

You know how it goes with these Soros-backed leftist DAs such as New York’s Alvin Bragg. When Bragg was elected in January, I wrote this post about his plans and what to expect. They’re the same sort of things we’ve become familiar with from the now-recalled Chesa Boudin of San Franisco, and from the hopefully-soon-to-be-recalled George Gascon of Los Angeles. In that post I mentioned that this was one of Bragg’s awful guidelines:

Armed robbers who use guns or other deadly weapons to stick up stores and other businesses will be prosecuted only for petty larceny, a misdemeanor, provided no victims were seriously injured and there’s no “genuine risk of physical harm” to anyone. Armed robbery, a class B felony, would typically be punishable by a maximum of 25 years in prison, while petty larceny subjects offenders to up to 364 days in jail and a $1,000 fine…

So recently Bragg finally found a criminal worthy of high bail and very serious charges: murder. Unfortunately – but not surprisingly – it was a grocery store worker defending himself against an attack:

Alba was manning the counter at Hamilton Heights Grocery on Broadway and West 139th Street Friday night when Austin Simon, a 35-year-old career criminal on parole for assaulting a police officer, stormed behind the counter and shoved him into a wall, surveillance video shows.

The ex-con then grabbed Alba as the frightened clerk tried to get past him — getting his hands on a knife and plunging it into Simon at least five times.

During the fight, Simon’s girlfriend allegedly pulled a knife from her purse and stabbed Alba three times in the shoulder and hand, according to his attorney.

She has not been charged, with the DA’s office saying only “we are continuing to review the evidence and the investigation is ongoing.”

She’d only be charged with a misdemeanor according to Bragg’s guidelines anyway, right?

I’ve read several articles about the incident, and it appears to have begun when the girlfriend tried to buy a bag of potato chips and her EBT debit card was declined. She left the store and called boyfriend Simon for assistance. He came and assaulted the older, smaller man, who grabbed a knife and stabbed Simon during the fight while Simon was apparently trying to drag him out of the store. There are also reports that the girlfriend stabbed Alba in the arm with another knife; I’m not sure what the time frame was for that, before or after or during the stabbing of Simon. The entire episode was captured on store security tape and can be viewed at many of the articles.

Originally, Bragg’s office asked for sky-high bail of $500,000; it was set at $250,000 and later, after an outcry, reduced to $50,000 of which only $5,000 had to actually be posted. Alba was freed with an ankle bracelet. Alba has no prior record, but note that Simon, the dead man, was out on parole after being charged with assaulting a police officer.

I don’t think that a grand jury would be likely to indict Alba for this, even in New York, and if indicted I don’t think a jury would convict him. Even the mayor has taken Alba’s side – although he also refused to condemn Bragg.

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Armed Self-Defense Is Under Attack In The U.S.A.

Is armed self-defense a basic human right? The question may seem rhetorical, even nonsensical to a rational mind. “Of course, armed self-defense is a basic human right,” you would say. Or is it?

In the countries of the EU it isn’t; nor is armed self-defense acknowledged and accepted as a fundamental human right in the countries that comprise the British Commonwealth.

But, what about the United States? Do Americans have a right to armed self-defense?

The natural law right codified in the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights makes it plain that Americans do have a natural law right of armed self-defense. And the seminal Second Amendment holdings in Heller, McDonald, and, most recently, in Bruen explicitly assert that. So, why does that remain a question for us? But a question for us it is, disturbing as it is.

The Globalist elite puppet-masters and the Marxist internationalists do not acknowledge—in fact do not recognize—the right.

Of course, it should not matter what these creatures think. But as long as Americans vote their proxies into public office, the right of armed self-defense remains, in practice an open question in many jurisdictions across the Country, despite the clear meaning of the Second Amendment and irrefutable U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

The fact remains that in the U.S. the natural law right of armed self-defense is not to be denied, ignored, dismissed, or abrogated.

The right of armed self-defense is itself subsumed in the broader category of the right of self-defense for personal survival, by whatever means.

Armed self-defense simply means that a person has the natural law right to possess the best means for ensuring both his physical survival and his autonomy of self against those forces that dare crush body, or mind, or spirit. For centuries that best means of self-defense was a firearm. And it remains so.

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Escambia County man shoots at 3 men who invaded his home; Suspects wanted

ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. — A man shot at three people who invaded his Escambia County home Thursday night. Two suspects are now wanted.

It happened around 11:40 p.m. on Pinestead Rd.

Sheriff Chip Simmons says three people broke into the man’s home — one carrying a handgun. During the incident, the suspects began pushing the man. One suspect dropped the gun before another picked it up.

According to Sheriff Simmons, the man ran to a back room, retrieved an AK-47 rifle and started shooting at the three suspects for protection. The suspects then ran from the home.

Investigators have identified and are looking for two of the three home invasion suspects — 18-year-old Antonio Dean Jr. and 20-year-old Da’Torrance Hackworth. Dean Jr. is also wanted for these past charges:

battery
robbery with a firearm
aggravated assault with a weapon
weapon possession

Sheriff Simmons says investigators have been speaking with a third person who suffered a gunshot wound to the head.

He has not yet been identified as a suspect in the case, as Sheriff Simmons says his statements about the gunshot wound have been inconsistent. Investigators have not yet been able to connect him to the home invasion.

Sheriff Simmons said the homeowner will not be charged.

Women Now Make Up the Largest Group of New Gun Owners

According to a recent study conducted by Harvard University, women now make up 42% of new gun owners accounting for nearly half of all new gun owners over the past 5-years. This number is up 14% from that same span of time and 3.5 million women joined the ranks of new gun owners between January 2019 and April 2021. An NSSF survey partially backs up this claim by the Harvard study by stating that 1/3rd of 2021’s new gun owners were women.

Keen observers of the firearms industry might have also noticed a distinct shift in the way that firearms companies are producing marketing material with many new products like the recent release of the PDP F Series being specifically marketed towards female shooters. Shooting organizations like “Shoot like a Girl” have also cropped up featuring female firearms instructors whose aim is to bring more women into shooting sports and provide them with a more comfortable environment to train in.

In the study conducted by Harvard University, one-quarter of the women surveyed said self-defense was the main reason they wanted to purchase a firearm for the first time with many citing the uptick in civil unrest and reduction of law enforcement assets during the summer of 2020. Another reason cited by many women as to why they’ve armed themselves is that many of them are now living alone and feel more comfortable having a firearm in the home for self-defense.

Regardless of what is spurring this increase in gun ownership amongst women, I think this is a net positive for the firearms industry as a whole and the women that the industry is trying to serve. Let us know if the ladies that you know are taking on an increased interest in firearms and what they are saying as to how or why they’re getting into firearms.

Texas armed robbers shot at while trying to steal from fireworks stand

A pair of armed men attempted to rob a fireworks stand in Austin late Monday evening but one of the employees returned gun fire, authorities said.

The Travis County Sheriff’s Office responded to a 911 call just before midnight from a caller who said he was robbed and shot at.

Deputies responded to the fireworks stand in the 100 block of West Howard Lane. The employees told deputies they were robbed at gunpoint by two subjects.

Both men, according to their statements, were wearing all black, with masks. One of them was wearing a beanie.

One of the employees fired his weapon at the robbers and hit one of them, the sheriff’s office said.

Deputies searched the area. Less than half a mile from the robbery scene, deputies found a Hispanic male with multiple non-life-threatening gunshot wounds hiding behind a residential fence. He was transported to a hospital and is now in custody.

Deputies have not located the second suspect. No further details were released.

Arizona, Texas gun owners demonstrate the importance of armed self-defense

The national media can’t get enough of stories involving the criminal misuse of firearms, but they often fall strangely silent when it comes to armed citizens defending themselves or others. That appears to be the case with two recent incidents that unfolded in Harris County, Texas and Safford, Arizona this week. I’ve seen no mention of either story in any major national news outlet, despite the fact that both offer a pretty compelling narrative.

Let’s start with the defensive gun use in Harris County, where a woman is alive and well today thanks to the fact that her neighbor was able to protect her when her own son tried to kill her.

A mother was celebrating Independence Day at the Highland Cross Apartments when her son returned home, supposedly acting erratic and wielding a suspected AK-47.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez estimated more than 20 rounds were fired in an apartment with his mother inside. Those rounds hit at least two nearby apartments.

“The mother emerged from the house shortly thereafter. She was bleeding from the face. The male tracked his mother down outside here and was shooting her on her lower extremities when a neighbor arrived with his firearms and shot and killed the son,” said Sgt. Dennis Wolfford with the HCSO Homicide Unit.

The 58-year old woman is expected to survive her injuries, which almost certainly would not have been the case if good guy with a gun hadn’t shown up when he did.

At some point, the mother managed to get out of the apartment. That’s when another neighbor saw what was happening and grabbed his gun to try and help her.

Investigators said gunfire may have been exchanged between the son and the neighbor, but no one was hit.

The mother was trying to hide behind a tree, but the son found her and stood over her, firing several shots, deputies said.

That’s when the neighbor shot and killed the son, according to Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.

“The way the suspect was just firing indiscriminately, just point-blank shot the mother apparently as he stood over her, was a dangerous individual that likely could have continued shooting. He was already shooting. He damaged not only his apartment, but the neighbors,” Gonzalez said. “The neighbors are shaken up because a 16-year-old daughter was sitting at the table where the shots rang out into the main living area. Another apartment was also shot up. Thankfully, that owner, we’re told, was away from the apartment at the time.”

Meanwhile, in Safford, Arizona early Wednesday morning a couple were confronted in their home by a man with a knife. Unlike many home invasions and burglaries, the victims in this case recognized the intruder as their neighbor. Little did they know that by the time Miguel Garcia broke into their home he had already allegedly murdered someone in his own residence.

As the two homeowners fled into a bedroom, then later a bathroom, Garcia continued to approach saying that “they would have to kill him,” officers said.

One of the victims was able to retrieve a pistol and shot Garcia, killing him.

While trying to reach out to a next of kin to inform them of Garcia’s death, officers were unable to get a response and entered Garcia’s home. There, they found another victim dead in one of the home’s bedrooms.

Police did not share the victim’s identity or cause of death beyond being connected to Garcia.

In both of these cases simply calling 911 and waiting for police to respond likely would have resulted in officers arriving to the scene of a murder, rather than a clearly justifiable homicide. The ability of these armed citizens to access a firearm in defense of another or themselves was the key component in preventing the loss of life, which I suspect is the real reason why neither of these stories have received any real national attention by the media.

Actually everyone should prioritize it.

Conservatives Must Prioritize The Second Amendment
We need to look at all our civil and natural rights as being connected.

Without the right to defend ourselves, all other political battles become irrelevant. At different times, for different reasons, it is perfectly acceptable for different conservatives to prioritize different issues. But at no time should any conservative compromise on the right to self-defense.

Not only is the threat of a tyrannical government ever-present, but street violence is an ever-present danger, too. The threat to life posed by a rapist in the night is just as much a threat as that from a totalitarian regime. If the conservative movement really is a pro-family movement, then no law-abiding American citizen should be denied the right to protect himself and his family.

To compromise on gun rights is to necessarily compromise on abortion, taxes, immigration, school choice, welfare, right to work, and any other political issue. All other political questions are irrelevant if you and your family are at the mercy of a tyrannical government or a violent street thug. What good is your right to free speech if it can be taken away at a point of gun? What use is your right to life if you cannot defend yourself?

Americans understand we are born with rights and it is the duty of the government to preserve those rights. But as conservatives, we understand humans and human institutions cannot always be trusted. Americans understand we are born with rights and it is the duty of the government to preserve those rights. But as conservatives, we understand humans and human institutions cannot always be trusted. Yet, knowing human nature, we also know we can trust the government not to infringe our rights if we make the prospect of doing so too costly. Officials must know they can be held to account.

As we witnessed with the resent passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, Senate and House Republicans who campaigned on protecting the Second Amendment were not only willing but happy to give a win to the anti-gun left with a whole slew of new gun-control provisions for absolutely nothing in return. In fact, Utah’s Senator Mitt Romney wanted the deal to be even more extreme. Elected Republicans have this mentality because conservative voters have given them a pass to cut corners off the Second Amendment. So long as the left appears more radical than they are, voters think the GOP can do no wrong, even as our right to bear arms is eroded. They, and we, must learn you cannot claim to support the Second Amendment if you compromise on it.

If removing the right to defend yourself really made everyone safer, then perhaps the anti-gun groups would have a point. But it is just not true. According to the CDC’s analysis of several studies in 2013 during the Obama administration, there were “about 500,000 to more than 3 million” defensive gun uses per year. Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of lives are saved by guns every year. Since nearly 70 percent of criminals committed their crimes with an illegally obtained firearm, more gun regulations will only hinder a minority of gun-related crimes.

In general, regulations only serve as barriers for lawful Americans ability to exercise their right to defend themselves and their families. Common gun-control initiatives, such as waiting periods and protracted background checks, can deny access to life-saving firearms. If a riot were to break out in your hometown, like the George Floyd riots of 2020, and you needed to protect your family that very day, a waiting period would make you and your family defenseless in your time of greatest need. Regulations like expanded background checks, which are already required for every retail gun purchase, serve as an excuse to deny Americans their rights; the background-check system is flawed, as about nine out of ten denials are the result of false positives. Additionally, the background-check system provides a paper trail so the government can expand its illegal registry of gun owners. An ATF official could easily search thousands of firearm records and produce a list of lawful gun owners’ home addresses with a simple use of Control+F. These records are the first step towards gun confiscation.

At its core, any call for gun regulation—be it on the right or left—ignores a far more worrisome problem: humanity’s capacity for evil. The anti-gun crowd targets the gun is because they are afraid of focusing on the true culprit in gun violence, namely, the person behind the gun. There is rarely an attempt to understand why a young man would become so twisted as to murder innocent children. The media and politicians gloss over that hard question and immediately jump to asking how soon they can pass the next useless firearm regulation.

We need a serious national conversation focusing on why a young man would commit such a vile act, not on how he accomplished it. Conservatives need to stop thinking gun rights are an issue about which we can compromise. Do not fall for the lie that we can give over our Second Amendment rights in exchange for a win on some other policy issue. We need to look at all our civil and natural rights as connected. Compromising with the left on the right to self-defense gives them the green light to stomp on everything else.

Prosecutor: Fatal shooting appears to be self-defense

ANDERSON — A June 19 shooting that left one Anderson man dead and another in critical condition might have been an act of self-defense, according to the Madison County prosecutor.

Anderson police officers were called to the intersection of 16th and Madison Avenue three times the night of June 18 and early the morning of June 19.

Five people were shot, leaving Landon Hill, 24, dead from a gunshot wound, according to Madison County Coroner Dr. Troy Abbott.

Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings said Wednesday that the Anderson Police Department has not requested charges to be filed.

“They sent us the video,” Cummings said. “On its face, it appears to be self-defense.”

Cummings said his summation of evidence shows a verbal and physical alternation between Hill and another man. Hill shot the other man, who than shot and killed Hill, according to the prosecutor.

Cummings said a woman was later seen picking up a handgun from near where Hill fell in the parking lot.

“There were a number of shots fired and a number of people involved,” the prosecutor said. “I expect several charges to be filed.”

The shooting also wounded two women who were later treated and released from an Anderson hospital.

Anderson Police Chief Mike Lee said his department has turned evidence over to the prosecutor’s office.

The initial shooting took place about midnight June 18.

Officers found two victims when they arrived. The officers administered aid and secured the area for medics to transport the victims to an Anderson hospital, according to APD reports.

A man is listed in critical condition at an Indianapolis hospital suffering from a gunshot wound, and three people — a man and two women — were treated and released, Lee said.

A news release from Anderson police said the second incident occurred about 3:30 a.m. when officers responded to a second report of gunshots in the same area. The release said officers were already nearby monitoring the crowd.

Russian Invasion Offered Hard Lesson on Gun Control, Ukrainian Says

Gun control in Ukraine has proved to be highly problematic in the wake of the Russian invasion, a Ukrainian activist told a gathering of journalists and friends of DonorsTrust in Washington recently.

Natalia Melnyk, communications director for the Ukraine-based Bendukidze Free Market Center, said that in Ukraine, before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces invaded, “You could not own handguns legally; only hunting weapons if you had a license.”

“All handguns were ‘award’ weapons, randomly distributed by our Ministry of Defense. Usually, you needed to have some connections to get these weapons,” she said at the event sponsored by DonorsTrust, a nonprofit libertarian- and conservative-leaning donor-advised fund.

Amid the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Melnyk noted the development of arming citizens—but with restrictions and even then not all citizens.

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“In areas not under immediate attack, the government said to these territorial units, ‘If you are not under immediate danger of attack, please return the weapons. We will safely store them in a warehouse. If something happens, you can come and get them.’ Of course, [the Ukrainian people] said, ‘No, thank you.’”

Melnyk criticized the Ukrainian government’s move to arm citizens while at the same time imposing restrictions, such as mandatory storing of guns in a warehouse.

“We do see improvement, but it resembles two steps forward, one step back … because that idea about returning weapons is also very recent. We jumped from that idea to the idea that we do need weapons for self-defense,” she said.

The Ukrainian government is currently discussing further plans for arming citizens, Melnyk said in her June 16 remarks at the City Tavern Club in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington.

“It never was such a big issue in the broader Ukrainian society, because we were a peaceful nation,” she said. “A lot of people honestly believed [and] I was one of them: ‘Why would you need a weapon? We are not going to war, and if you are not a hunter … why do you need it?’”

But after the Russian invasion, “it appears we really do need it,” she said.

Melnyk described the cultural change toward caring about self-defense after Russia invaded. “It was nearly impossible to get a time slot at a shooting range because so many Ukrainians went in to learn how to actually handle a gun, because they have no idea,” she said.

“It’s not the case of the Ukrainian government sending Ukrainian people to die,” Melnyk told The Daily Signal, explaining a common misconception of those observing the Ukrainian crisis from the outside. “This is the conscious decision of thousands of Ukrainians to protect their freedom, protect their land, and to protect the future of their children.”

Greenwood homeowner shoots, kills alleged burglar overnight
Seattle police said the homeowner reported the alleged burglar had climbed a fence in his backyard sometime before 2:30 a.m. Saturday and that he confronted him.

SEATTLE — A homeowner shot and killed an alleged burglar in Seattle’s Greenwood neighborhood early Saturday morning, according to the Seattle Police Department.

At around 2:30 a.m., a resident near the 900 block of North 101st Street called 911 and reported a disturbance at a neighbor’s house and that they heard someone say to call 911.

Arriving Seattle police officers found a man with a gunshot wound in a backyard and gave first aid. Seattle Fire Department medics also arrived and gave first aid but the man was eventually transported to Harborview Medical Center.

The man later died from his injuries, according to the Seattle Police Department.

Seattle police said the homeowner reported the man had climbed a fence in his backyard and that he confronted him. The alleged burglar refused to leave once confronted, according to the homeowner. The homeowner then shot the alleged burglar, Seattle police said.

Seattle police said homicide detectives will continue to investigate the shooting. Investigators were at the scene Saturday morning collecting evidence.

Seattle police did not say whether or not there will be charges related to the incident. No arrests have been made.

Intruder shot in chest after attempting to break into home in central Wichita

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – Update: WPD confirmed that around 5:15 p.m. Saturday a man attempted to break into a house near east 12th street and north Broadway. The homeowner then shot the intruder leaving him critically injured.

The intruder was transported to a nearby hospital, but his current condition is unknown. The homeowner was uninjured.

The Wichita Police Department (WPD) confirms that one man was shot multiple times in the chest just after 5 p.m. near east 12th street and north broadway.

He is in critical condition but is expected to survive. He was transported to a nearby hospital for his injuries.

Fatal shooting near Cave Junction investigated as self-defense

CAVE JUNCTION, Ore. — One man is dead after a shooting near Cave Junction Thursday morning.

According to State Police, Josephine County Sheriff’s deputies responded to shooting around 3:30 Thursday morning at a home on Browntown Road near Cave Junction. When deputies arrived, they found 42-year-old Jacob Benson dead. Investigators say 47-year-old William Illingworth had shot Benson when Benson entered Illingworth’s home after a verbal argument.

The OSP Major Crimes Team was called in who are investigating the incident as a self-defense shooting.

OSP was assisted by the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office, Josephine County District Attorney’s Office and the OSP Forensic Lab.

93-year-old homeowner shoots, critically injures intruder in Moreno Valley

MORENO VALLEY, Calif. (KABC) — A 93-year-old homeowner took matters into his own hands when he shot and critically injured a suspect who authorities say broke into the home in Moreno Valley.

The incident happened in the 24300 block of Eucalyptus Avenue around 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. When deputies arrived, they found one person with a gunshot wound. Investigators then determined that the homeowner was the one who opened fire.

A man whose wife is related to the homeowner told Eyewitness News the elderly man’s property has been broken into a number of times. He identified the elderly man as Joe.

“He was tired because every time he calls the police, (they took) forever to come and assist him,” said Oscar Malma. “He took the law into his own hands… He’s been working all his life and whatever little things he has, he’s (protecting).”

Malma said it’s possible that Joe was targeted by the same culprits on several occasions.

“It happened once on Friday. On that bright day, they went (broke) into the house. And now this happens in the middle of the night. They were looking for him. He’s an old, retired plumber. He has a lot of tools…he’s a musician as well, so he’s got a lot of musical instruments. Little by little, they’ve been ripping him off,” Malma said.

Authorities have not confirmed how many reported break-ins there have been at that home.

Law enforcement officials were seen investigating a black Audi near the home, but they did not disclose who the vehicle belonged to. The vehicle was eventually loaded onto a flatbed and taken away.

The suspected intruder was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

Malma said the homeowner was taken to the police station for questioning. He said he doesn’t believe Joe will be arrested, because “he was defending his property. That happened inside his house. So I don’t think there’s any reason for him to be arrested.”

NPR finally realizes that when seconds count, police are minutes away

When your society has reached a point where you can’t agree on whether or not a man can get pregnant, you know that rational discourse based on shared underlying facts is extremely difficult if not impossible. Generally speaking, but especially so in a society that has reached such a point, the government ought to stay completely out of the news business. Yet, unfortunately, we have taxpayer-funded left-wing propaganda in the form of National Public Radio (NPR).

NPR’s far-Left bias is well-known. Still, it’s amusing to see them finally realize something that gun rights advocates have said all along, that when seconds count, the police are minutes away.

The tragic history of police responding too late to active shooters

Confusion, chaos and wrong information appear to have contributed to law enforcement’s delay in stopping the gunman at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

The gunman spent more than an hour inside the school while police waited outside, authorities say. This was because the incident commander, school district police chief Pete Arredondo, treated the scene as a barricaded-person situation rather than as an active shooter situation.

Details of exactly what went wrong are still hazy as the investigation is ongoing.

Law enforcement experts say what happened in Uvalde is reminiscent of what occurred in prior mass shootings, including the attack at Columbine High School in 1999 and at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018.

As shown by the Uvalde shooting and others before it, police are still making tragic missteps in the most critical moments of active shooter situations — regardless of training.

Police are human beings like the rest of us. They are not supermen or demigods. Exclusively depending on the police for one’s protection is a bad idea because of the fallibility of our fellow humans in uniform.

“Columbine changed everything,” Joseph Giacalone, an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a retired New York City Police Department detective sergeant, told NPR. “When you have an active shooter, you have to end the threat. Because if you don’t, the person continues on killing.”

Cullen went on to say that this protocol has worked. During the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, he wrote, “it probably saved dozens of lives.”

This is something that the gun rights community has been screaming from the rooftops for a long time. Stopping aggression that’s imminent or already underway requires the immediate reciprocal use of defensive force.

Calling cops and waiting is a bad idea when an attack is imminent or already underway, because when cops do arrive, there is no guarantee that their response won’t end up in inaction, such in Uvalde or Parkland, or in shooting the wrong person, as was the case with John Hurley in Arvada, CO.

The article also addresses fear, command, the lack of intelligence (just one meaning of the word, unfortunately), and basic incompetence such as not checking if your radios are actually functioning.

Though this may be the standard now, instances have shown that fear may get the better of responding officers….

“It’s about the unifying of command. It’s about having an unseen coordinator. It’s about somebody dictating what has to go on inside and when somebody has to go on dealing with things outside,” he said. This was clearly a missing piece in Uvalde, Giacalone said….

More work needs to be done to address intelligence available to officers at these scenes, Giacalone said….

The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School occurred just outside the Coral Springs Police Department’s jurisdiction, yet the 911 dispatch center didn’t make any officers aware of the shooting for over four minutes after receiving the first 911 call, according to the commission report analyzing the shooting…

Additionally, officers reported their radios not working at all, causing many not to respond urgently when they heard gunshots.

Although it is good to see NPR tell its listeners and readers that police responses can be slow and ineffective, and address a wide range of factors such as training, command, intelligence, fear, and incompetence, it is a letdown to see NPR not acknowledge the best solution that gun rights advocates have been demanding all along: armed self-defense.

That may take another decade or two, but better late than never, right?

States with higher rate of gun ownership do not correlate with more gun murders, data show

Calls have rung out across the nation demanding gun control laws in a bid to curb violent crimes such as the recent series of mass shootings. Data, however, show that in states with higher percentages of households with at least one gun, crimes are not higher than in states with strict gun laws.

“Gun ownership is higher in states with fewer restrictions, and homicide rates in these states are lower. People can protect themselves,” George Mason University Professor Emerita Joyce Lee Malcolm told Fox News Digital of what she’s found through her research. Malcolm pointed to a study on burglars from 1986 that found 34% of burglars interviewed reported “to having been scared off, shot at, wounded or captured by an armed victim.”

Fox News Digital compiled FBI data from 2019 detailing murders and gun murders per 100,000 population for most states, as well as assembled Rand Corporation data released in 2020 showing the percentage of households with at least one firearm in 2016. The data does not reflect the skyrocketing violent crimes of 2020 and likely undercounts the current percentages of homes with at least one firearm as it does not reflect the influx of Americans who rushed to arm themselves in 2020.

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Shooter Development — the Eleanor Drill by Sage Dynamics

Making rapid transitions from precision to practical accuracy is what the Eleanor Drill from Sage Dynamics is all about, explains Aaron Cowan. He notes that there are thousands of shooting drills out there and that he uses those that suit his needs. If he can’t find a regular exercise that suits his needs, he will formulate a new one that does.

One of those needs that he sees is making the rapid transition from precision to practical accuracy, whether with a handgun or a rifle.

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1, shot 15 times and the other 5 times. Talk to me about magazine size restrictions, and I’ll rub your nose in this one.

2 Suspects Fatally Shot During Home Invasion In South Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — An apparent home invasion turned deadly in South Philadelphia. Police say two men who were trying to break into a home on the 1600 block of South 10th Street were shot and killed by two men inside the house.

Officials were on the scene for hours as they worked to determine what exactly happened and why.

A home invasion turned deadly Monday afternoon, turning this residential street into a crime scene.

“At first, I thought it was a woman and there were two intruders that were going to rob her, but now, I have no idea what really happened,” a neighbor said.

As details emerged, police say it was two men who lived at the home who shot two others who tried to force their way in.

The brazen break-in unfolded on the 1600 block of South 10th Street around 1:30 p.m. Monday afternoon.

“I’m thinking maybe it’s time to move out. For something like this to happen in the middle of the afternoon, it’s like — I heard it was a robbery — if that’s the true story or not, I’m not sure but it’s tough to take,” Mary Grace McHale said.

The two suspects died at Jefferson University Hospital. A 33-year- old was shot 15 times while the other man — between 25 and 30 years old — was shot five times. Officers found both men unresponsive inside the home.

“Shocking. Like I was saying, you don’t expect something like this in your own neighborhood. You see it on the news all the time, unfortunately, and this is really something out of the ordinary for this area,” John Caruzzo said.

Caruzzo joined others in South Philadelphia peering down the street in disbelief. He watched as investigators went in and out of the house, blocking both pedestrian and vehicle traffic.

“It makes you feel uneasy. Like you think that this can’t happen until you walk outside and hear about it and then you see up live and in person and you think, ‘my God, it’s a block from your house. How could this possibly happen?’ But it does,” Carrozza said.

The alleged intrusion prompted some to think about protecting themselves.

“Maybe I should go buy a gun,” McHale said.

Arizona homeowner fatally shoots 2 intruders

A Phoenix, Arizona homeowner shot and killed two men who were attempting to break into the home Saturday morning, police said, according to reports.

When police arrived before 8 a.m. in response to several 911 calls, officers found the two alleged intruders on the ground in front of the home.

“Witnesses told the officers the shooter was inside the home next to where the men were lying,” Sgt. Philip Krynsky told FOX 10 Phoenix.

“The officers were able to successfully carry the men to await paramedics. The officers were able to communicate with the three occupants of the home and they were detained peacefully.”

The two alleged intruders were transported to separate hospitals, where they succumbed to their injuries.

Police said the people detained in connection to the shooting gave consistent stories of self-defense over the alleged attempted break-in.
The men, believed to be in their 20s, have not yet been identified.

Krynsky explained that the people detained in connection to the shooting gave consistent stories of self-defense during the investigation into the incident.

“In consultation with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, the suspects [suspects? SUSPECTS?? VICTIMS!!] were released, and charges will be submitted for review,” Krynsky said.

NYC gun owners celebrate Supreme Court ruling on concealed-carry

The phone has been ringing nonstop at John Deloca’s shooting range since the moment the Supreme Court ruling was announced.

Deloca, who owns the Seneca Sporting Range in Ridgewood, Queens, teaches classes that help people get New York City gun licenses and permits. The ruling may mean that New York concealed-carry permits – until now granted only to those who could prove they needed one for self defense – will now be more broadly available.

Suddenly, everyone seemed to want one.

“I go, ‘Don’t even apply. You can’t apply right now,’” Deloca said, noting that city and state leaders will likely need to work out many legal questions before the NYPD starts issuing revised concealed carry permits. “They don’t even know what’s going on.”

Guns on display at the Seneca Sporting Range in Ridgewood Queens.

CS MUNCY / GOTHAMIST

Across the city, many gun owners celebrated the Supreme Court order, which offers broad new protections to New Yorkers and their Second Amendment rights. But their enthusiasm was tempered with caution — both around a proliferation of guns as well as lawmakers’ attempts to limit the effects of the ruling.

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Suspect shot, killed by employee after robbing gun shop in southwest Houston

HOUSTON – A suspect was shot and killed by an employee after attempting to rob two businesses, including a gun shop on Tuesday, according to the Houston Police Department.

The incident was reported around 3:17 p.m. at Carter’s Country, located in the 11800 block of South Wilcrestt Drive and Southwest Freeway.

Before the man entered the gun shop, witnesses told police he entered a Suit Mart next door and tried to steal some items.

“The guy looked like he was a homeless person,” said witness Marcus Fomby. “Basically, they told him to just let go of the jeans or we’ll call the police.”

Leaving the Suit Mart empty-handed, police said the man then entered the gun shop with a sharp object, opened the cash register and stole the money. The employee told officers he shot the suspect in self-defense as the suspect was leaving the business.

“Once he went there (the gun shop), he actually went behind the counter (and) started ruffling through the cash register,” HPD Lt. Larry Crowson said. “He was confronted by one of the employees, at that point, one of the employees felt in fear of their safety and fired two shots, at least one struck.”

Witnesses said the man stumbled into the parking lot where he collapsed. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition where he later died, HPD said.

After consulting with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, the case will be presented to a grand jury for review.