This is the second page of stories of honest people who successfully defended themselves from illegally armed predators, sometimes without even firing a shot.
SOURCE: TWO MILLION YEARLY USE GUNS IN SELF DEFENSE FIGURE: These data come from the research of Professor Gary Kleck, a member of the ACLU, Amnesty International, and Common Cause. He is a lifelong Democrat. This man is definitely not a "pro-self defense" promoter. At least not until he did his research. He set out to prove gun control was needed, but after more than 20 years of research came to the conclusion that gun control would endanger the safety of citizens.
ANTI-GUN AGENDA: "We're going to have to take one step at a time, and the first step is necessarily -- given the political realities -- going to be very modest Our ultimate goal -- total control of handguns in the United States -- is going to take time. ... The first problem is to slow down the increasing number of handguns being produced.... The second problem is to get handguns registered. And the final problem is to make the possession of all handguns and all handgun ammunition -- except for the military, policemen, licensed security guards, licensed sporting clubs, and licensed gun collectors -- totally illegal." (Soure: Pete Shields, then-chair of Handgun Control, Inc. (now headed by Sarah Brady), July 26, 1976 New Yorker Magazine, pp. 53.)
TWO CALLS TO 911 AND 25 MINUTES LATER: Ralph Karr, of Scottsdale, Arizona didn't have a gun when a punk with a knife walked into the tavern he was sitting in and started wrecking the place. It took two -- count 'em -- two calls to 911 to get a police car there, almost a half-hour later. Karr had a gun in his truck but didn't have time to get it so he had to just sit and watch while the punk broke up the joint while waiting for the cops to arrive. Fortunately, they finally did before the kid hurt anybody, no thanks to them. This isn't a story about how a gun "saved the day," but one about why it has become essential for honest citizens to be armed to defend themselves against such attacks. No one was hurt in this incident, but they could have, while the cops took their own sweet time to get there. (Source: "Keep and Bear Arms Organization Gun Report," March 31, 2000) Subscriptions to this email report are free. Go to: http://www.keepandbeararms.org
GUN FOILS CARJACKING: Two well-dressed men (and to avoid being called a racist I will not tell you their race -- it's not important) attempted to carjack Ed Hasley's Lincoln MarkVIII in Dallas, Texas, back in 1999. When he showed them his .45 cal. Colt Defender, they suddenly changed their minds and did a "fast shuffle" elsewhere. They proved to be fast runners. People in other cars were yelling: "Shoot 'em, shoot 'em!" While Hasley had a good laugh at the spectacle of them stumbling all over themselves trying to get away. Angel Shamaya of the "Keep and Bear Arms Organization" said this about these incidents and otrhers: "The media virtually blacks out self-defense incidents, and these stories described above are rarely if ever heard other than person to person. We law-abiding gun owners are hungry to hear such news for too many reasons to list here. (Source: "Keep and Bear Arms Organization Gun Report," March 31, 2000) Subscriptions to this email report are free. Go to: http://www.keepandbeararms.org
THE UNMISTAKABLE SOUND OF A SHOTGUN BEING RACKED: This is what stopped several thugs from continuing to beat their victim in a Lafayette, California convenience store robbery. They were kicking a customer in the head when two "Good Samaritans" came in. They continued to beat the victim until they heard the unmistakable sound of a pump shotgun being racked. At that point, they fled. Surprise, surprise! (Source: "Contra-Costa Times," Walnut Creek, California, December 15, 1999)
THE WRONG VICTIM: Off duty security officer Shawn Green was attacked by a man with a knife in Downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Even though he was armed, he ran for his life. But when he was cornered by his attacker in the doorway of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he shot his attacker in the leg and had their security officer call police, who arrested the knife-wielding attacker. (Source: "Atlanta Journal-Constitution," January 30, 2000)
FOILED BY AN 11-YEAR OLD GIRL AND HER ARMED FATHER: When two men trieed to rob the Live Oak, Florida "Po 'Kin" convenience store, this little girl ran outside and got her father, who was armed. He went inside and saw the owner struggling with the knife-wielding robber over the money. He and another customer subdued the robber and held him for police. It is not known how long it took the cops to get there. (Source: "Citrus County Chronicle," Crystal River, Florida, January 18, 2000)
WHEN HE RETURNED FIRE, THEY HID: Brian Smith returned fire when five men began firing at him when he found them in his Marion, Indiana apatrment. They were so surprised they went and hid. The police (when they finally got there) found them hiding nearby with a small quantity of drugs. What would have happened if he hadn't been armed? You guess. (Source: "The Marion Chronicle Tribune," Marion, Indiana, Dec. 18, 1999)
THIS GUY JUST CAN'T WIN: Already bleeding from being shot by one armed citizen, Marc Anthony Holcomb, Jr. tried to break into Sandra Rabine's Albany, Oregon home. She beat the gun from his hand and tried to hold him at gunpoint with her 9mm handgun while police moseyed on over to arrest him. But he prudently ran away. (Source: "The Register-Guard," Eugene, Oregon, November 18, 1999)
SMALL FEMALE ACCOUNTANT FOILS ROBBERY: Merlann Bechtel watched the beginning of a robbery on video surveillance in the Lower Paxton Township, Pennsylvania jewelry store where she worked. She then engaged in a gun battle with the robbers, finally shooting the ringleader in the stomach. The suspects fled, dropping the wounded man off at a hospital, then were apprehended on an Interstate later. Ms. Bechtel's attorney had this to say: "We are allowed to defend ourselves against others when deadly force is used or threatened. I'll bet nobody ever messes with this lady in the future. (Source: "The Patriot-News," Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, February 2, 2000)
DON'T ROB THIS CAB DRIVER: Eighteen-year-old Kamaludeen Binbilal will not get any older. He tried to carjack the cab driven by an unnamed driver in the Algiers section of New Orleans, Louisiana. It cost him his life. No charges have been filed against the cab driver, who engaged in a gun fight with Binbilal when the carjacker started shooting at him. The driver was a better shot. The robber learned a hard lesson, but he didn't stay alive long enough to get anything out of it. One less criminal. (Source: "The Times-Picayune" of New Orleans, April 4, 2000)
DISABLED MAN KILLS "ROBBER": Stephon Green and several other men invaded the home of Bessemer, Alabama resident , Curtis Williams, 47, who walks with a cane because of a spinal injury. They accused him of stealing a television and began beating him, kicking him in the groin and pistol whipping him. They fled when Williams' mother screamed, but later returned. This time Williams was armed and when Green reached into a bag, refusing to stop, Willams, fearing for his life, shot him to death. So unless a man who can barely walk carried off a TV, the robber's scam got him killed when he thought Williams was bluffing. One less criminal on the streets. They're trying to figure out whether or not to charge Williams with a crime. (Source: "Birmingham Alabama News," May 6, 2000)
YOU GOT A LICENSE? In Los Angeles recently, two men were walking down a street when suddenly, a group of about twenty gang (looking) men shouted a homophobic epithet and began chasing them down the street threatening to kill them. Whereupon one of the men turned around and leveled a semi-automatic handgun at them. Woah! The "gang wannabes" came to a screeching halt and demanded: "You got a license to carry that gun?" When the man ostentatiously cocked the gun, they ran off in all directions, leaving the would-be victims to continue their walk unmolested. Which just proves what I, and many others have said all along: Laws that keep honest people from carrying guns are the criminal's best friend. And they know it. (Source: "Los Angeles Times")
SHOULDA CHECKED THE ROPES BETTER: When you tie a guy up while robbing him you expect to be able to get the job done, don't you? Not this guy. After being pistol whipped and tied up with duct tape and plastic restraints, he freed himself and stabbed one bad guy to death and ran the other one off with one of their own guns. His wife ran to call the police (Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal, May 14, 2000)
COPS TO DECIDE: In Salt Lake City, an elderly man woke up at 2:45 A. M. to the sound of glass breaking as a thug broke into his home through a sliding glass door. He grabbed his gun and ordered the thug to leave. He even fired a couple of warning shots. But when the crook still came at him, he shot him to death. His son says that the thug was not there to rob, but to hurt and he thinks his father and mother would now be dead if they had not been armed. The police are investigating to see if there will be charges filed, and they confiscated the gun. Hopefully, there are no more thugs looking to hurt this man that night because he will now be defenseless, like most of the rest of us. (Source: "Deseret News," May 22, 2000)
ALWAYS LOCK YOUR DOORS: Would-be thieves walked in through an unlocked door in a south side mobile home park in Atlanta, hoping to rob the occupants of a mobile home. They immediately opened fire, hitting one of the occupants. But, surprise, surprise! One of te other residents fired back, killing one of the robbers, who died at the scene. The other one was last seen heading for the "tall timber," which is hard to find in the Atlanta area. He left their "getaway car" in his haste to "get gone." The occupant who was shot was in stable condition at the hospital last I heard. (Source: "Atlanta Journal Constitution," May 23, 2000)
GRANNY'S GOT HER GUN: Sandra Suter took action when, while standing in line at Wal-Mart in the St. Petersburg suburb of Spring Hill, she saw store security wrestling with a knife-wielding shoplifter who had already cut several of them. She Ran up with her gun leveled and told him to stop moving. After she shouted several times, he did, and was taken into custody without further problems. Another thug off the streets for a while, anyway. And wouldn't you know it, one woman was more frightened by Ms. Suter and her gun than by the thug. Shopper Lorinda Smith, who was in the candy aisle during the confrontation, said Tuesday that she was more frightened by Suter's gun then the man's knife. Some people are just so well conditioned by the anti-self defense crazies that they don't know what to be afraid of. Predictably adhering to the party line, Kim Mariani, spokeswoman for Handgun Control Inc., said Suter's actions, while brave, could have hurt someone. The NRA wasn't talking. (Source: "St. Petersburg Times," May 24, 2000)
ELDERLY CHICAGO MAN KILLS INTRUDER: A man was busily breaking into a Chicago South Side apartment when the occupant appeared and told him to "stay back." When he continued toward the elderly man with a knife, the man shot him to death. Again, one less predator. (Source: "Chicago Tribune," March 2, 2000)
STILL RUNNING: When Raymond Rask inserted a round into his lever-action Savage rifle when a man broke into his home with a sock over his head, the man fled as fast as his legs would carry him. He had fired two shots and demanded that Rask hand over the contents of his safe. He didn't get what he came after. He and another man were later caught and charged. (Source: "Mesabi Daily News," Virginia, MN, February 23, 2000)
DIABETES DIDN'T STOP GLEN WHITE: When faced with a burglar in his Oildale, California home, he used his .38 to shoot the invader, who was hit three times and fled in terror. He was apprehended later when he sought help at a hospital. Nothing was taken except three bullets. (Source: "Bakersfield Californian," Bakersfield, CA, February 15, 2000)
DON'T ASK FOR WATER FROM THIS LADY: A man who had done some work for a Columbus, Nebraska woman came back and asked for water for his overheated van. When she turned her back after sending him around the side of the house to get his water, she found him trying to shoot her with a rifle. So she killed him with her own gun. He didn't get any water, only a grave. (Source: "Columbus Telegram," Columbus, Nebraska, October 29, 1999)
HE'D STILL BE RUNNING IF HE HADN'T BEEN CAUGHT: A man tried that old "knock on the front door, break in the back door trick on a 74-year-old St. Petersburg, FL man. It didn't work. The man ran him off by firing several shots through the door after the man knocked out several wood panels. Cops caught him later. (Source: "The Tampa Tribune," Tampa, FL, November 2, 1999)
ARMED NEIGHBORS CATCH INEPT CROOK: Screams and guns stopped a burglary in Albuquerque, NM. When a woman found burglars in her home, she screamed, alerting armed neighbors who surrounded the bad guys when they mistakenly turned into a dead-end cul-de-sac. They held them for the police. (Source: "Albuquerque Journal," September 19, 1999)
CONVENIENCE STORE CLERK SHOOTS STUPID BANDIT: How stupid is a criminal who sets his gun aside to pick up the loot when robbing a convenience store? That's what this college student did when he tried to rob Gerard Douglas in Daytona Beach, FL. All it got him was a bullet hole and a stretch in the slammer. The clerk probably lost his job for being armed at work, but how hard can a convenience store job be to replace? (Source: "The Orlando Sentinel," November 12, 1999)
GUN SAVES A MAN FROM VICIOUS MURDER: In Bradenton, FL, two people attacked him, stabbing him 16 times. He pulled a gun and started shooting, routing one and putting the other in the hospital, then the jail for attempted murder. Would he be alive today if not for the gun? Doubtful. (Source: "The Tampa Tribune," March 20, 2000)
STILL RUNNING WHEN CAUGHT? When a Sequim, WA woman heard someone breaking into her home, she called 911 on her cel phone and gathered her children into a bedroom. When the intruder found them in the bedroom, he was faced with a 9mm handgun. He wasted no time doing a disappearing act. He was caught later. (Source: "Peninsula Daily News," Port Angeles, WA, January 26, 2000)
LICENSED HANDGUN ROUTS ROBBERS: Well, they wanted to be robbers anyway. But they came up short when their intended victim, the desk clerk at an Elkhart, IN hotel confronted them with a gun and asked them to leave when they came in wearing blue bandanas over their faces with their hands in their pockets. They didn't argue. They got gone in a hurry. (Source: "The Elkhart Truth," Elkhart, IN, March 22, 2000)
DON'T STEAL FROM THIS MAN: When he saw a man taking things from his truck and loading them in his own trunk, John Beauchamp ran outside in his underwear carrying a hunting rifle. The bad guy sat right down and waited for the police, who were already on the way, having been called. This man's gun helped clear more than 20 similar cases. (Source: "The Albany Herald," Albany, GA, December 30, 1999)
HOMEOWNER WOUNDED IN ROBBERY TRY, ROBBER DEAD: Troy Mathis and his wife Marie, returned to their Forrest City, Arkansas home and were confronted by two masked men who pointed guns at them. Troy pulled his own gun and started shooting. He was wounded, but one of the crooks was dead and the other may still be running. The dead man had a lengthy record. Good riddance. (Source: "Times-Herald," Forrest City, Arkansas, December 22, 1999)
ONE STEP MORE TO DEATH: When McMinnville, TN homeowner Mark Haley told an intruder to stop while pointing a gun at him, he didn't. He took one more step. Haley cocked the gun and told him again. He stopped. If he hadn't, he'd have been dead, since he was just a few feet from where Haley's children were sleeping. The cops came by later and got him. (Source: "Southern Standard," McMinnville, TN, February 9, 2000)
TEXAS MOM JUST "SHOWS" GUN: A young man was trying every con he could think of to get in this woman's house. First he had a broken-down ca and wanted to come in and call someone. Then he had to pee. Then he wanted some water. Then she saw him in the back yard with a piece of wood in his hand contemplating the dog that had been barking incessantly since he came into the yard. Seeing that, she tapped on the window with her handgun. He took one look at that and "got gone," fast. He would have probably still been running had not the cops (for a change) been there in seconds. There was no "broken down car" found in the area although they did find his car and it was in runnable shape. Makes you wonder what he would have done with that piece of wood after killing the dog if it hadn't been for that gun, doesn't it? (Source: Keep and Bear Arms Organization May 16, 2000)
CHARGES...FOR THE VICTIM? Half-blind Harvey Faulk, of Chadbourne, NC, grabbed a gun and started shooting in the direction of the sound of gunshots aimed in his direction by armed intruders who had already demanded his money. He went for the gun when the robbers scrambled for his wallet, which had fallen out of his pants on the bed. He actually shot first, but continued firing when his fire was returned, killing one of the crooks and causing the other to "set sail for parts unknown". The cops are still trying to decide if a half-blind octogenarian faced with two teenaged, armed thugs ready to kill was justified in using deadly force. Prosecutors aren't too bright, are they? To me it's a "slam-dunk". The guy who got away had the gun. Cops should look for a running man. (Source: "APB News.com" via "Sierra Times," May 26, 2000)
SHOOT HIM IN THE BUTT, HE'LL KILL YOU: In DeKalb, GA J.C. Adams, a 72-year-old DeKalb County storekeeper, took umbrage when a thug who was robbing him shot him in the rear end. So he killed him. Seeing two robbers on the closed-circuit monitor at the cashier in his store, he grabbed his shotgun and confronted them. One turned and shot him and he returned fire, hitting him in the chest. Both thugs fled but the shot one didn't get far. He was found on a side street a few hundred yards from the store entrance. His buddy hasn't been seen nor heard from since. Cops say probably no charges against him. No kidding. When you give the robber the first shot, how can it not be self defense. Of course, they're trying to eliminate that concept altogether. It's not about guns --- it's about self defense. (Source: "Atlanta Journal-Constitution" June 1, 2000)
"NO ONE'S EVER GOING TO ROB ME AGAIN!" That's what Cudahay, California man Francisco Lopez shouted as he began firing at the robbers who were looting his home. After feigning illness to get to the drawer where his gun was, he started shooting, killing one of the gunmen. Unfortunately, the others literally "filled him full of lead," hitting him 19 times and killing him. The rest of the robbers fled with a fourth man as the 69-year-old hero died. In doing what he did, he probably saved the lives of several of his grandchildren, who were there. After an earlier robber (several weeks before) humiliated him by making him join his family in the garage in his underwear, this proud man determined that it would never happen again. When it did, he gave his life to stop it. Sometimes that happens. When you take a gun to armed people, sometimes you die. But better a proud death than a humiliating one, and the number of stories of successful defenses of life by honest people with guns proves that in most cases, having your own gun does save lives and prevent violence. (Source: "Los Angeles Times" June 1, 2000)
STUPID TEEN SHOT ROBBING STORE: This kid doesn't seem to have any brains whatever. After being shot in the stomach by the store clerk in an attempted armed robbery at Quality Jewelers in Minneapolis, MN and confined to the store by their security system, he finally got out. So then he tries to carjack a woman's car. When she locks the door, he shoots at her, missing. Before that he had attempted to shatter a display case by shooting at it. It didn't work. Must have been "rubber bullets." At any rate, he ran for his life with a bullet in his belly. He was found later and sent to the Hennepin County Hospital. From there no doubt he will go to the slammer for some education in the proper method of holding people up. Of course, one wonders how good the teaching is, since the teachers are in prison. No one suggested arresting the clerk who shot him. (Source: "WCCO Television," Minneapolis, MN, June 1, 2000)
DON'T ROB THIS BAKER: About 11:05 p.m. on a Thursday, Police Sgt. Alex Strong said, Jan Moskow, 47, was taking a shortcut home when he heard footsteps rushing up behind him. "Give me the money," said the young robber, pointing a small, silver semi-automatic pistol at the short, slender man wearing a black yarmulke. "Give me the money," he insisted, according to police. "OK," Moskow replied. Then, he reached into his vest as if to get a wallet. Instead, he pulled out a 9-mm semi-automatic pistol and fired two shots. The robber, Raheem Stewart, 18, of Wyndale Avenue near 76th, was struck once in the forehead and was pronounced dead at the scene, Strong said. "Whack 'em and stack 'em." One more good criminal. (Source: "Philadelphia Daily News" June 17, 2000)
SHE DIDN'T "KNEED" THIS: When a Sedalia, Missori woman came home one morning, she found a man in a ski mask robbing her house. He threw her down and removed her rings. Whereupon she gave him a well-placed knee (I'm not going to say where) and, while he was "out of it," she got her gun. The man may still be running with a strange gait. It's amazing how quickly they get gone when you point a gun at them. (Source: "The Sedalia Democrat," Sedalia, MO April 16, 2000)
ANOTHER CROOK CAPTURED: When the resident of a London, Ohio apartment complex heard a commotion outside, he grabbed his gun. So when a criminal being hotly pursued by police burst into his apartment, he pointed the gun at him and told him to "hit the floor." He did what he was told with alacrity and was still there when police came in. Makes you wonder what would have happened to this resident if he had not been armed, doesn't it? But since he was, there is one more criminal off the streets. (Source: "The Madison Press," London, Ohio, April 3, 2000)
ADRIAN RODRICKA CATHEY IS DEAD: As well he should be because he was shot dead while attempting to rape a University of North Carolina at Charlotte student who was sleeping as he jimmied his way into her apartment. DNA tests proved he was the rapist who had terrorized this university community for over a year. The fact that this co-ed didn't fall for the "anti-self defense" rhetoric of the "gun-banners" will keep many more women from being raped, maybe even killed. This co-ed kept a gun in her bedstand and it was easy to reach as he prepared to rape her. So now there is one less serial rapist abroad in the land, thanks to a person who ignored the "anti-self defense" blather and armed herself. (Source: "Sierra Times," June 30, 2000)
FLORIDA GUN OWNER KILLS CARJACKER: This is getting good. There are many bad things going on in Florida but this isn't one of them. When a man came up to the owner of a 1994 Camaro inside a "gated community and demanded his keys, he refused. When the assailant began pistol-whipping him for his refusal, he pulled out his own gun and put two in the bad guy, killing him. His accomplice saw what happened and "got gone quick." He hasn't been seen since. Standard operating procedure. When the victim has a gun, the bad guys flee, usually after their partners take lead. (Source: "The Florida Sun-Sentinel," July 4, 2000)
BUT I'M ONLY KIDDING! In Bessemer, Colorado, a pair of crooks were trying to impress the clerk of a liquor store they were robbing with the seriousness of their demands by saying: "I'm not kidding!" One of them said this as he brandished his ill-gotten gun. But he changed his tune quickly when the clerk produced his own gun and told him as he pointed it at the holdup men. "I'm not [expletive deleted] kidding either. I'll kill you! As the criminals rapidly disappeared into the distance, one was heard to say: "I'm only kidding!" (Source: "The Pueblo Chieftan," March 5, 2000)
ONE LESS STALKER: Timothy O'Hea, 43, broke into the home of Terrill Space, 51, an ex-girlfriend he had been stalking, intent on at least injuring her, maybe even killing her. But his plans went awry when she pulled a gun and efficiently dispatched him to a "better place." He will stalk no more women. Cops are still trying to figure out whether or not to charge her. These guys never learn, do they? (Source: "Albuquerque Journal" July 2, 2000)
SHOOT 'EM IN THE BUTT: Khalid Balala shot a would-be robber in the rear end in Fulton, Georgia after the man had thrown him to the floor and shot him in the arm during a robbery attempt on the grocery store where he worked. Good shot. Didn't hurt him much but stopped the robbery and makes him a "laughing stock" among his peers in the criminal community. (Giggle, gasp!) He also shot the man's accomplice, but neither were seriously injured, only arrested. Two more bad guys who will have a new respect for grocery clerks in the future. For a change, the cops aren't even considering charges agains Balala. (Source: "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution" July 5, 2000)
To subscribe to the "Keep and Bear Arms" email List, go to: Angel@eMastery.com
Click here fore more stories
To read more informative articles by Ray Thomas and others check out the "Information Central" section on my web site.. Just go to https://www.angelfire.com/co2/RayThomas and click on "Information Central."
The first thing you must do to help in this fight is to keep yourself informed as to things the power seekers don't want you to know.
To do that, join my "Forced Altruism List" by going to: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/forcedaltruism and following the instructions to get a daily update on what's happening and a place where you can express your own gripes and frustrations by posting them to the entire List.
You may also read the current issue of the monthly online web based newsletter, "Beyond Common Sense," by going to: http:www.angelfire.com/co2/beyondcommonsense.
If you like what you see, you may subscribe to the Announcement List that notifies you when a new issue comes out by going to: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/beyondcommonsense and following the instructions.
Back to Page One
Email -|- HOME
