BACKI Hate Guns, But ...
By
Jeffrey T. Manley
I've been reading the current posted articles and
watching the usual media coverage and so those who know me understand that it is
time to vent. There are those people who actually think that the media is not
completely biased and consistently used to further the anti-gun agenda of the
liberal left. The majority of these people are decent, intelligent hard working
Americans whose only fault on this matter is that because they have no knowledge
of firearms whatsoever, the only information they get comes pre-biased from the
misinformed media. That being said, I saw a show a few nights ago where the
story is one that is rarely covered in any kind of positive light and found it
interesting. I have first hand knowledge of several incidents where citizens
protected themselves from attack and even wounded or killed their assailants and
the news coverage was at most, one sentence. Amazing.
"I hated having that gun around, but my husband insisted that I learn how to
shoot it." the female victim stated. Now I must point out as I tell this that I
may not have all the events clearly and in what order but I heard the crux of
the story right from the victims mouth. She stated that she and her husband came
home and were met by two armed and deranged home-invaders. I didn't catch
whether or not it was a home-invasion, or if the suspects were in the home when
they arrived and don't know that it matters. Anyway, she stated that after a
brief struggle in the living room of the house, one
suspect shot her husband and the other shot her. She was wounded and seeing that
she and her husband were likely to be killed by these scum bags no matter what,
she got up and ran into the bedroom where she was able to get her hands on that
gun that she didn't like having around. A photo of the weapon was shown and it
was a Ruger .22 semi-auto Government model pistol.
She said she took the safety off the weapon and
chambered a round as her husband had shown her. When the host interrupted and
asked "he made you learn how to shoot this gun? Is that right?" she said "That's
right, he wanted me to know how to use it, how to load it and how to turn the
safety off. He made me go out and shoot it twice". She said she came out of the
bedroom and fired the gun twice into the ceiling, hoping to scare the suspects
away. The host asked "you mean you fired warning shots, is that right?" she
answered "yes, I hoped that by shooting into the ceiling they would just run
away." She said that instead of running away, idiot suspect number one began to
charge her at which point she ran back into the bedroom. She said she could see
the suspect crouching down at the end of the hall attempting to get a shot at
her at which time she unloaded her weapon in his direction. She hit him and he
then fled the residence seriously wounded. Suspect number two still had her
husband at gun point. She retreated into the bedroom and holed up. Suspect two
began screaming at her husband demanding the keys to the couples truck. The
husband told the suspect that the keys were in the bedroom. The suspect
eventually entered the bedroom to get them and during another confrontation,
the victim (the wife) was shot again in the shoulder I think. Idiot suspect two
then got the car keys, got into the couples truck and backed over his fallen
comrade in the driveway while fleeing the scene (a crime scene photo was shown
of the fallen suspects legs protruding into the driveway). Suspect
one died or was pronounced dead at the hospital, suspect two was arrested a few
months later and is still in prison.
This story illustrates several points to me. She showed incredible restraint by
coming out to fire "warning shots" at two men who intended to kill her and her
husband. In law enforcement, you NEVER fire "warning shots" no matter what the
circumstances are (at least in my state). She showed incredible grit to have
survived such an ordeal and I hate it that anyone would commit such a crime but
as most of us know, such people are out there and there is really no way of
knowing when and where they might be encountered. I thought that her reluctance
about guns was very frank and I certainly would respect and even defend such a
persons wish to NOT have a gun. When I work gun stores (I've done so part-time
for several years) I will NOT sell a weapon to anyone who comes in and says that
they doubt they could shoot someone in self-defense but they just want one (a lot
of break-ins in the neighborhood, etc.). Folks, if that's how you feel I promise
you that weapon will be taken from you and used against you which usually makes
things worse instead of better. Its just like they teach us at the academy, at
every call we respond to, there is at least one gun present, ours. I think its
also clear that
having that weapon and minimal training saved her life and her husbands life. I
imagine that had she been better trained and armed with a more substantial
weapon or been able to reload the weapon she had properly, she would have fared
even better. I also saw a common thread in this story about how crooks treat one
another, this guy left in hurry without his "partner" and then ran the guy over
fleeing the scene. Stories similar to this one about citizens stopping armed
suspects are frequent but apparently not newsworthy to some.
Just thought this story had some relevant points and wanted to share it. Thanks
for taking the time to listen. Please take a moment sometime and say a prayer
for the family of murdered Sheriff Derwin Brown, he is sorely missed by all in
the law enforcement community and will not be forgotten.
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/122200/new_1222000007.shtml
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Jeffrey L. Manley is a Sergeant with a GA Police Department
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