Tag: DGU

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Quote of the Day.

How much training do you think you need to determine that the thug/s standing there demanding your wallet, car keys, or vagina is not there to hold hands, eat a bowl of granola and sing Kumbyah with you?

– Gunscribe at From the Heartland, “Editorial Staff Lack Education” on why private citizens don’t need the “incredible amount of firearms training” that police receive.

RTWT if you haven’t already.

And it’s been my experience that private citizens interested in firearms “train” a lot more than most police officers do, at least at the “hitting the target” part.

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Better Connected to Reality.

Zendo Deb links to a truly surprising Cincinnati Enquirer piece on concealed carry, Concealed-carry course graduates are armed but not dangerous. Apparently the editors of the CI didn’t get the Editor & Publisher 1993 memo that urged other editors to “step up the war against guns.”

I’m going to reproduce the whole thing here for archival purposes:

On a cold and early Saturday morning, the class at Scarlet Oaks in Sharonville begins the usual way. Students take their seats and the instructor introduces himself.

Then he makes an announcement: “No guns today.”

“Did anyone bring their gun in?” he asks. Nobody raises a hand. Good. The shooting starts Sunday morning.

A few plan to bring .22 revolvers. A man with a neatly trimmed gray beard says he and his daughter will use .38s. Others mention Colts, Smith & Wessons, a .32 Beretta. A big man across the room says he’s bringing a 1911 Colt .45, and he’s not talking about malt liquor.

“That’s a man’s gun,” says the instructor, retired FBI agent Dennis R. Lengle.

I don’t have a man’s gun. I don’t even have a woman’s gun or a “mouse gun,” which is what serious shooters call .22s. I don’t have any gun at all. But the Great Oaks Police Academy Concealed Carry Course has a great deal. For $25, I can rent a Smith & Wesson .38 revolver and get 200 rounds – cheaper than cartridges alone.

There’s a 20-something couple in the back, but most of my classmates are 40s and 50s, I’d guess. A man in bib overalls wants to legally carry the gun he uses on his farm. A husband and wife own a business. One man tells me his kids are grown and he’s interested in shooting. Another guy says during a break that he worries about being mugged when he goes for walks. He says he has no doubt he’d use a gun if he has to.

But a few hours later, after we’ve been through the legal minefield and gritty details of what “controlled expansion” hollow-points do to a body, someone half jokes, “I’m not so sure I want to do this anymore.”

I understand.

The course is excellent. We start by naming the parts of a cartridge, a revolver and a semi-automatic pistol, then move on to 25 true-false questions on dozens of topics. “Being armed is a tremendous responsibility,” it says. True.

And while police cadets open fire at the indoor range across the hall, making muffled bangs like someone pounding a file cabinet with a ball bat, Lengle targets safety, safety and more safety.

He tells true stories of stupid gun tricks by trained lawmen who shot the carpet in their office, or put a 9mm round into their neighbor’s car – through their own house and the garage next door. Lengle has our attention. During the state-mandated 12 hours of instruction, all 17 students are riveted.

This surprised me – using stupid cop tricks to illustrate that even supposedly well-trained people can be idiots, and a badge is no guarantee of infallibility.

In cover and tactics, Lengle warns that a doorway is a “vertical coffin,” a “fatal funnel” for anyone silhouetted in its frame. If an intruder ignores warnings and keeps coming, “immediate incapacitation is your only goal.”

And that requires accuracy.

So Sunday morning we go to the range. I start out jumpy, but get the hang of it and pass all the tests, hitting paper outlines of bad guys from five, 10, 15 and 20 feet.

Safety is drilled in as loud and clear as that booming 1911 Colt, which barks with deep authority, even through ear protection.

Everyone passes. Nobody gets hurt. From what I can tell, legal concealed carry is nothing like the anti-gun crowd made it sound when Kentucky and Ohio passed laws in 1999 and 2004. There are no cowboys. No wild shootouts. No blood in the gutters, as gun-banners predicted. Just law-abiding adults who want to exercise their Second Amendment right to self-defense.

(Emphasis mine.) That floors me, coming from a big-city newspaper.

As we’re leaving, classmate Jim Hansel, who lives “out in the country,” tells me about the night he woke up to a break-in. He called 911, told his son to take cover and waited on his couch with a shotgun. He warned he would shoot, but the guy kept coming until the cops arrived, 40 minutes later. “He had seven outstanding warrants for automatic weapons use,” Hansel says, shaking his head.

Now Hansel has a certificate to get a concealed carry permit from his county sheriff. “It gives me knowledge and confidence,” he said. “Most people are afraid of guns because of what they don’t know.”

Ditto.

If every gun owner took a class like this, we’d all be safer. But meth-heads, crack junkies and street muggers don’t take classes. They don’t get permits or certificates like the one Lengle gave me Sunday. They just grab a “nine” and use it against defenseless victims.

Each month another concealed-carry class graduates from Scarlet Oaks. And the bad guys are a little less sure their next victim is defenseless.

Perhaps there is some hope of sanity after all.

The author is Peter Bronson, [email protected] if you’d like to drop him a thank-you note.

KevinLeave a comment

A Defensive Gun Use Failure.

(via Instapundit)

Armed customer thwarts grocery robbery

A 51-year-old man stopped a masked man from robbing a Southside grocery store and held him at gunpoint until police arrived.

Charlie Merrell was in checkout line at Bucks IGA Supermarket, 3015 S. Meridian St., when a masked man jumped a nearby counter and held a gun on a store employee at 5:17 p.m. Monday, according to a police report made public today.

While the suspect was demanding cash from the workers, the police report states that Merrell pulled his own handgun, pointed it at the robber and ordered him to put down his weapon.

When the suspect hesitated, Merrell racked the slide on his gun to load a round in the chamber, Officer Jason Bockting wrote in the report.

The suspect placed his gun and a bag of cash on the counter, dropping some of the money, police said. The suspect removed his mask and lay on the floor. Merrell held the suspect at gunpoint until officers arrived and took him away in handcuffs.
Merrell had a valid permit to carry the handgun, police said. Police recovered an unloaded .380-caliber handgun from the suspect and $779 in cash, according to the report.

Dwain Smith, 19, was arrested on initial charges of robbery, criminal confinement, pointing a firearm, battery and carrying a handgun without a license. Smith remained held this morning in the Marion County Jail with bond set at $30,000, records show.

Why was this defensive gun use a failure?

Well, if you use the criteria of the anti-gun forces, specifically that of Dr. Arthur Kellermann, a successful defensive gun use must result in a death.

Nobody died.

Hell, no shots were fired.

(“When the suspect hesitated, Merrell racked the slide on his gun to load a round in the chamber.” – More intimidating than merely cocking the gun, no matter how Hollywood sound effects try to influence us, but pulling (and pointing) a pistol with nothing in the chamber? That’s a good way to get shot. Thankfully Smith’s gun was apparently completely unloaded, though Merrell couldn’t know that. As Glenn says, “I suspect that Merrell will carry in Condition One from now on.”)

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An Update on the Cape Coral Defensive Shooting.

There’s this story from Tuesday:

Cape Coral couple tries to cope after attack at their home

By PHILLIP BANTZ, Daily News Correspondent

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Jacob Seckler keeps a gun in his pocket when he mows the lawn. He keeps a gun in his pillowcase when he tries to sleep, but the shadows dancing across the bedroom walls keep him awake.

“I’m strictly against guns. I never wanted them in the house,” said Seckler. “Now I wouldn’t be in the house without a gun.”

Mr. Seckler is another person who has discovered that he is responsible for his own protection. It is quite often a significant shock.

Seckler’s stance on guns changed the morning of May 16. He was mowing his lawn when he turned around and saw two 20-year-old men standing behind him. Seckler said one of the men was pointing a gun at his head.

After Seckler, 50, raised his hands to the sky, the two men pushed him past the garage toward the front door of his home in northeast Cape Coral.

That would be the $297,000 home built last year at 2125 Northeast 1st Ave, just east of Santa Barbara Boulevard and north of Pine Island Road, as reported by the local News-Press on May 16. I just thought you should know. For some reason that paper thought it important.

They held him at gunpoint and said they were getting into his house no matter what.

A struggle ensued at the front door. Seckler refused to let the men inside and they beat him over the head with the pistol and their elbows and fists. One of the men bit Seckler’s back. Seckler’s fiancée, Elizabeth Kachnic, 37, said she heard screaming and the door slam repeatedly.

“I don’t know what happened to me,” said Seckler. “I was so scared. I’m not crazy like that, but I knew I had to do something.”

No sir, you are not crazy. You did your job and defended yourself and your fiancée at the risk of your own life. You understood what was at stake, and took the proper action. And you were lucky. No doubt about it.

The gun was pressed against Seckler’s temple. He said he pushed the assailant’s hand down and the gun fell to the ground. Seckler said he screamed for Kachnic to call 911 as he and the two men scrambled for the weapon.

“I got the gun. I just turned around and shot,” said Seckler. “If they did not come here with a gun, they would be alive. It’s their fault.”

And thankfully, that’s the position that Florida law takes as well.

He fired every bullet in the clip.

I have read elsewhere that the firearm in question was a .38 revolver, but seeing as this is a newspaper report and newspaper reporters tend to be completely ignorant of firearms, I will take the “every bullet in the clip” statement with a grain of salt the size of the rock of Gibraltar.

One of the men, John Patrick Moore Jr., was hit as he sprinted across Seckler’s driveway. He stumbled to the edge of the street and died.

The story on this is at variance with other reports as well. Mr. Moore is reported to have been shot in the side. I have no doubt he was able to sprint some distance before his mortal wound felled him, however.

Police say Moore’s accomplice, Damion Jordan Shearod, fled when they lost control of the gun. Seckler said Shearod was hiding in the garage or the side of his home and appeared after the gunfire ceased and ran to a car parked in the street outside Seckler’s residence.

Police say Moore’s 19-year-old girlfriend, Jazzmyne Carrol-Love, was waiting behind the wheel and the two sped away.

Seckler had just killed a man. He hadn’t held or fired a gun since he was 18 years old and serving in the German Army. Even then, he was only aiming at practice targets.

“I was crying, screaming and hurting,” said Seckler, a large man who became tearful while recounting the shooting. “If they would have gotten in they would have killed us both. Everybody says I did the right thing, but it feels so bad. I killed another person.”

That’s something you have to live with. “Better him than me” does not make the taking of a life any easier, but at least you’re around to feel bad about it.

Lives changed forever

Long bands of yellow police tape cordoned off their home and detectives stood in their driveway looking down at a puddle of blood as Seckler and Kachnic packed their essentials and drove away on the evening of the shooting.

They lived in an area hotel for a week. Then they rented a camper and left Lee County for a while. Seckler said he had an emotional breakdown at the RV park and requested a priest. The priest was not available and the police were called, but they could not ease Seckler’s troubled mind.

The Catholic church must be suffering a real shortage of clergy…

The couple returned to their Cape Coral home Monday. The house had symbolized a new beginning for the pair, who left the perpetual hustle of New York behind in January and headed for the Sunshine State.

On the afternoon of their return, Seckler slid his new handgun into his pocket and started up the lawn mower. He mowed part of the side yard before the fear took hold. He went back into his home and locked the doors.

“We have to lock ourselves in to feel safe during the day,” said Seckler. “We don’t feel safe going to dinner and coming home at night. It feels like someone’s hiding around the corner.”

And you know that “the right to feel safe is a fundamental right of all Americans.”

A jogger dressed in dark clothing coming down their street in the middle of the afternoon incites panic. Seckler and Kachnic must always be together when at home. If one is swimming in the backyard pool, the other is watching for an attacker lurking in the bushes or around the corner of the house.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever ride my bike around the neighborhood,” Kachnic said. “We came down here to start a new life and it’s just not fair. It will never feel safe again like it used to.”

No sir, it’s not fair, and you just found that out the hard way. I’m sorry, but at least the blood on the driveway isn’t yours, leaving Ms. Kachic to discover just how unfair the world can be all by herself.

When a gardener knocked on the couple’s front door as they spoke about the shooting, Kachnic jumped off the couch and asked Seckler if she should get the gun before answering. They were both crying.

Post traumatic stress. It’ll get better eventually.

Seckler and Kachnic both have upcoming appointments with therapists. Seckler also has an appointment with a neurologist. Ever since he was pistol-whipped on the temple, his vision has been blurry and he can’t read magazines or street signs.

Good. Just make sure the shrinks you see aren’t GFW’s. Ask to see their CCW permits FIRST. This will ensure that they too understand that the world is not a fair place and that they are primarily responsible for their own protection. Then contact a lawyer about a civil suit against the remaining perps for medical expenses and mental anguish.

While Seckler works to obtain a concealed-weapon permit, Kachnic will be getting a gun of her own, she said.

“It was meant for us both to be dead and they would have robbed us,” said Kachnic. “You can’t imagine the fear. We just don’t know what to do.”

It sounds like you’re taking all the right steps.

Shearod and Carrol-Love were arrested and remain in the Lee County Jail; both have been charged with one count each of homicide and robbery with a firearm.

In 2005, a Lee County jury found Shearod guilty of murdering an 18-year-old Lehigh Acres man, but Judge James R. Thompson overturned the conviction, citing a lack of evidence.

Boy, would I be interested in the transcript of that trial.

The State Attorney’s Office is awaiting a judge’s decision on an appeal in the case. The jury’s verdict will be upheld if the appeal is granted and Shearod will be sentenced.

“The judge who let him go should be in jail,” said Kachnic. “Who knows how many people he’s shot and how many times he’s gotten away with it. I hope they (Carrol-Love and Shearod) stay in jail forever.”

Not likely. Not in our revolving-door “justice” system.

Meanwhile, Seckler and Kachnic are desperately trying to piece their lives back together. They have considered selling their home and starting a new life somewhere else. They have also considered turning their residence into a fortress of sorts, installing surveillance cameras and a tall privacy fence around the property. Seckler is leaning towards the latter option.

“I’m not going to give in,” he said. “We’re going to stay here and make it safer. I know it will never feel like it felt when we moved in, but we’ve got to make the best of it.”

Congratulations on your decision. I wish you the best of luck. Now, in addition to the pshrinks and the medical doctor, please get some quality professional defensive gun use training so you don’t shoot the pizza or the pool guy in your current state of (understandable) paranoia. There’s more to being safe than merely owning a gun. As Col. Jeff Cooper once put it, owning a guitar doesn’t make one a musician.

KevinLeave a comment

Our “Friends” in the Media Strike Again.

For your inspection (h/t: AR15.com):

Intruder fatally shot

Fatality third in Escambia since ‘Stand Your Ground’ law passed

Law enforcement and attorneys say the local nurse who fatally shot an intruder at her Navy Point home Saturday would have been protected by state law before the “Stand Your Ground” law passed.

Then why mention the “Stand Your Ground” law at all? But wait, it gets better!

Rhonda Eubanks, 57, a Baptist Hospital nurse, was alone at her home on the 100 block of N.W. Gilliland Road, in a neighborhood southwest of Sunset Avenue, Sgt. Mike Ward said Tuesday.

Now that we’ve identified and given the location and employer of the shooter…

The woman used a .38-caliber handgun to shoot Vincent Demond Wesley, 29, of Pensacola, in the head as he charged toward her, Ward said. Investigators have no evidence that Eubanks had any formal training in shooting a firearm.

Doesn’t look like she needed any “formal training” does it? But wait – it’s coming…

Assistant State Attorney David Rimmer was at the scene Saturday and saw the location of the body of the intruder, Vincent Demond Wesley, 29, of Pensacola.

“Preliminarily, it looks like a justifiable shooting,” he said. “He was laying face-down, under the carport, only a few feet from her door.

“His head was closest to the door.”

Early evidence indicates that he was shot in the head approaching the woman’s front door, Rimmer said.

The woman was alone at her home — a mauve-shuttered house with a manicured lawn

Now anyone looking for revenge can identify the right house in that “neighborhood Southwest of Sunset Avenue in the 100 block of N.W. Gilliland Rd. – look for the mauve shutters…” But remember – she does head shots.

— about 7:45 p.m. Saturday when Wesley twice tried to enter her house, Escambia deputies said.

By the second attempt, she was armed and ready.

“It’s pretty crazy,” said Sgt. Mike Ward, a Sheriff’s Office spokesman. “(She) shot and killed the intruder.”

Deputies are not releasing the woman’s name in order to protect her.

But the PRESS IS! AND they’re giving her address, place of work, and description of her HOME! It’s apparently the PUBLIC’S RIGHT TO KNOW!

However, through neighborhood interviews, investigators have pieced together a series of events that ended with Wesley’s death outside the house on the 100 block of N.W. Gilliland Road near Jardine Road. The neighborhood is southwest of Sunset Avenue.

Just in case you MISSED THE ADDRESS THE FIRST TIME!

Starting about 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Wesley argued with someone whom investigators and neighbors could not identify.

Neighbor Debbie Palmer, 27, said she heard a gunshot as she was eating spaghetti at her neighbor’s apartment on Jardine Road, which is next door to Wesley’s apartment.

Before the gunfire, she heard someone beating on the shared wall and throwing items.

About 7:45 p.m., Wesley entered the backyard of the N.W. Gilliland Road home, deputies said in a report.

Wesley attempted to enter the home, startling the woman. Then he left and attempted to carjack a vehicle driving past the house, the report stated.

Neighbors confirmed that scenario, saying Wesley attempted to steal several empty vehicles before the attempted carjacking.

“I believe he got what he had coming to him,” Palmer said. “He had no right to steal anybody’s vehicle or anything.”

When the carjacking didn’t work, Wesley returned to the Gilliland Road home and began charging at the woman, who had retrieved a firearm, the sheriff’s report stated.

Fearing for her safety, the woman shot him dead.

The shooting death is the third of this type in Escambia County since the “Stand Your Ground” law was passed Oct. 1, Ward said.

The Florida statute — the first of its kind in the United States — allows the use of deadly force when a person reasonably believes it’s necessary to prevent the commission of a “forcible felony.”

Uh, “first of its kind?” Hardly. It’s not even the most recent.

Richard Piovesan, 44, of Pensacola died in a shooting on Oct. 12, which was 11 days after the law passed. He was shot following an argument with a neighbor over money and a piece of wood.

Tyrone Fyoungious Preyer, 29, of Pensacola died in March by gunfire as he broke into an occupied home.

The most recent event has at least one neighbor thinking about protecting himself.

Since March, Charles Robbins, 50, has resided across the street from Saturday’s shooting.

So now you know where HE lives…

“I’ve been considering buying a gun ever since I moved here,” Robbins said. “This kind of tilts it in that direction. I’ve had my eye on a .45 (caliber handgun) in a pawn shop.”

Get the pistol, Mr. Robbins. Everyone who reads the paper now knows where you live and that you’re unarmed.

Read the comments. Some are excellent.

And remember: This would never happen in England. Ms. Eubanks would be sitting in a cell right now. Or more likely would be the victim of a violent crime, instead.

If you have anything to say to the “reporter” her email address is [email protected]
The dead perp:

DC Number: 312116
Name: WESLEY, VINCENT D
Race: BLACK
Sex: MALE
Hair Color: BLACK
Eye Color: BROWN
Height: 5’07”
Weight: 171 lbs.
Birth Date: 11/01/1976
Release Facility: OKALOOSA C.I.
Custody: MEDIUM
Release Date: 04/02/2006

Offense Date Offense Sentence Date County Case No. Community Supervision Length
11/29/1993 AGG BATTERY/W/DEADLY WEAPON 04/13/1994 ESCAMBIA 9305667 0Y 12M 0D
0Y 18M 0D
11/29/1993 GRAND THEFT,$300 LESS &20,000 04/13/1994 ESCAMBIA 9305667 0Y 12M 0D
11/29/1993 GRAND THEFT,$300 LESS &20,000 04/13/1994 ESCAMBIA 9305667 0Y 18M 0D
11/29/1993 RESISTING OFFICER W/VIOLEN. 04/13/1994 ESCAMBIA 9305667 0Y 12M 0D

A choir boy he was not.

Child Abuse!

KevinLeave a comment

(Via Zendo Deb):

12 Year Old Points Gun at Burglars; Group Takes Off

July 11, 2006 08:58 AM
An accused group of thugs were thwarted by a 12-year old with a gun. It happened in Greenville (SC) when police say five masked men stormed into a house and started beating up the child’s father.

FOX Carolina’s Jamie Guirola reports, Try and picture it. A 12 year old walks into the living room, sees his mother frantically protecting the baby, and several strangers attacking his father. The 12 year old rushes out of the living room, but comes back pointing a gun at the five suspects. As of Monday night, all but one are in jail.

These are the alleged home invaders without their masks. The youngest barely seventeen, the oldest just 20. George Dickert didn’t have time to think about their ages when he tells us they broke into his home and tried to rob his family.

George Dickert/Victim: “F*$# you! That’s what I was thinking.”

Sunday night, George says, one of the suspects in the group followed him into his house after he smoked a cigarette. He tells us the man pulled out a gun, threatening him. When George reached for a different gun in self-defense, a fight broke out.

George: “I work five days a week and my wife works six days a week. We’re an honest couple. We do what we have to do to make a living and some idiot decided he wanted what I had.”

When the struggle started, police say, two other men came into the house and started beating on George. That’s when George’s 12 year old son made the move credited with scaring the accused thugs out of the house, and stopping the burglary without even firing the gun.’

Or having it taken away from him! Imagine that!

George: “He did what he had to do to protect his family last night. And a 12 year old child should never have to go through that. Even if he does know what to do, he should not have to do that.”

Police later found these four near George’s home sweating and breathing heavily. Something George hopes they’ll do again if they’re convicted and sentenced to the max.

George: “…And I will press and push and do whatever it takes to make sure every individual in it gets it.”

Police aren’t releasing details about the fifth person they’re looking for. George says he has five guns in the house. His taught his son how to use each of them.

Good for him. And he’s right, his son should not have had to do what he did, but I’m glad he was able. Of course the Brady Bunch probably considers teaching his boy about guns to be a form of child abuse they’d like to see ended. After all, twelve year old boys aren’t supposed to possess firearms. Or airguns. Or rubber band guns.

As far as I’m aware, in the UK – gun control utopia, according to the gun grabbers gun control proponents er, gun safety organizations – it’s illegal for a child to have access to a gun. “Safe storage” and all, you know. In England Mr. Dickert would be looking at jail time, his collection of five firearms would already have been confiscated, and his license to own them would have been revoked.

It’s simple “common sense” legislation like this that they want to force down our throats here.

Now, on a different topic, let me illustrate “media bias.” This was a Fox News story. It’s from a decent sized city – Greenville SC has a population of about 56,000. Myrtle Beach, SC has about four times the population. The George Dickert story has one (1) hit on Google – apparently the local Fox News affiliate is the only source to have posted it to the web. Granted, it’s only been one day.

On July 7, a 12 year old boy in Myrtle Beach shot his 10 year old best friend with a .22 rifle, apparently with intent. He’s been charged with murder. Google has links to ten (10) stories on the incident. One is from a paper in North Carolina, one from Florida and one from Pennsylvania. All of the papers in question belong to The McClatchy Company, which owns five (5) newspapers in South Carolina: The State, The Sun News, The Herald, The Beaufort Gazette, and The Island Packet. The story was on Page 1 below the fold in today’s Sun News. They own papers in fifteen (15) other states. Do you think they’ll pick up the story of George Dickert’s son and spread it around the East coast?

Nah, me either.

Do you think the story of Zachary Haymon will be one told by the Brady Bunch?

I’ll be watching.

Another Armed Citizen Resists

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New (to me) blog discovery Pink Flamingo Bar and Grill that I pointed to Friday has a link to another outstanding story of armed self-defense:

Senior with pacemaker fights off intruders

Fight, die or give in.

Faced with those choices, a 61-year-old West Bloomfield man parried away a shotgun barrel as it fired, forcing a buckshot load of lead over his shoulder. The township man then drew his own handgun and shot an intruder inside his garage in the 4800 block of Trailview at 3 a.m. July 4.

“I love this guy,” said West Bloomfield Lt. Tim Diamond. “He made a move on the gun with his arm in a sling. That’s a guy with cojones.”

Apparently Lt. Diamond hasn’t gotten the “I’m the only one professional enough” memo.

The resident’s arm was in a sling because a pacemaker was installed in his chest the week before. Despite all that, his bullet struck the intruder. But the resident, who owns a bar in Detroit, soon found out there were actually three would-be robbers waiting for him when he returned home from work. A struggle ensued with the resident trying to fend off two of the intruders. The suspects eventually got control of both the handgun and the shotgun.

Yes, the defender had his gun wrestled from him. But…

“It was a calamity of errors,” said Diamond. “There could have been two people killed.”

Shot and bleeding profusely, one suspect needed medical attention fast so all three fled taking the guns with them.

They ran off. Empty-handed. After one had been wounded.

Would they have done that had he not resisted? Or would he now be dead?

Two men dropped off a man with a bullet wound at the emergency room of Providence Hospital in Southfield later that morning.

Coincidentally, a West Bloomfield police officer was sitting in the same emergency room. The attempted robbery victim complained of chest pains and also suffered a cut finger so police took him to Providence. The resident identified a man walking into the emergency room as the same person who tried to rob him a short time before.

“Providence Hospital” eh? Aptly named.

Police weren’t able to question the suspect as medical staff whisked him off for several hours of emergency surgery. His family hired an attorney by the time the anesthesia wore off and police didn’t interview him that day.

Why am I not surprised? I’m sure this will be another incident of where an innocent yoot “didn’t deserve” to get shot – he was making such progress at “getting his life back together.” Or something. Everyone will be shocked, shocked to learn that he could be involved in something like an armed robbery! Despite a rap sheet as long as his arm.

Police later identified additional suspects through hospital videotapes and telephone records. Arrested and arraigned in connection with the crime were:

– Eric Lewis, 17, of Detroit, who was arraigned in his hospital bed Thursday on four felony charges including assault with intent to rob while armed and assault with intent to murder. Both charges carry possible life sentences. A magistrate set bond at $250,000 and Lewis is still in the hospital under police guard.

Another “child shooting victim” statistic for the Brady Bunch! Mr. Lewis is still a minor!

It’s all the gun’s fault.

– James Gipson, 17, of Southfield was charged with assault with intent to rob while armed. Gipson was arraigned in 48th District Court Thursday and bond was set at $250,000.

Ditto. It’s a wonder the eeeevil gun didn’t shoot him too!

Police have identified and are looking for a third suspect. Both stood mute at arraignment and not guilty pleas were entered. Both face preliminary exams later this month.

Diamond said the township resident did not know Lewis nor Gipson. Investigators don’t believe it was a random robbery attempt, however.

“They were waiting for him to come from home,” said Diamond. “It was planned all the way.” Not so much as a penny was stolen.

And nobody died. Least of all, the intended victim.

And that’s the way it ought to be.

Michigan’s “Castle Doctrine” bill has been sent to the Governor to be signed. Without it, the resident would be required to retreat, rather than defend. (How is a 61 year-old man with recent pacemaker surgery supposed to retreat from three healthy young men intent on robbing him?) As it stands, since the bill was not law at the time of the incident, he runs the risk of a civil suit for shooting that poor, innocent yoot.

Michigan has had “shall-issue” concealed-carry legislation on the books for just over six years now. The Brady Bunch objected to Michigan’s adopting “shall-issue” law, but six years onward, “this insult to caring Michigan citizens” hasn’t been unnoticed (by the criminals), and it hasn’t been forgotten by the citizens who availed themselves of it.

Three years into the program, even the police admitted that things hadn’t changed much:

Three years ago, a heated debate was raging about Michigan’s plan to make it easier to get concealed weapons permits.

One side said more guns would make society safer from violent crime while the other said making concealed weapons permits easier to obtain was surely a recipe for disaster.
Three years later, neither prediction has come true.
Law enforcement officers and local officials say Michigan’s streets are no safer – or more dangerous – than they were three years ago when the law went into effect. But there have been no major incidents involving people with the permits. No accidental discharges. No murders. No anarchy.
“It’s basically been a big ho-hum,” said Joe Oberlee, who teaches a firearms class required of those seeking the permits. “The state has sure collected a lot of extra money, though.”

And what politician doesn’t like that? Things hadn’t changed much, but for those who had jumped through the hoops and gotten a permit, and then had need of it, things have changed a lot. Three years further on, and a 61 year-old man gets to use his handgun to defend himself, rather than being another chalk outline and crime statistic.

“If it hadn’t been for him (the armed customer), there’s no telling what would have happened.”

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I guess robbing a Tulsa grocery store wasn’t such a bright idea. Not when the customers can carry concealed weapons:

Man shot during store robbery
By SHAUN EPPERSON World Staff Writer
3/19/2006

Police say a customer with a concealed-pistol permit shot one of two armed men holding up a Tulsa grocery.

A man was shot Saturday evening as he and another man attempted to rob a Homeland store near 91st Street and Memorial Drive, police reported.

Two men in dark clothing approached a register around 7:15 p.m and demanded money from employees as one of the men brandished a semi-automatic pistol, Capt. Brett Bailey said.

Shortly afterward, a customer in line nearby pulled out a revolver and shot the man holding the pistol, Bailey said.

Police think the customer fired one shot at the robber, he said.

Although police don’t know where the gunman was wounded, they know that he was hit, Bailey said.

“There was blood on the floor,” he said. “He definitely was hit.”

The two bandits then ran into the parking lot and fled in a white four-door sedan, Bailey said.

The vehicle possibly was an older model Oldsmobile, police said.

Police do not know whether the men got any money from the store, they said.

Officers locked down the store and asked everyone inside to give a statement about what they saw, Bailey said.

Police said the customer who shot the robber had a license to carry a concealed pistol.

Several bystanders were in the store, but no one else was injured, police said.

A Homeland employee, Linda Lewis, said she was sacking groceries when she saw two men wearing hoods trying to push their way into a gated area of the store to an office where a safe was located.

“I turned around and saw these guys come in with hoods over their faces,” she said.

She lay down on the floor, she said, because she “knew something was going to happen.”

Next, she said, she heard gunfire and feared that an employee had been shot.

“I heard two shots, and I didn’t know if a customer or a robber was shot,” she said. “I thought we’d be next.”

Lewis said she was “scared half to death,” adding that she was thankful that no cus tomers or employees had been shot.

“If it hadn’t been for him (the armed customer), there’s no telling what would have happened,” she said.

Police were searching for two men in connection with the robbery Saturday.

More:

2 Percent Of Oklahomans Have A Permit To Carry A Concealed Weapon

49,221 people in Oklahoma have a permit to carry a concealed weapon, which is less than 2 percent of the population. One of those is a 75 year old retired man who shot a robbery suspect this weekend inside a Tulsa grocery store.

News on 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright takes a look at the law.

Tulsa Police say two men confronted a store employee at a Homeland grocery store near 91st and South Memorial on Saturday and demanded money at gunpoint.

A 75-year-old man, who was standing in the checkout line, legally had a revolver hidden inside his pocket. He pulled it out and shot at the robbers. Tulsa Police Sgt Mike Huff: “Fired a couple of shots. One hit one of the suspects in the mid-torso area. We feel he is seriously injured.”

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation says 7,622 people in Tulsa County have a permit to carry a concealed weapon anywhere except into government buildings, schools, universities, jails, places that sell beer, places where there’s betting, professional sporting events or any other business that forbids it. Violating that part of the law will cost you a $250 fine and you’ll have your permit suspended for three months.

The News on 6 could not find a posting at the 91st and Memorial Homeland store, prohibiting firearms.

Tulsa Police say deciding to shoot isn’t simple, even when it’s legal. Sgt Mike Huff: “We always have to think about our backdrop, what we’re shooting at, if we miss it, what will we hit and if there’s a gun battle, if they miss us, what are they going to hit. It sounds simple but in a split second, it’s a big decision to engage someone in deadly force.”

What police officers can’t publicly say is most of them secretly applaud citizens who defend their own lives or the lives or others. Sgt Mike Huff: “The bad guys with guns are shooting at people and they have no rules to follow. They obviously disregard the laws. The good, hard-working people are the ones who are following the rules. Over the years, they’ve acted very responsibly.” (Halleluja!)

58 concealed permits are currently under suspension, the state revoked 18 of them last year. (That’s less than 0.12% under suspension, less than 0.04% revoked.)

Tulsa Police say this weekend’s shooting appears to right in line with the law and folkswith Homeland told us they have no comment.

Tulsa Police say if the robbery suspect doesn’t get medical treatment soon, he could die, in fact, they wonder if he might already be dead.

Sweet bleeding Jeebus, GOOD PRESS! (You did note, I hope, that the TV station checked to see if the grocery store was posted against concealed-carry. Like the cops hadn’t done that already.) Here are a couple of shots of the wounded bad-guy:

It’s reported that the shooter used a .357 Magnum revolver. Looks like it was pretty effective.

And what is it with elderly guys intervening? This reminds me a lot of 72 year-old Due Moore who intervened in an assault occurring in a New Mexico WalMart last August. I fully expect the GFW to wail and gnash their teeth over this shooting just as they did after Mr. Moore saved Ms. Joyce Cordova’s life. Screw ’em. Regardless of the repeated “let the professionals handle it” mantra we normally get from the press, the rank-and-file cops on the beat know that citizens who defend themselves are a net asset. It’s only for political reasons that cops “can’t publicly say” that. Kudos to Sgt. Huff, who will probably catch a lot of flak for saying it on record.

As for the shooter, good on you, sir! There’s no telling what would have happened had you not fired, but chances are really good that at least one of those scumbags will never try to rob anyone again.

(All links via AR15.com)