Liberty is an inherently offensive lifestyle. Living in a free society guarantees that each one of us will see our most cherished principles and beliefs questioned and in some cases mocked. That psychic discomfort is the price we pay for basic civic peace. It's worth it. It's a pragmatic principle. Defend everyone else's rights, because if you don't there is no one to defend yours. -- MaxedOutMama

I don't just want gun rights... I want individual liberty, a culture of self-reliance....I want the whole bloody thing. -- Kim du Toit

The most glaring example of the cognitive dissonance on the left is the concept that human beings are inherently good, yet at the same time cannot be trusted with any kind of weapon, unless the magic fairy dust of government authority gets sprinkled upon them.-- Moshe Ben-David

The cult of the left believes that it is engaged in a great apocalyptic battle with corporations and industrialists for the ownership of the unthinking masses. Its acolytes see themselves as the individuals who have been "liberated" to think for themselves. They make choices. You however are just a member of the unthinking masses. You are not really a person, but only respond to the agendas of your corporate overlords. If you eat too much, it's because corporations make you eat. If you kill, it's because corporations encourage you to buy guns. You are not an individual. You are a social problem. -- Sultan Knish

All politics in this country now is just dress rehearsal for civil war. -- Billy Beck

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Another Armed Citizen Resists


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.

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