Gun owners understand how important a weapon is to maintain the safety of a home. Hopefully you’ll never need to use it, but that’s like saying you don’t need home insurance because you hope to never need it.
No responsible gun owner wants to shoot anyone, not even a criminal, so the perfect self-defense situation is when the criminal follows orders and remains at bay until law enforcement officers can arrive to address the situation professionally. With that said, you have every right to take the shot if needed. The safety of every law abiding citizen on the scene comes before that of the criminal. Below are some of the best modern examples:
Owen Turman: North Carolina – April, 2018
Owen Turman lives in a rural area of North Carolina with his fiancee, a six-year-old, and an infant; he was woken at 7:20 on a Sunday morning.
Upon investigation, Mr. Turman found an intruder on his sunporch causing the dog to bark. Turman had a .22 Long Rifle readily available, and used it to make the criminal lay in the driveway until police arrived. The bizarre aspect of the story was that as it turned out, the criminal was so high on drugs he didn’t know where he was — he just saw the porch and thought it would be a nice place to take more drugs.
After the fact, although Turman was well within his right to shoot the invader, he said he didn’t because he didn’t want his daughter to see her dad shoot someone, and it was fortunate he didn’t have to.
Don Lutz: Ellport, Pennsylvania – December, 2017
Don Lutz, an 84-year-old Korean War veteran, woke up at 1:15 in the morning to the sound of burglars breaking into his home. He engaged in a short fist fight with the two men, and shot one in the chest with a Taurus .38 Special Revolver. When police investigated the scene, the bullet was never found.
The criminal who was shot directly had the bullet pass through his chest and out his back, and because of blood on the scene investigators suspect it hit the other criminal after exiting. The intruder who was shot died, the other ran away wounded and has yet to be identified or caught. The important aspect of the story is that a loved and admired member of the community and an honored U.S Army veteran survived the assault.
Afterwards, he declared that other than being a bit sore from the exercise he was not wounded or injured in any serious way.
The fact of the matter is, in the hands of responsible gun owners, guns save lives. Remain a responsible gun owner by keeping your weapon available when you might need it, but secure from children.
Remember it’s a weapon and not a toy, have fun shooting while using basic safety practices. Make sure to get in plenty of range practice so you’ll be ready to use it properly should such a situation arise, and hope you never have the need.
~ Firearm Daily