“To be clear here, our point is NOT that there are never legitimate instances of self-defense. From what we know now, this homeowner felt genuinely threatened. Our point is to question a culture that instructs people to go for the gun FIRST and kill. This individual could have been deterred with any number of nonlethal methods. No one had to die here.” That’s the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence’s take on a shooting that took place Monday morning in south Austin. As kxan.com reports, “A man who feared for his — and his family’s — safety shot and killed a man who had run away from a South Austin group home Monday morning, according to Austin police.” . . .
When the man went to a home on Brantley Bend, he banged on the door and was able to force his way into the front entryway.
“The homeowner was alerted to the previous banging by his wife,” said Senior Police Officer Veneza Bremner. “At which point, he went to the front door and fired his weapon at the suspect, striking him in the front of his body.”
Unquestionably tragic. The man who broke in was autistic. So while terribly unfortunate, it was a reasonable response from the homeowner’s perspective, faced with a forced entry of his home by an agitated stranger.
“The homeowner feared for his life and his family’s life,” said Bremner.
Perfectly reasonable…unless you’re a CSGV acolyte. A few comments from the CSGV’s myface post:
Levi Tooker How sad that people’s first thought upon hearing banging at their door is not “maybe somebody needs my help”, but rather “I need to kill this person in case they’re trying to kill me”.
In this case, the homeowner’s first thought was probably more along the lines of, “Who is this angry person who’s just broken into my home and how do I protect my family?”
Andrew Angove More guns, more guns, more guns–because there’s absolutely no legitimate reason for a stranger to be at your front door. Just open and shoot, ask questions later, right? People today are sick. Society is taking huge steps backwards because of bullshit like this.
Sorry, Andrew. This wasn’t really a case of open and shoot. More like, shoot after forcing entry into someone’s home.
Ross Miller Another case where, if the homeowner did not have a gun, both people would be alive now.
Tell me more about why every moronic, paranoid, asshole should be armed?
Yes, and if the homeowner hadn’t been armed he, his wife, his three children or maybe all of them could have been injured or killed by a seriously disturbed individual.
Patti Brown There are ways to keep would be intruders out like keeping outside lights on, doors and windows locked, security system. If a gun owner won’t do any or all of these then they’re just wanting to shoot someone. In this case the man was autistic. I’m referring to other situations. There are non violent ways of protecting you and your loved ones. Only harm an intruder if they’re trying to harm you first. What if I’m out on a walk, need help and knock on your door? Gonna shoot first and “oops” after? This poor man and his family didn’t deserve this! So sickeningly little regard for human life.
Yes, Patti, please feel free to keep your lights on and doors and windows locked at your home, just as this homeowner likely did. We’re sure that if a similar situation happens at your home – and we hope it doesn’t – we know you’ll be prepared to reason with the intruder. Non-violently, of course.
Erin Palmer While I’d of course prefer we just stop shooting each other, I so frequently think, “How about you shoot him in the knee?” Are you trying to protect your family or log a kill? Sure looks suspicious to me.
That’s right, Erin. When you find yourself standing in your living room facing someone who’s just kicked in your front door, adrenaline pumping and family behind you, aiming for a knee is definitely the way to go. This does look suspicious.
You have to give the CSGV props, though. At least they don’t have the ban-on-sight policy for dissenting commenters so rigorously enforced by the intellectual cowards who run the Moms Demand Action page.
Karen Webb I’m as anti gun culture as any. But you need to understand this, The shooter in this case is an ordinary guy who believes he was protecting his family. This man forced himself into that house, and there probably wasn’t enough time to determine his motives. I would have to hope my dogs and alarm system would deter him, but this homeowner chose the legal option of using his weapon. In this area of our town, we have had several instances of door banging and doors kicked in for robberies and assault. The fault here lies with the home where this man was living, that was understaffed and just cited for having untrained staff too boot. He should not have been out on the streets. Do some research before getting on your soap box, this attitude of every single person that defends himself with a weapon is evil incarnate will not get any thing done towards real reformation of our gun laws. It just creates more division.
And this one:
Jason Tillotson I’m for gun control, but when exactly is it you people think it’s ok to defend yourself? After he’s broken in and raped your wife and killed your kids? Don’t let your ideology overpower your intellect. There are so many senseless acts of gun violence we could focus on rather than this one.
One more:
Eric Gerhart This is an unbalanced reaction to an appropriate case of self defense. Coalition, stop going crazy on every instance or you will undermine your position. Seriously. Take it down a notch. Home defense is what happened here. Nothing zealous, nothing paranoid, nothing malevolent. Intruder forced his way inside. Resident shot him. Totally reasonable. Strapping an assault rifle in Target? Arming teachers? Crazy and stupid. This case? Unfortunate yet justified.
So a few voices of reason are heard in a wilderness of reactionary hoplophobia. We suppose there’s always reason for hope.