A victim of a home invasion on Maui last week fired an AR-15-style rifle at one of three armed home invaders.
Police responded to a report of shots fired at a Haiku home at about 10:35 p.m. Thursday and found three adult victims who said three males wearing hooded sweatshirts entered their home with one of them brandishing a shiny handgun.
The trio hastily retreated, shooting back as they left the residence. The suspects are reported to have taken some cash.
The bandits forced one victim into a bathroom, then walked through the house. A second victim armed himself with an AR-15 rifle and fired a round at the robbers, nearly striking one.
The three suspects fled, firing four gunshots on the way out.
No one was hurt during the robbery, police said. One victim reported the suspects took $3,000.
The police reported that they recovered a firearm at the scene of the home invasion. It’s not clear if the gun they “recovered” is shiny handgun reportedly used by the home invaders, or the AR-15 used by the home defender.
Hawaii has very restrictive gun control laws. Possession of magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of “pistol” ammunition, which includes AR-15 magazines, is a misdemeanor.
AR-15 rifles make excellent home defense tools. Their mere appearance has significant deterrent effect. We do not know what sort of ammunition was used, or the composition of the home’s walls, so speculation about over-penetration is moot. No one outside the home was reported as being wounded.
This is another case that shows the utility of semi-automatic rifles for home defense. The added difficulty of obtaining pistols legally in Hawaii is another reason for people there to use a semi-automatic rifle.
Assault rifles like the AR-15 are weapons of war—designed to inflict horrific injuries and to kill. They have no place in our society. https://t.co/hC2NpykuOQ
— Rosa DeLauro (@rosadelauro) February 23, 2018
©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.