You know that “bump in the night” situation that home owners fear? Well they don’t always happen at night. As a recent defensive gun use in southwest Virginia illustrates, those bumps can happen any time of day.
As WSLS reports, this particular break-in happened last week at about 4:30 p.m.
The man authorities say broke into a Botetourt County home is in the hospital after being shot by the homeowners’ adult daughter’s boyfriend Thursday afternoon, according to the Botetourt County Sheriff’s Office.
Forty-six-year-old Edward Colman Barbour somehow got into the home, pointed a gun at the homeowner’s daughter and demanded the keys to her car.
When she refused and yelled for another person in the home, the intruder began firing his weapon inside the home.
Another resident retrieved a weapon, came down the stairs and he fired one shot at the intruder, who was coming up the stairs, hitting him in the neck.
When law enforcement officers responded to a 911 call, they found Barbour exsanguinating in the front lawn. He received treatment and is now in custody.
Barbour is being held at the Botetourt Craig County Regional Jail without bond.
Barbour is charged with breaking and entering and the possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. More charges are pending.
Virginia Governor Ralph “Coonman” Northam has called a special session which starts next month to consider a series gun control proposals.
Northam is proposing a series of what he terms “common-sense” laws and called for a July 9 special session of the Virginia General Assembly, following a May 31 mass shooting in Virginia Beach, where a city employee killed 12 people.
The governor proposes universal background checks; banning “assault weapons;” limiting the capacity of gun magazines; banning suppressors and bump stocks for assault weapons; establishing an extreme risk protective order initiated by law enforcement that would temporarily deny an individual’s access to guns; reinstating a law to limit handgun purchases to one per month; preventing children’s access to firearms until age 18; requiring people to report lost and stolen firearms; and expanding local authority to regulate firearms, including inside government buildings.
To the extent that Northam is able to push some or all of these restrictions through the legislature and onto the books, the new laws (think magazine limits, “safe storage” requirements, handgun purchase limits) could reduce law-abiding Virginians’ ability to respond to home invaders such as Barbour.