On Tuesday at about 2:09pm, authorities were informed of a carjacking that had taken place in El Paso County, Colorado. The thief then drove the stolen car into the Pike National Forest, shooting randomly at vehicles he saw along his way.
Eventually, he stopped at a campground, rifle in hand, and approached a camper with it. Apparently, he didn’t care, or wasn’t aware, that people who spend the night in a Colorado forest generally do so armed.
Perceiving the threat, the camper opened fire, making it possible for the Manitou Springs Police Department, which had been tracking calls as they came in, to apprehend the 29-year-old suspect.
The unidentified perp, who is now in stable condition after taking multiple gunshot wounds, was the only one injured in the incident. He now faces charges in multiple counties.
Although anti-gunners love to paint lawful gun owners as trigger-happy vigilantes, this is one of many incidents that counteracts that idea. If vigilantism were encouraged (or even remotely acceptable), the attackers in these incidents wouldn’t have survived nearly as often as they do.
In reality, most perpetrators do survive defensive gun uses. That’s because law-abiding gun owners aren’t killers. They draw their weapons in order to save their own lives — to stop the threat — not to take a life.
One day, maybe, that fact will sink in.