As Dorothy said, there’s no place like home. That old adage really rings true with me. My home isn’t just my castle; it’s that place I can sit back and relax, drop all my worries and defenses (and my pants). Crossing my threshold or windowsill uninvited, though, is asking for trouble. Even the occasional faux pas – my buddy next door popping his head in to say, “Hi” – sends my adrenalin pump into wide open throttle. This week’s DGU reports are chock full of homeowner horror — folks giving it to the bad guys, one round at a time . . .
More than half of last week’s DGU articles were of the home invasion variety. It takes a real piece of work to decide that someone else’s stuff should be his stuff. Billy Jack Thomason of Alderson, Oklahoma isn’t exactlyu known for his humanitarian tendencies, having served time for child abuse and cruelty to animals. He’s now warming a bench at the local lockup, following a brief visit to St. John’s. I wonder if he gets to keep the bullet they dug out of his chest?
A Lawrenceville, Georgia thug won’t have to worry about jail time, but his family will be rounding up pallbearers. Bobby Smith, Jr. was just twenty-one when his invasion plans were cut short. And another youngster is hanging on to his not-so-dear life after getting his due. Stephen Lebrew, 22, was honing his home invasion skills when the homeowner caught him in the act, aerating him twice.
Another Atlanta-area homeowner put two rounds in his uninvited guest, this time using the intruder’s own gun. The unidentified victim puts his faith in a higher power, figuring that no criminal is dumb enough to lay down his gat without a bit of prodding from Above:
In an attempt to get the money from the homeowner’s pants, the robber placed his gun on the ground.The homeowner said, “I swear, from that moment God said, ‘It’s not your time. Here’s the gun.’ We kind of tussled for it, and he leaned forward and I pulled the trigger.”
It can be tough trying to sort through the week’s stories because so many of the headlines tend to sound the same. Yep, another one in Garden Grove, this time at a residence. Connecticut makes the list again this week with a would-be robber being chased off by an armed store owner. A second DGU shooting in Queens left me scratching my head, until I learned that the home invasion suspect was shot by his own gun during a scuffle with the unarmed homeowner.
With all the home invading going on, home carry never looked more attractive. Just sayin’.
I do home carry. There’ve been a number of home invasions in my area with a 62 yo woman being shot in one. No body gets my stuff for free.
I always carry, even at home. When I was a kid my Dad was shot in a robbery that left him 100% disabled. My Dad was a WW2 Vet and fought with his attackers, he was shot in the abdomen with a 32 caliber bullet that also struck his spine (Easter Sunday 1963) at work. The fire department kept his job open but he was never able to return to work. I remember when the police came to the door and told us he had been shot. The Doctor’s told us if he lived he would never walk. It was a long process for him to return home. He recovered enough that he was mobile. He lived the rest of his life with many medical problems. When he returned home he bought a S&W 37 and he carried it everywhere. He slept with it, never moved around in the house or out of the house without it. He passed 21 years ago and I have his model 37 in my gun safe. That incident and my military service profoundly affected my attitudes on gun ownership. Without your gun your just another sheep – LTC David Grossman.
I don’t home carry, but when at home there are always a long gun and handgun within reach. Er…does this make me paranoid?
You would need 10 a week to reach my guess of 500 a year. You can’t even do that.
I know, I know the brandishing ones don’t make the news. So maybe you can get to 500.
Did I ever mention this other “proof” I came up with. TTAG has how many daily readers? I forget the number , but it’s a lot. Over the last year, how many first-hand DGU stories have we heard from them? I don’t know that number either, but I can’t remember a single one.
Now, do you suppose these guys are defending their homes and families with personal action and not sharing it? I don’t.
You see where I’m going with this, right? DGUs are rare. They’re fewer than gun accidents, which you guys love to disparage as rarer than hens’ teeth. Compared to gun misuse, the real legitimate DGUs are about 1 to 100 or 200.
Wrong. Your jack-ass buddies in the media are loathe the present any cases of legitimate DGU. Your selective blindness isn’t the evidence you think it is.
Mike, I normally don’t waste my time with you anymore, but I will call out anyone who uses misleading statistics.
Over the last ten days (seven since I wrote the article), there were thirty-three news reports. That averages to 3.3 a day, or over 1200 a year. But that’s not important. Remember the conversation where I told you that random-report statistics like this are cyclical? In case you don’t know that that means, it’s up and down and up and down, and to select a single data-point and attempt to pin an entire year’s stats on it is just stupid.
Oooh, Brandishing! I’ll have to add that to my search db . I haven’t ever searched for it. Thanks for the tip.
Be careful what you ask for. It’s interesting, you and I think alike… somewhat. I plan on getting DGU interviews going in the near future.
A
And this is where you’d rather ignore real-life incidents and bury yourself in a fantasyland where all the bad guys with guns are – I don’t know, what do you fantasize about… rape, murder, dismemberment? – whatever gets your grey matter excited about other’s misfortune. You seem to live for that, actually.
I had a friend involved in a DGU a few years back. He was sitting in his car, just got off work, when I guy walked up and pointed a revolver at his head. My friend had his semi-auto handgun in his lap (he was transferring it from holster to secure box under his seat). He pulled the trigger four times, and perforated not only his car door but the bad guy (who didn’t survive).
Now, I imagine you’re nauseous at the thought of the high-fives passed around, the phone calls, “Hey, dude, I just ventialted a baddie!”, and the prayers (Dear God, thank you for helping my aim today).
Well, Mikey, that’s all bullsh!t. My friend was traumatized by what happened, to the point of seeking therapy, and he never, ever, ever talks about what happened. THat’s where you’re wrong, Mike. People involved in severe trauma don’t want to talk about it!
Mike, I’m really sorry – or should I extend gratitude? – that your life has been a bed of roses. I say this because you don’t even carry the basic tenets of respect for the feelings of other humans. It sounds like you’ve never been threatened, never been injured by another, never had precious things or people taken from you, and most certainly you’ve never had to make a decision with any real natural value.
Your posts disgust me, really. Hmm… when I interview a woman who ended her rape with a gunshot to her assailant’s head, I’ll mention that you said she should just lie down and take it.
Thank you.
Bravo. Explaining these things to a souless troll is wasted on the troll, but is well read by the rest of us.
Just my own $.02, if I ever have to use my firearm defensively the only people that will get the full story are my lawyer and anyone in the courtroom if I have to plead my case–and maybe a shrink if I have a hard time with it.
I will not be giving police statements, media interviews, blog interviews (no offense), writing an autobiography, or updating my status on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+. I won’t even discuss it with family members. After researching and seeing some true horror stories about what happens after a DGU, I’ll be taking the sage advice of this site and STFU.
“I swear, from that moment God said, ‘It’s not your time. Here’s the gun.”
Brilliant…
U guys have too much free time.
I’ve had three DGUs in my life. When I was 17 an escaped mental patient broke into a neighbor’s camp and I went to investigate. The perp was driving off when I stepped into the road behind him and his taillights reflected off my Remington 700. He stepped on it, was caught later.
When I was in my mid-twenties and living with my wife in a trailer park a woman in another trailer sought refuge from a party gone bad. A bunch of guys loaded into an old Chevy and headed my way, and I stepped onto my front porch and racked a round into my Winchester M94 32 special. Someone hollered, “Don’t shoot!” and the car took off. Dumb move on my part but it ended well.
About twenty years ago a woman and her two children were trapped in their home across the street from me by an intruder in a Darth Vader mask who ripped out the phone lines and rattled the doors and windows all evening. The husband was a long-distance trucker and on the road. About 1:30AM they made a break for it and landed on my doorstep. I walked across the street with my Redhawk .44 and a Mag-Lite; the perp took off. The Sheriff’s K-9 squad found him hiding in a ditch about a half-mile away. Note that in all three cases no shots were fired.
I’m 60 now and have two sons at home; all of us have firearms readily accessible in our rooms. Experience is still the best teacher. By the way, ‘Mike’, I am the son of a commercial hunting guide, and am a retired USCG boarding officer. I qualified expert in M1911 45ACP, 12 ga. riot shotgun (back when you could still do that) and M-16. Don’t give me any chin music about firearms knowledge or abilities.