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In March of this year, “Eddie and Cindy Gilmore [above right] were sitting in their living room watching television, when all of the sudden they heard a loud noise behind them, and barely had time to turn around to see dark figures approaching, demanding they get down,” kten.com reports. “‘Three people ran in and grabbed my wife,’ Eddie Gilmore said. ‘She stood up.’ . . .

Eddie Gilmore says as his screaming wife was taken to a back room by a masked intruder who was holding a gun to her head, another intruder told him to get on the floor in the living room.

“And I got over between the couch and the coffee table and when I did I went down and put my arm on the coffee table to kind of hide myself and I pulled the drawer open because I had a gun in there,” Gilmore said.

That’s when, Gilmore says, he started shooting in every direction he could, hitting two of the subjects. The suspects fired back, but neither Eddie or Cindy were hurt.

“They had a gun to her head,” Eddie Gilmore said, “They could’ve killed her and come right in here and killed me if I hadn’t had a gun.”

kxii.com picks up the story . . .

That’s when, Gilmore says, he started shooting in every direction he could, hitting two of the subjects. The suspects fired back, but neither Eddie or Cindy were hurt.

“They had a gun to her head,” Eddie Gilmore said, “They could’ve killed her and come right in here and killed me if I hadn’t had a gun.” . . .

Cryer added investigators don’t believe the suspects, Broderick Humphrey, Austin Braden, Meridann Awalt, and Freddy Cervantes knew the Gilmores. “Based on just statements from our suspects,” Cryer said. “They claim they were out in a wooded area shooting their firearms and looking for a place to rob and i think just because of the secluded area of this house is why it was targeted.”

Said Eddie Gilmore, “I had some re-loads in this one gun and they mis-fired…next time they won’t misfire.”

Using reloads in your defensive firearm is generally unwise; it is hard to match the quality and reliability of factory defensive loads. It can be done, but it is difficult. In any case, the Gilmores were made honorary deputies for their bravery and action, similar to the award given to Zara Aldi, who disarmed and shot a robber in Lexington, Kentucky, in May of this year.

It only seems right to reward people who have contributed to a safer community by helping to apprehend/eliminate dangerous criminals. These awards seem to be part of a trend. The internet has broken the old media’s stranglehold on stories such as these (which were usually spiked by AP and its ilk). The more people hear and consider them, the more brave armed citizens are being recognized.

I hope we’ll be seeing more awards of this nature. Maybe cities and states will start rewarding citizens who fight back on a regular basis. Detroit and Milwaukee would be good places to start. Chief Craig and Sheriff Clarke would be perfect authorities to hand out “armed citizen” awards. The Bill of Rights day, 15 December, would be a good day to celebrate armed citizens.

©2015 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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46 COMMENTS

  1. I used to read a lot of ferfal’s stuff. Isolated homes are a wet dream for the bad guys. No witness’s and no hurry to do your evil.

    These bad guys were just a random selection of retards prowling for a mark. Real organised bg’s with google earth and map quest would be a true nightmare for the secluded homeowners.

        • Set up a simple perimeter alarm and also own a rifle for home defense. The homeowner was unaware of activity taking place 6 inches from the door of his house. How smart is that? About as smart as using FMJ reloads for self-defense.

          There are too many stories of bad guys getting shot with a pistol and either running away or firing back while running away. A rifle has to be part of the defense equation if you are a home dweller.

        • ^ Rifle or shotgun…

          But if I was older, smaller stature, or otherwise recoil sensitive I’d go for an AR

      • I’m semi retired.
        when I work it’s as a driver. I use gps and mapquest all the time. And I can sit in my home in CA and push a few keys and get a birds eye view of my fathers place in KY.

        And if an ignint old hillbilly like me can do, think what a young thug with more experience in the computer world can do.

    • The first post was about these folks fighting off their attackers. This post is about them getting an attaboy for doing so.

  2. “It only seems right to reward people who have contributed to a safer community by helping to apprehend/eliminate dangerous criminals.”

    It would seem appropriate to me that in the event an armed citizen reduces a perp to room temperature and it is adjudicated a “Good Shoot” they should be rewarded with perhaps 50% of what the jurisdiction believes it would have cost the taxpayers to try, convict and then house the criminal for the duration of his prison term had he survived or been otherwise apprehended.

    • I agree.

      And the money should be had by attaching the wages and assets of the perp’s parents.

      • Parents should be held responsible for their children’s behavior, up to a point. And usually the acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree. Sadly, sometimes kids who are brought up right make bad choices in spite of what they have been taught.

  3. I’m not secluded, but I have had unwanted guest in my backyard lpoking for stuff to steal. I love to see them drag my kayak out of the yard. I sleep with a Tavor next to the bed and a 40 round PMAG. I think that’s good enough for most scenarios.

      • Well, it’s not very effective bait. It would make a great video watching them drag it out to the road. I’m sure the cops will get there before they can figure out how to load it into their vehicle. I might even make some coffee to drink while I watch the idiots at work.

        The Tavor is for unwanted guests who decide to come in for a short visit.

        • Let me guess, you offer free demos at 2AM, no appointment necessary, just drop in.

          I have the same deal with respect to my G20, and a couple of shotguns.

  4. Well done, Eddie! The victims survived without injury and the bad guys went to jail, two of them detouring through the hospital on the way. The only way it could get better would be for the bad guys to have left them alone in the first place.

  5. For anybody living in secluded areas, a camera security system is a must. Driveway alerts, gate latch sensors, etc. are needed to give you advance warning. Motion detecting flood lights are a must too. Don’t be a victim. I’m glad these people didn’t get hurt, but they need to be wiser.

    • Even if you live in the ‘burbs motion activated flood lights are a good idea; criminals tend to avoid breaking into well lit, highly visible houses. Too much bother and risk when they can just stroll down the road to the next house that doesnt have the risk of being spotted.

    • A dog who lives indoors is as good as a security system for giving advanced warning of visitors/intruders. If you are going to use a camera, get one with good resolution. I see too many surveillance videos where picture quality is so poor the bad guy is unrecognizable. If I owned a store, there would be a digital camera with a telephoto lens aimed at the top half of the front door. Every time someone went through it, a sensor would cause the camera to take a portrait quality photograph.

      • ” If you are going to use a camera, get one with good resolution. I see too many surveillance videos where picture quality is so poor the bad guy is unrecognizable.”

        I have a more important suggestion: mount the camera at chest height. I cannot tell you how many surveillance videos I have seen of the top of an intruder’s head and NO visible video of their face.

    • “’m glad these people didn’t get hurt, but they need to be wiser.”

      Yep, because how can we have a successful DGU story or update without some “Blame the Victim” commentary, right?

  6. “Using reloads in your defensive firearm is generally unwise; it is hard to match the quality and reliability of factory defensive loads.”

    This tired tripe again?

    Maybe we need to be pedantic about “reloads” vs “handloads.” Benchrest shooters, for example, don’t shoot factory loads … because they are lower quality.

    Even for handguns and defensive use, true ‘handloads’ are BETTER than factory ammo in every testable and statistically analyzable way.

    It is quite easy to FAR surpass factor quality in HANDLOADING.

    It is kind of a “clip” vs “magazine” thing. Use of the correct term matters.

    • Handloads surpass factory ammo only if the handloader knows what he’s doing and actually has that goal in mind.

      Lots of hunters load their own rifle cartridges with particular attention to detail, to accomplish a predetermined goal (velocity, trajectory, accuracy), through a scientific testing process. But most of the folks who reload pistol cartridges are just looking to save a buck and pass the time when it’s too cold out to shoot. These are the guys who really should keep their defensive guns loaded with factory defense ammo.

    • I remember seeing an article somewhere (very well could’ve been here) recently about factory defensive ammo tests someone ran over a chrono. The variation between rounds was disconcerting. While I’m sure that premium brands would fare better, there is no way my handloads vary as much as those tests did.
      The legal argument is another subject altogether, and has been beaten to death – let’s keep the lid on that one!

      • “The legal argument is another subject altogether, and has been beaten to death – let’s keep the lid on that one!”

        The legal argument has been subjected to a whole heap of “Geezer Science” and no real world examples of it causing a problem in court.

        Ayoob likes to trot out negative legal ramifications regarding defensive use of handloads. He’s been pressed (hard) to produce actual case history where it’s been an issue.

        After much pressing, he finally did publicly list two cases a while back. Unfortunately, neither case substantiated his claim that the use of handloads was a deciding factor in a legal case going against the DGU-er. (One of them was a cop).

        So, I don’t mind taking the lid off the legal points either. Sorry. 😉

    • I’m only using factory ammo in my defense weapons. I am NOT giving some lawyer a chance to accuse me of specifically creating “killer” ammunition using components designed to rip the flesh right off the bones as the projectile’s jagged tooth tip spins 36,000 rpm tearing thru little Timmy’s torso like a buzz saw, preventing him from taking care of his 4 kids with 3 different women in 2 states. Because Timmy told his parole officer and his mother he was getting his life together, and going to all of his meetings and staying out of trouble. So why was Timmy kicking in my door at o’dark thirty with a machete in his hand? Because he was lost and needed directions and I misunderstood his intentions when he raised the machete above his head. He was only indicating where he thought north was. Nope, only factory ammo in the defense guns. And I do reload, or handload if you prefer, for my hunting ammo.

      • ” I am NOT giving some lawyer a chance to accuse me of specifically creating “killer” ammunition “

        That’s never happened, though, and it’s VERY easy to rebut anyway.

        Your handloads reproduce accepted factory specs, right? I mean, you load within SAAMI and use known components, right?

        YOUR lawyer should be able to rip that POS argument to shreds.

        I’ve never understood why people borrow irrational fears …

        • Quite frankly, the reason why POTG borrow irrational fears, is because we’re surrounded by a fair host of irrational people, even in courtrooms. If frivolous lawsuits can stick because of the jury’s gut reactions, so can frivolous criminal charges.

    • Well put. I understand your frustration with this routinely incorrect information about hand loaded ammunition including the yet to occur legal issue. I have shot many times more ammo that I have hand or reloaded than factory ammo yet have had far more failures with a wide range of factory brands. Factory rounds are NEVER as accurate even for handguns at real defensive shooting ranges.

      All it takes is some measuring and taking apart a few rounds to see how inconsistent the bullet seating and grain weight is in all but the most expensive target and some SD ammo. Even then they are just less inferior than my hand loads. Even HSTs… There is a lot of expensive and popular SD factory loads with seating and grain weight inconsistencies that one would have to work at to make such a mess of when hand loading.

      I guess the idea that it is hard to make better hand loaded ammunition than factory is subjective. There are certainly some people that won’t be able to confidently make superior hand loads and are likely to blow their firearms up but that is not the issue here. Properly hand loaded ammo is superior to factory ammo full stop.

  7. They got a plaque? Given that Mr. Gilmore was using bad handloads, I think that a box of quality hollowpoint ammo would have been a more appropriate reward.

  8. Dean said… “It only seems right to reward people who have contributed to a safer community by helping to apprehend/eliminate dangerous criminals. These awards seem to be part of a trend.”

    Part of being an old guy is having lived thru quite a bit of “stuff”. While in 2015 to a relatively young guy, awards may seem new, they aren’t. Not by a long shot. Back in the 1970’s a colorful guy named Jerry Preiser ran the New York Federation of Rifle and Pistol Clubs. It was one of the first activist groups in America. Jerry made the rounds of TV and print interviews. He testified before Congress (with a young Larry Pratt). His organization made quite the headlines back in 1977 when they started giving 200 dollars and an award to crime victims who shot the perp. I remember the packed Manhattan theatre when one of the awards were given. A rousing 5 minute standing ovation greeted the recipient. So in todays Millennial iPhone generation none of the long history of 2A activism is remembered. Except for an old guy like me.

    http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F03E3D7113BE334BC4C52DFB266838C669EDE

    • Part of MY being an old guy is that I don’t remember stuff from almost 40 years ago. But with your help, I do remember this happening back in the day. I also remember it was quite controversial at the time. New York in the late 1970’s was not a good place at all.

      • My point is that Eddie Gilmore was in a much worse situation that in the scenario described in the previous article. He faced the worst case scenario being surprised, outnumbered, and outgunned. His wife was being held hostage out of sight. He could have surrendered or ran waiting for the professionals to arrive. Instead, he chose to be his family’s first responder. He prevailed in a real life supposedly impossible to win scenario. Maybe the bottom line isn’t always, “gun or no gun, don’t go where angels fear to tread.”

    • I know! Look at that guy… he probably doesn’t own a single piece of Under Armor clothing, He’s probably so old-fashioned that his guns don’t have a Tenifer finish on them. And I’ll bet he’s never operated operationally!

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