defensive gun use stories
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Late Thursday night, Whitney Lyne heard her doorbell ring unexpectedly as she was getting ready for bed. That was somewhat alarming, since she wasn’t expecting anyone. Then, the “visitor” got more aggressive with the door.

“This person starts ringing the doorbell more, banging on the door,” said Mrs. Lyne in an interview. “She was just banging on the door. You could tell the difference between a fist and a palm hitting it, ringing the doorbell.”

Mrs. Lyne then charged for the side door with a shotgun, as you can see in the first few seconds of the video below:

“As soon as that window burst, I’m running right at her and I am jamming that gun through the door at her,” Mrs. Lyne recalled.

Fortunately, the sight of the shotgun ended the altercation.

“She just nonchalantly just stopped and slowly put her hand up, just walked to her car,” said Mrs. Lyne. “The guy looked at her, put his hands in the air, backed up and just sped off and they were gone.”

Move along, nothing to see here, just another defensive gun use of the “it never happens” variety…

But in all seriousness, there’s nothing unusual about these home invaders’ behavior. Ringing the doorbell is a simple and typical tactic used to find out whether the homeowner is around. Burglars prefer an empty home. Along the same lines, most burglars are not interested in getting into a gunfight, so it’s not surprising that these two fled when threatened with lethal force. Defensive gun use is about saving lives, not taking them. We’re glad Mrs. Lyne is safe and sound.

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18 COMMENTS

  1. Mrs Lyne, should you be unfortunate enough to experience another incident such as this, if you have not already upgraded to on-body home carry, please ‘do’ get your firearm While staying well clear of any entry points, first floor door and windows –then immediately retreat to the safest room in the resident with an available phone preferably a cell (no wires to cut), train your firearm on the choke-point = door/hallway, dial 911, with phone on speaker, set the phone down while speaking with 911 personnel. Should a breach happen at any point during this procedure, the breach has priority = handle your business.

    There is no answering a door-knock/bell that is not expected.

  2. Jim Farmer sez, “The smooth bore again speaks volumes! And without a shot even being fired. From the matchlock arquebus, musket, or blunderbuss, the proverbial smooth bore firearm (in this case the modern shotgun) historically has defined homeland security for centuries, and continues into the 21st century. Consider
    from colonial times, the early 19th century Westward movement in America, including the 19th century Western Frontier Era (1850-1890), the Civil War (1861-1865), and clear through the 20th century to the present, the shotgun has guarded the house, estate, plantation, homestead, farmhouse, mining claim, etc. for generations. And the smooth bore (shotgun: gauge unknown) put the skids instantly on an intruder sending them fleeing away!”

  3. I don’t own a dog, but big dogs with big barks do help reduce the probabilities of a home invader sticking around after his/her “test knock” or “test ring”.

    Kudos to the lady of the house for handling her family’s business. Guns do save lives in the hands of law abiding citizens!

    • Even a SMALL barking dog can be a good deterrent. Most B+E’s are people looking for quick and easy $ with as little risk of injury or attracting attention as possible. I have 2 relatives that were passed over by burglars that hit houses on either side of them simply because their dogs barked. Look at it from their perspective, why bother with a noisy (and possibly bitey) dog or a stout deadlock bolt when you can just move on to the next house?

      • Yup Ishtar, the whole idea is to make your house more secure (exterior lighting, deadbolts, barking dogs etc.) so the crooks go to your neighbors and leave you alone. Sorry to sick them on your neighbors, but hopefully they have the same security. Maybe then you won’t have to use your guns.

    • If you watch the video you can see her large dog jump and bark at the front door. So …. so much for scaring away a determined burglar. Lucky she had that shotgun. Dogs are good but guns are better.

  4. Glad she repelled the would-be boarders. I noted the bars on the storm door, the anti-intrusion bar from the door knob to the floor, two dogs and obviously the security camera that took the videos. Must be a great neighborhood. But also good home security even before the shotgun came into play. Memphis. Ugh.

  5. When some dude tried to carjack me and suddenly found a gun pointed in his face, he did the exact same half-hearted hands up and back away move. He gave a nod and just walked off like it was no big deal. Meanwhile, I hit the “go fast” pedal and burned up some gas trying to get out of there. Remember folks, criminals choose a life of crime, you get jerked into a moment of self defense.

  6. “just another defensive gun use of the “it never happens” variety…”

    Well, when Mom’s Demand Action from Illegal Mayors and The trace only count “justified homicides” as their base for DGUs, that puts the vast majority of DGUs outside of the count, presenting a minuscule stat for DGUs. Great way to manipulate statistics, and vastly under-count what an actual DGU is.

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