|
| | | | |
|
|
Gimme Back My
Bullets
by Robert A. Waters
Author, The
Best Defense: True Stories of Intended Victims Who Defended Themselves with a
Firearm
In most states, they'd at least
have had a chance.
The seven victims in the recent Wakefield murders were sitting ducks. As
anti-gun Governor Paul Celluci said, "I don't know how you can get any
tougher [gun laws]" than in Massachusetts. Translate that to mean that the
victims were helpless because of the state's restrictive gun laws.
When "Mucko" McDermott took three guns into Edgewater Technologies, he
broke nearly a dozen laws. And that's before he even started shooting.
A fact often ignored by gun control zealots is that crooks and wackos don't obey
the law. But in states where laws are more favorable to gun-owners, thousands of
Americans use guns each year to ward off robbers, rapists, burglars, stalkers,
and murderers.
Here are a few recent examples.
On January 5, 2001, two teenagers walked into a crowded hair supply store in
Indianapolis. Wearing masks and brandishing a .40-caliber handgun, they
announced that they were holding up the place. The owner, Thomas N. Williams,
pulled his own revolver and fired a single shot at the thugs. While one robber
fled, the owner held the second at gun-point until police arrived. No charges
were filed against the storeowner. A police spokesman said, "He was in fear
of his life, having a handgun pointed at him during a robbery." Had the
business-owner not had a gun, this could have become another massacre with the
criminals shooting employees and customers.
Seventy-year-old locksmith Ephraim Briggs, owner of Chuck's Locksmith in
Richmond, Virginia, was hard at work the day before Christmas. A customer came
in and asked Briggs to make a key. As the locksmith turned around to reach for a
blank, the customer picked up the fifty-pound key-cutting machine and smashed it
down on the business-owner's head. He then ordered Briggs to give him money. The
shopowner, bleeding from a gash in the back of his head, handed up his wallet to
the robber. But as the man reached for the billfold, he dropped the key-cutting
machine to the floor. Briggs used the distraction to pull out a .38-caliber
handgun and shoot the robber. The wounded man was quickly arrested. Briggs, a
Korean War veteran, was back at work the day after Christmas. "What
happened is not going to bother me at all," he said. "I'm just going
on about my business."
On the night of November 21, 2000, Jean Zamarripa was alone in her Colorado
Springs, Colorado home when she heard a noise in her backyard. The widow turned
on her outside lights, but couldn't see where the noise was coming from.
"Who's out there?" she asked. Suddenly a man, later identified as
Anthony Peralez, rammed his shoulder against the dead-bolted back door, ripping
it from its hinges. Zamarripa, who had armed herself with a handgun, emptied
it into the intruder. She reloaded, then called police. Peralez ran out to
his car, but wrecked it as he was fleeing the scene. He was taken to the
hospital for gunshot wounds to the chest, then arrested. The wounded man was
suspected of being the serial rapist who had been preying on elderly women in
the same neighborhood for several months. A police spokesman said, "[Zamarripa]
did everything right and kept her wits about her. She's a hero not because she
shot someone, but because of all the clear thinking and everything she did prior
to the shooting." The shooting fell under Colorado's "Make My
Day" law and no charges were filed against the homeowner.
On November 29, 2000, three armed robbers burst into Cash America Pawn Shop in
Orlando, Florida. According to the Orlando Sentinel, "Employees said they
were afraid for their lives when the suspects drew guns on them." There
were also four customers in the store, including a woman with her baby.
Employees and customers were herded into a walk-in safe while the bandits looted
the store of cash and jewelry. But as they attempted to escape, the nervous
driver made the mistake of colliding with a car driven by Eliseo Nunez. When the
robbers kept going, Nunez, a medical assistant, gave chase, calling 911 on his
cell phone. Suddenly, the suspects pulled over, jumped from the car, and aimed
several weapons at Nunez. Before they could get off a single round, the motorist
opened fire. The robbers panicked and fled on foot. Deputies, who used police
dogs to track down the crooks, hailed Nunez as a hero, and refused to charge him
with any crime.
Inevitably, lawsuits against Edgewater Technologies and gun manufacturers and
the gunshops that sold McDermott his weapons will flow into the courts. I hope
the victims' relatives will save a few rounds of lawsuits for Governor Celluci
and the cowardly Massachusetts politicians who took away the employees' right to
defend themselves.
Mr. Waters is the author of The
Best Defense: True Stories of Intended Victims Who Defended Themselves with a
Firearm. Read other articles from him at http://www.KeepAndBearArms.com/Waters.
Related Reading: The
Wakefield Archives
|
|
|
