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The American Rifleman, March 1995



THE ARMED CITIZEN



     Studies indicate that firearms are used over two

million times a year for personal protection, and that the

presence of a firearm without a shot being fired, prevents

crime in many instances. Shooting usually can be justified

only where crime constitutes an immediate imminent threat to

life, limb, or in some cases, property. Anyone is free to

quote or reproduce these accounts. Send clippings to: "The

Armed Citizen:" 11250 Waples Mill Rd., Fairfax, VA 22030.



     Even after Korean-born Joseph Choi told the armed

robber to take whatever he wanted, the intruder forced the

shopkeeper to his hands and knees and threatened to kill

him.  When the robber locked the door to his Spokane,

Washington, watch repair shop, Choi made a decision. "I had

to take a chance. I die or he die. I'm not lucky, I die,"

said Choi, who grabbed the man's wrist, attempting to wrench

the gun loose. During the ensuing struggle, Choi reached his

own handgun and was able to unleash three shots. Two were on

target, fatally wounding the robber, who authorities said

had an extensive criminal record. (The Spokesman-Review,

Spokane, WA, 12/16/94)

 

     State and local law enforcement officials praised Elva,

Kentucky, resident Anthony Sexton, his brother, and two

cousins after they captured four men being sought in a

manhunt after burglarizing a nearby home. Sexton came upon

two of the wanted men on a road and confronted them. His

relatives found two more suspects hiding in the woods. When

one of the criminals attempted to pull a stolen .357 Mag.,

it became entangled in the lining of his jacket--a fortunate

thing for the criminal. "He doesn't know how close he came

to getting killed right there," said Sexton, who had a gun

of his own. The criminals were held at gunpoint until police

could arrive. (The Sun, Paducah, KY, 11/2/94)

 

     Rebecca Griffin awoke to the screams of her daughter,

who was being bound and gagged by two kidnappers in her

Washington, D.C., home. She confronted the men, one of whom

was carrying knife, and brought the attack to a quick halt

when she was able to break free and retrieve a .32 cal.

revolver from the basement, shooting the knife-wielder four

times. The other suspect fled. Griffin and one daughter were

slashed during the attack. Some news accounts made no

mention that the handgun that saved the Griffins is illegal

in the District. (The Times, Washington, D.C., 12/14/94)



     Rochester, New York, market owner Ali Amireh still

carries a bullet lodged next to his heart after being shot

in the chest during a 1992 armed robbery. He was not about

to take another one. When two criminals walked into his

store and opened fire on Amireh, he drew his own legally

owned .38 and shot back. The armed robber was struck once,

while the other suspect fled. The incident was the third in

Rochester that month where citizens defended themselves.

Just two weeks earlier, a restaurant owner shot a bandit

during an attempted robbery. In another incident, two city

employees being held up in a parking lot pulled their

legally carried firearms and shot and killed their

assailant. No charges were filed against the crime victims

in any of those incidents. (Times-Union, Rochester, NY,

12/20/94)

 

     Jimmy Kirkpatrick thought it might be friends knocking

at the door of his Dallas, Texas, apartment at 2 a.m.

Instead, the 26-year-old Army reservist found himself

looking down the barrel of a rifle held by one of two

strangers. Kirkpatrick, who usually answers the door with a

pistol behind his back because his door doesn't have a

peephole, stepped quickly to the side as a shot went past

him. He then fired a single mortal shot into one man. The

surviving intruder told police the two had gone to

Kirkpatrick's apartment to rob him. Police said Kirkpatrick

was justified for shooting his attacker. (The Morning News,

Dallas, TX, 12/19/94)

 

     When Lake Los Angeles, California, resident Alfred Abel

saw his girlfriend being brutally beaten by her former

landlord, he did the only thing he could to stop the attack.

Partially paralyzed on his right side, Abel managed to grab

his .45 semi- auto pistol. After shouting a warning, Abel

fired a single shot at the aggressor, striking him in the

abdomen and killing him. Prosecutors refused to file charges

against Abel, saying he came to the defense of his

girlfriend. (Times, Los Angeles, CA 11/5/94)



     Two long criminal careers ended in a hail of gunfire in

a Richmond, Virginia, jewelry store. The robbers, aged 56

and 71, were masked and armed as they burst into the store,

but owner Gary Baker and his five employees already had

revolvers and shotguns in hand. More than 30 shots were

fired in a firefight that killed both criminals. Other than

a shotgun pellet to Baker's hand, the jewelers were

unscathed. (Times-Dispatch, Richmond, VA 12/6/94)

 

     Housebreakers had entered Lillie Mae Ponder's Orlando,

Florida, home twice in less then a week, so she grabbed her

..38 Spl. when she heard noises from her 77-year-old

husband's bedroom. There she found a criminal spraying

wheelchair bound Paul Ponder with Mace. Though he turned the

irritant on her, too, she was able to fire, killing her

attacker. Police said the shooting was justified. (The

Sentinel, Orlando, FL 12/8/94)



     What police called "fatal attraction" cost a

15-year-old boy his life. Obsessed with a neighborhood

woman, he allegedly broke into her Broken Bow, Oklahoma,

home three times in a week, once raping the mother of two at

knife-point. But when he entered the home the final time

carrying a stolen handgun, a pair of handcuffs and a ski

mask, the youth encountered two armed men guarding the home

in the family's absence. Police said the unidentified

citizen who killed the alleged rapist "had no choice."

(Gazette Texarkana, TX 11/3/94)

 

     Suspicious after it seemed a "customer" was casing his

isolated Woodson, Arkansas, store, Sherman Waldern, 72

reached behind the meat counter for a .357 Mag. while his

wife went to lock the store's door. But before she could

secure it, three robbers--one armed with a shotgun--burst

in. Waldern shot and killed the shotgun wielder as his

fellow criminals fled the scene. Police soon identified two

other men as suspects. (Democrat Gazette, Little Rock, AR

12/2/94)  

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