From: [mark bunner] at [mindless.org] (MARK BUNNER)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns
Subject: Armed Citizen March
Date: Sun, 26 Feb 95 17:40:00 -0400

[The views expressed in this post are not necessarily those of the 
uploader.]

The Armed Citizen
American Rifleman
March 1995
[Permission to quote or reproduce these accounts is granted.]

Even after Korean-born Joseph Choi told the armed robber to take 
whatever he wanted, the intruder forced the shop-keeper 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 a 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 hand-cuffs 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 shot-gun--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) 

Mark Bunner; West Virginia
Internet: [mark bunner] at [mindless.org]
Rime: ->MINDLESS
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