Published February 14, 2012   | Associated Press

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. –  Police say a South Florida mother managed to call 911 as a would-be burglar raped, beat and choked her while her newborn baby lay beside her on the bed.

Coral Springs police say dispatchers heard the assault taking place Sunday night after the 25-year-old woman called 911 on her cell phone. Police set up a perimeter around the South Florida neighborhood and arrested 19-year-old Gary L. Holmes.

Authorities say Holmes faces multiple felony charges and is being held without bond in the Broward County Jail.

The Miami Herald reports Holmes walked through an open door and demanded valuables from the woman.

Police say Holmes assaulted the woman three times. He spotted the cell phone on his way out and tossed it in the garbage. The baby was not injured.

HOUSTON – A couple of burglars chose the wrong woman to pick on.

They came sneaking into her house, and she sent them running out. Perhaps they didn’t count on the woman fighting back, but that’s just what she did.

The mother of two was getting her 10-year-old son ready for school when the two bad guys broke in. She grabbed a gun and came face-to-face with not one but two intruders inside her Huffman home.

“It was scary,” she said.

She’s still shaken up, so she doesn’t want her identity revealed.

It was broad daylight, 7:30 a.m., and the deer that are always outside the family’s home were not the only ones out.

“We have trees and animals. You never think there’s someone watching you,” she said. “They had to have been watching because my 17-year-old had just left and I heard breaking glass.”

Her 17-year-old son had left for school and her husband for work. She was home with her 10-year-old son, her 4-pound Maltese and 200-pound English Mastiff. Turns out the burglars closed the Maltese in the washing machine and locked the Mastiff in the bathroom.

“I put him in the closet. I said no matter what you, do not leave,” she said of her son.

“She said stay here, no matter what, until the cops come get you,” her son said.

“I could hear people moving around. We don’t really own guns,” the mother added

Then she remembered her dad had given her son a .22 rifle.

“So I picked up a gun, and it was a BB gun, and I started to think we’re in trouble.”

But this mother was determined to protect her 10-year-old son. She found the rifle and went looking for the intruders in her home.

“The (front) door was open. They were bringing stuff in and out. I stopped right here (in the breakfast area before the living room) and I’m just listening and in walks this guy right into my living room,” she said.

“I started calling 911. I called five times. They kept hanging up on me,” the 10-year-old said.

“Every time, they (911 dispatchers) said we’ll transfer you, then he would get disconnected because they were transferring him to our precinct,” the mom said.

With her 10-year-old son in the closet frantically calling 911, mom found a burglar standing on her fireplace, stealing her flat screen TV.

“So I put the gun up and I’m going to shoot him. His back is to me and I realized I can’t shoot a man in the back,” she said.

She was obviously much more considerate of him than he was of her. A second burglar appeared out of the game room yelling she had a gun. The gun went off.

“It was very horrifying when she shot. It was very scary because I didn’t know if she shot the gun or if the robbers shot the gun,” the 10-year-old said.

Turns out it was his mom who fired. The bullet went through a candle and it’s holder on the wall.

The burglars bolted from the house. After about 25 minutes of trying to call 911, deputies arrived to investigate a crime that this community is not used to seeing.

“It’s a very nice family neighborhood. The lots have to be at least an acre. A lot of horses here,” said Capt. Jon Moore with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.

The mother of two said the two burglars appeared to be in their early 20s. It does not appear they were shot, and this family said they will not stop enjoying their country home.

“We have trees and animals. This is our home. They’re not chasing us out,” the mom said. “I know that I’m safe now. We have taken precautions. If somebody comes in again they won’t be walking out this time.”

Although crime rates are down, retailers here and across country report greater numbers of women are buying firearms.

Six times, she tugged the revolver’s trigger, and six times the bullets went home, puncturing chest, throat and then the gut.On paper, of course.   

Danielle Hunt smiled as she left her shooting stance, pleased at the holed human outline target about 20 feet away at the Crossfire Recreational Center gun range in Independence.

And the feel of the revolver was sweet, too.

The Kansas City Police Department employee is used to her semi-automatic, but the borrowed gun, a wood-grip .38 Taurus revolver, had its appeal.

“Easier to control your shot,” she said. “No recoil.”

A shooter for several years, Hunt was not surprised to hear that more women are buying handguns, honing accuracy and toting them in their purses in states like Missouri and Kansas that have conceal and carry weapon laws.

“I think a lot of women want that level of safety,” said Hunt, who recently got a conceal and carry permit.

This urge for personal arming against the unknown attacker, however, comes against a seemingly contrarian background:

Violent crime, including rapes and assaults, has been steadily declining across the nation.

Between 2001 and 2010, “the overall violent victimization rate decreased by 40.5 percent,” according to a U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics report.

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I’m here to report the increase in women gun buyers, but the male customers — only men were in the store — definitely looked at me oddly as I stepped into the show room.

Row after row of guns, in all shapes, colors and sizes, are enclosed in glass cases, just like the precious gems in a jewelry store. Only in the case of jewelry the lighting is set to bounce off the stones, sparkle and promote a good feeling. I didn’t get that in the gun store; it was dim, and people looked pretty serious. The men behind the counters wore guns in holsters hanging on their hips. — Mará Rose Williams.

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When selling to women, Mike Malone, owner of The Gun Shop in Olathe, said, “The first thing I ask is what do you want to use it for.”

He usually gets one of two answers: a piece in the purse or on the night stand while they sleep.

Andy Pelosi, executive director of Gun Free Kids in New York, has heard that more women are buying guns than ever before, but he doesn’t understand why.

“Maybe there is a fear factor, that they don’t feel safe in their environment.”

While no gender specific gun sales statistics are available, 60 percent of firearm retailers responding to a National Shooting Sports Foundation survey reported an increase in female customers in 2011.

American women saying they personally own a firearm is nearly one in four, according to an October Gallup poll.

That survey indicated the highest gun ownership since the 1990s, with 43 percent of women reporting at least one in their home and 23 percent saying it’s theirs. (Half of American men own a firearm, the poll showed.)

These numbers are all significantly higher than found in just April by the Violence Policy Center, which said: “Female gun ownership peaked in 1982 at 14.3 percent. In 2010 (it) was 9.9 percent.” The National Opinion Research Center survey also indicated that household gun ownership had dropped from more than half of all American homes to just below one in three.

Gallup offered a caveat that its higher numbers “could reflect a change in Americans’ comfort with publicly stating that they have a gun as much as it reflects a real uptick in gun ownership.”

Patricia Stoneking, owner of Target Master Shooting Academy and president of the Kansas affiliate of the National Rifle Association, said she has seen more women learning to shoot at the Bullet Hole range in Overland Park.

No hard numbers, she said, but “it’s not an exaggeration that in a beginner’s class of eight people we might have six women and two men.”

Five years ago, she said, the ratio would have been reversed.

Stoneking said the increase in women arming themselves “is in direct correlation to the existence of conceal and carry laws.” Only Illinois and the District of Columbia do not have some level of conceal and carry laws. It became law in Missouri in 2003 and three years later in Kansas.

Similarly, she attributes the lowered crime rates to the fact that more people are packing in public.

“The criminals know that. They know if they try to rob someone there is the likelihood they may be facing a firearm. They don’t want to get shot. They just want your wallet.

“And in the case of rape,” she said, “well, let’s just say they are not willing to die for it.”

Over the last decade, rapes reported to police have dropped by 50,000, to fewer than 190,000 nationally by 2010. The crime is under-reported, however, and involves sexual assault by acquaintances perhaps a third of the time. Date or acquaintance rape certainly complicates deterrence by a firearm.

Darren Pack, NRA rifle and pistol instructor, thinks the increase in guns in purses is connected to the decline in the economy.

“People have lost so much recently, they want to protect what they have. Police can’t be everywhere and people don’t feel safe any more,” Pack said.

At the same time, experts are surprised that in the face of such a sour economy, crime rates continue downward.

Pack said he finds it “gratifying” when a first-timer leaves his class qualified to carry a gun after firing at least 70 rounds and putting at least 30 of them through the target, a requirement for a permit to carry a concealed firearm.

Other reasons cited by women for blasting away is that for some it relieves stress or offers an opportunity to share something with a mate on “man turf.”

For Hunt: “Because it’s a challenging and interesting sport.”

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Surrounded by all that steel and wood and fire power wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be.

But I hadn’t held a firearm yet. But by the time I visited the third gun shop, I really warmed to the idea and before I knew it I couldn’t take my eyes off of a small, pearly, pink-handled semi-automatic about the size of my hand.

In my palm, it was much lighter than I had expected, and although while it was cute, I figured if I were getting a gun it would have to weigh more than this little thing. The revolver was much heavier. It felt like a gun and not a toy. — MRW

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Kelly Howe, working the counter at Blue Steel Guns and Ammo in Raytown, thinks the “gun of the year” for the ladies is the 9mm Ruger.

“Most women do like smaller handguns that fit better in their hand and that they can control. It is not the size of the gun that’s important, but whether you can control it.”

Corneredcat.com has advice for guys buying for their gals:

“Oddly enough, women are all individuals. Asking what caliber or gun is best for a woman is exactly the same thing as asking what caliber or gun is best for a man. And the answer is, ‘It depends…’

“I’ve seen tiny little women with great big grins on their faces as they hammered away with full-powered ‘manly’ guns. I’ve also seen sturdy-looking Amazon-woman types wincing from what I consider to be mild recoil…

“What I’m getting at here is that it doesn’t matter if she weighs 90 pounds soaking wet or if she’s taller than you are and twice as fluffy. Her hand size will matter when it is time to pick a platform, but the size of her body isn’t going to tell you much that is useful about her tolerance for recoil or the caliber she’ll prefer shooting.”

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The Ruger is what I had guessed a traditional — by Hollywood standards — modern handgun would look like. Black, compact with a blued alloy steel slide and barrel and a wood-paneled grip loaded with a magazine to slap in just like the cops do on television.

Turns out the guys selling the guns actually recommend revolvers to women who are new to firearms. The revolver is easier to maintain, to check to see if it’s loaded ammo and to control. They said the heavier the weapon the less recoil there is. — MRW

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Buying a pistol that matches your lipstick is closer than you think.

At Blue Steel, gunsmith Joe William Terry said he’s adhering a bake-on, pink coating to more handguns than ever.

“There are definitely more women coming in to buy a gun,” Terry said, and a lot of them “like having their gun personalized. They like pink or raspberry steel.”

Or you might replace the grip with a color a little sassier.

Back to Corneredcat.com:

“Looks matter,” the writer says. “Oh, one more thing: her fashion sense is better than yours. If she says a flashy gun is pretty, don’t argue. It’s not a pimp gun if a woman is wearing it.”

Stoneking said most of the women she trains avoid the candy-color-coated pieces.

“I don’t want my gun to look cute, I want it to be big and mean looking.”

Agreed, said Marge Kassel, who sat through Darren’s 10-hour conceal and carry classes and placed every bullet she fired through the range target.

Her family had been after the 72-year-old Lee’s Summit grandmother to get the permit so that she could carry a firearm “for protection.” Kassel said she’s not out and about much after the sun goes down, but when she is she wants that snub-barreled .38 Smith & Wesson Special at hand.

“If I ever need it,” she said, “I want to be able to stop whatever is coming at me.”

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At the gun range, I was surprised that the strong smell of gun powder power hung in the air, like heavy smoke on a Fourth of July night. Loud, too.

This Long Island, N.Y., girl had never fired a gun of any kind before, but I wanted to try it. Lloyd Cook, owner at Crossfire gun range, was patient. He pulled out a Browning .22, popped out the empty magazine and slapped it on the counter. After a 15-minute lesson in how to hold it, load it and fire it, I headed back to the range with gun and ammo in hand and protective ear gear on my head.

In the lane facing the blue, paper target, nerves kicked in. My hands quivered loading the black steel firearm, and a bullet lodged upright in the magazine. Cook fixed it.

I extended my arms, gripped with both hands, held my breath and pulled the trigger. BANG. The gun, more powerful than expected, jumped up a tad. The bullet barely clipped the top of the target. A Murphy.

A tighter hold, more arm extension, a keener look down the sight, and …BANG … BANG … BANG… the next 9 rounds marched across the target from head to torso. — MRW

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“The equation is simple,” said Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Violence Prevention Center. “More guns lead to more gun death. Limiting exposure to firearms saves lives.”

To the NRA, the equation is this: the 250 million privately owned guns in the United States correlates to the 50 percent drop in murders — of all kinds — since 1991.

More than 8,700 murders in 2010, however, were committed with a firearm. And for every time a gun draws blood in self-defense, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence contends, 11 guns are used for suicides and four are involved in unintentional shooting deaths or injuries.

No national statistics on such accidents are kept by the National Centers for Disease Control’s Injury Center in Atlanta, but it does offer a 16-state snapshot — not including Missouri or Kansas.

In those states, accidental at-home gun deaths declined from 32 in 2005 to 14 in 2009, the latest available year.

Fearing tragic accidents, many women frown on firearms in the house — especially handguns — which can seem more like toys than the larger, heavier long arms. The conceal and carry training they receive includes how to secure guns safely at home.

With gun ownership comes responsibility, Terry said.

“I ask them if they have the fortitude to shoot and maybe kill someone. If they don’t, then I tell them maybe they should re-think buying a gun, and that is the reality.

“If they pull it out and don’t use it, someone will definitely take it away from them. Then you have a criminal who maybe didn’t have a gun to start with, who now has one, and you’re the victim.”

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The more I heard about women learning to shoot for protection, the more I started thinking there might be something to the idea.

In the end, though, I’m torn about whether it’s smarter to have a weapon and know how to use it, or to avoid them completely. I don’t think I would have had one in the home when the kids were young, but now, I don’t know. The thing that hangs in my mind most is a comment from a gun dealer, who asked that if I were threatened, “Could you fire until it’s empty?”

I’m pretty sure if it came down to protecting my children, I wouldn’t have a problem blasting away. But in a robbery or something like that, I don’t think so. — MRW

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“Guns aren’t for everybody,” Hunt agreed.

Angelica Silvia Polluck of Independence visits Crossfire range “every once in a while,” to practice with her protection weapon “so I can be advanced enough with it and feel comfortable enough to carry it around all the time.”

“I’m not afraid of guns any more,” said Polluck, who got the gun at the insistence of her husband. While never feeling her life was threatened, she said, “I would encourage every woman to have a gun and know how to use it. It made me feel more comfortable.”

Other than a BB gun, Alison Blankenship had never fired a weapon before taking her concealed carry class.

She hasn’t made her mind up yet to purchase her own gun, but she enjoys plinking away with the range Browning.

“I was so excited out there that my glasses steamed up,” she said, searching for a shell casing that had flown up the sleeve of her pink sweater.

“I pray I never have to use a gun. But if ever I have to protect the life of a member of my family or my own life, I want to be able to do it and know how.”

My old grandpa said to me ‘Son, there comes a time in every man’s life when he stops bustin’ knuckles and starts bustin’ caps and usually it’s when he becomes too old to take an butt whoopin.’

I don’t carry a gun to kill people.
I carry a gun to keep from being killed.

I don’t carry a gun to scare people.
I carry a gun because sometimes this world can be a scary place.

I don’t carry a gun because I’m paranoid.
I carry a gun because there are real threats in the world.

I don’t carry a gun because I’m evil.
I carry a gun because I have lived long enough to see the evil in the world.

I don’t carry a gun because I hate the government.
I carry a gun because I understand the limitations of government.

I don’t carry a gun because I’m angry.
I carry a gun so that I don’t have to spend the rest of my life hating myself for failing to be prepared.

I don’t carry a gun because I want to shoot someone.
I carry a gun because I want to die at a ripe old age in my bed, and not on a sidewalk somewhere tomorrow afternoon.

I don’t carry a gun because I’m a cowboy.
I carry a gun because, when I die and go to heaven, I want to be a cowboy.

I don’t carry a gun to make me feel like a man.
I carry a gun because men know how to take care of themselves and the ones they love.

I don’t carry a gun because I feel inadequate.
I carry a gun because unarmed and facing three armed thugs, I am inadequate.

I don’t carry a gun because I love it.
I carry a gun because I love life and the people who make it meaningful to me.

Police protection is an oxymoron.
Free citizens must protect themselves.
Police do not protect you from crime, they usually just investigate the crime after it happens and then call someone in to clean up the mess.

I carry a gun because God gave me the Right to do so; it is inalienable.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Matthew Quain still struggles to piece together what happened after a trip to the grocery store nearly turned deadly. He remembers a group of loitering young people, a dimly lit street – then nothing. The next thing he knew he was waking up with blood pouring out of his head.

The 51-year-old pizza kitchen worker’s surreal experience happened just before midnight earlier this year, when he became another victim of what is generally known as “Knockout King” or simply “Knock Out,” a so-called game of unprovoked violence that targets random victims.

Scattered reports of the game have come from around the country including Massachusetts, New Jersey and Chicago. In St. Louis, the game has become almost contagious, with tragic consequences. An elderly immigrant from Vietnam died in an attack last spring.

The rules of the game are as simple as they are brutal. A group – usually young men or even boys as young as 12, and teenage girls in some cases – chooses a lead attacker, then seeks out a victim. Unlike typical gang violence or other street crime, the goal is not revenge, nor is it robbery. The victim is chosen at random, often a person unlikely to put up a fight. Many of the victims have been elderly. Most were alone.

The attacker charges at the victim and begins punching. If the victim goes down, the group usually scatters. If not, others join in, punching and kicking the person, often until he or she is unconscious or at least badly hurt. Sometimes the attacks are captured on cellphone video that is posted on websites.

“These individuals have absolutely no respect for human life,” St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said.

Slay knows firsthand. He was on his way home from a theater around 11:30 p.m. on Oct. 21 when he saw perhaps a dozen young people casually crossing a street. He looked to the curb and saw Quain sprawled on the pavement.

Slay told his driver to pull over. They found Quain unconscious, blood pouring from his head and mouth.

Quain was hospitalized for two days with a broken jaw, a cracked skull and nasal cavity injuries. He still has headaches and memory problems but was finally able to return to work earlier this month. Hundreds gathered in November for a fundraiser at the restaurant where he works, Joanie’s Pizza, but he still doesn’t know how he’ll pay the medical bills.

“I don’t remember much of what happened,” Quain said. “I was hanging out with a friend, celebrating the Cardinals in the World Series. I went to the store and saw a group of kids who looked out of place, suspicious, but I shrugged it off. I got around to the library, and the next thing I remember is waking up on the corner with the mayor standing next to me. I tried to say `hi’ but my jaw was broken.”

It isn’t clear how long Knockout King has been around, nor is the exact number of attacks known. The FBI doesn’t track it separately, but Slay said he has heard from several mayors about similar attacks and criminologists agree versions of the game are going on in many places.

St. Louis Police Chief Dan Isom said the city has had about 10 Knockout King attacks over the past 15 months.

Experts say it is a grab for attention.

“We know that juveniles don’t think out consequences clearly,” said Beth Huebner, an associate professor of criminology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. “They see something on YouTube and say, `I want to get that sort of attention, too.’ They don’t think about the person they’re attacking maybe hitting their head.”

Scott Decker, a criminologist at Arizona State, said the attacks are a modern extension of gang-like behavior – instead of painting over another gang’s graffiti as a show of toughness, they beat someone up and post a video on social media sites. The postings spur copycat crimes.

“It’s adolescent and early adults, largely male, showing how tough they are. It’s done to show off,” Decker said.

Earlier this year in Chicago, a group of teens followed an elderly homeless man at a train station. One of the teens walked up to him and punched him in the face, knocking him out as the teen’s friends laughed and mocked the man. The exchange was captured on video and posted on a hip-hop site, where it got about a quarter of a million views within two days. The teen was not arrested because police couldn’t locate the homeless man to see if he wanted to press charges.

The crimes aren’t limited to big cities. In 2009, Adam Taylor had just entered a parking garage in Columbia, Mo. Surveillance footage from the garage showed a group of teens following him. One of the teens attacked, punching Taylor and sending him crashing into a brick wall. A few seconds later, the others joined in, punching and kicking him as he lay on the ground. Taylor suffered bruising on the brain, whiplash and internal bleeding but survived.

Hoang Nguyen wasn’t as fortunate.

The 72-year-old retired schoolteacher immigrated to St. Louis from Vietnam with his wife less than four years earlier to be near their daughter. The couple was returning to their apartment after walking to a grocery store on an April morning in broad daylight.

They took a shortcut through an alley, where they saw a group of young people approaching. Suddenly, one of them charged. Hoang was attacked as he stepped in front of his wife to protect her. The attack went on as he begged for mercy, she told police.

Hoang died of massive injuries. Elex Murphy, 18, was charged with first-degree murder and allegedly told police the attack was part of the Knockout King game. His attorney declined to comment.

St. Louis authorities are going to the source to combat further attacks. A special police squad has been assigned to focus on Knockout King, and a city prosecutor is designated for the attacks. But Isom said equally important is an outreach effort to talk to students.

“Certainly we take this very seriously and we’re making every effort to stop it,” Isom said.

arming women is an effective way to combat violence

A Turkish non-governmental organization (NGO) is set to give free shooting courses at a gun range for women who were subjected to domestic violence.

Şefkat-Der has suggested arming women as an effective way to combat domestic violence. “The state should grant licensed, tax-free arms to women under vital threat to defend themselves in emergency situations and train them in close combat and weapons use,” said Hayrettin Bulan, the head of Şefkat-Der.

Purchasing guns in Turkey is easy, and it would serve to deter potential killers if women also possessed firearms, he said, adding they were also going to appeal to the Parliament, ministries and political parties to enact a motion that includes their suggestion to arm women.
The organization plans to appeal to Parliament, ministries and political parties to enact a motion that includes their suggestion to arm women, Bulan said.

“Shouldn’t women be able to protect themselves when there are no police or guards standing next to them? What is wrong with saying that women should learn how to operate arms to save their own lives by training on a range beforehand?” Bulan asked.

Şefkat-Der raised similar suggestions Nov. 25 on the Struggle against Violence toward Women Day and other occasions.

“You can engage in acts aimed at wounding your husband with a knife or a gun, such as hitting or cutting across his wrist, so as to make it difficult for him to abuse you again…If you believe you will not be able to deliver yourself from death by causing injury, then you can also opt to neutralize [killing or critically wounding] the potential killer before he kills you,” Şefkat-Der said.

Figures from the We Will Stop Women’s Murders platform show about 160 women in Turkey were murdered by relatives such as family members, lovers or spouses, in 2011.

A total of 179 women are known to have been raped in 2011 and another 70 allegedly committed suicide, although three of them were later found to have been murdered as well.

The rate of women murdered by their husbands had increased by nearly 200 percent between 2009 and 2010, according to reports.

December/28/2011

Deputy Shoots 1 Of 3 Home Invaders

ROYAL PALM BEACH, Fla.  — WPBF.com

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a deputy-involved shooting in Royal Palm Beach.

Sheriff’s Office spokesman Eric Davis said “three men dressed as police officers wearing ski masks and armed with shotguns knocked on the door of a home” on Finch Court at about 10:15 p.m. Saturday.

As “the masked and armed intruders forced their way into the home”, deputies said a girl living in the home escaped through a bedroom window and called 911. When they arrived at the scene, deputies said they heard the three men giving commands to the homeowners and concluded that the robbery was still in progress.

When the intruders left the home, they saw the deputies and ran back inside the house. Deputies said they went after the men and confronted one of them who made it back to their vehicle. That man was later identified as 24-year-old Jamar Anderson.

Deputies said they told Anderson to stop the vehicle and show his hands. They said Anderson raised his hands, but when they approached him, he dropped his hands quickly and drove towards the deputies.

One of the deputies fired a single shot, striking Anderson in the neck. He died at the scene.

A South Carolina sheriff is making the extraordinary suggestion that local women arm themselves following the attempted rape of a woman at a local park, saying, “you need to protect yourself.”

Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright, the county’s top law enforcement officer since 2005, suggested local women apply for a permit to carry a concealed weapon during a news conference Monday about the attack on Sunday at Milliken Park in Spartanburg.

“It just struck me wrong that we keep telling everyone ‘trust us, trust us, trust us,’ but in reality, you need to protect yourself,” Wright told FoxNews.com. “If you are not a convicted felon or someone who causes trouble or don’t have any mental issues, buy a weapon to protect yourself and get some good training.”

Walter Monroe Lance, 46, of Spartanburg, was charged Monday with kidnapping, first-degree criminal sexual conduct and grand larceny in connection with the attack. Lance was ordered held without bond, Wright said.

Wright suggested that had the unidentified victim been armed, perhaps with a .45-caliber handgun concealed in a fanny pack, she would have stood a better chance fighting off her attacker.

“If she didn’t shoot the guy, she could have at least stopped him and made him leave her alone,” Wright said. “You can defend yourself.”

Wright said he was “tired of looking at victims” of crimes whose perpetrators are arrested multiple times and are later released without significant jail time. Lance, for example, had been arrested more than 20 times, he said, including for offenses like rape, battery and resisting arrest. Wright characterized him as an “animal” during Monday’s news conference.

Since making the suggestion that women lawfully arm themselves, Wright said his office has received more than 200 phone calls supporting his stance. Only one didn’t “praise” the call to action, he said.

“We’re not trying to raise up a militia here, we’re sending a message to the bad guys that we’re tired of it,” he said. “I’m through getting bit.”

“There are tons of guns on the street now, I would just prefer to train the good people who have them so there’d be less accidents,” Wright said. “I am plainspoken in a lot of aspects and we cannot be everywhere. I think the people in this county understand how I go after these drug dealers and people who break into our homes … We’re just very relentless in our pursuit of justice.”

Asked if he believes his message resonated with Spartanburg County residents, Wright replied: “I would say that if you’re a concealed weapons permit instructor, you’re about to make a lot of Christmas money.”

If you answered “a gun,” you’d be correct.

Based on polling research and gun-sale statistics, an estimated 15 million to 20 million women in the United States own their own firearms. Dozens of those heat-packing women are documented in “Chicks with Guns,” a new book by photographer Lindsay McCrum that is sure to challenge almost anyone’s assumptions about gun ownership.

“Their numbers are really high but their profile is actually really low,” said McCrum, who spent three and a half years capturing artistic and arresting portraits of women with their weapons of choice.

“I was so surprised by the variety and breadth and diversity of these women,” McCrum said. “There are so many stereotypes about guns, mostly derived from popular culture, but the reality is so much more complex and varied than you can imagine.”

This past week I enjoyed a conversation with a “Flight Deck Officer”. That would be, as I understand it, a pilot who is armed. Why they don’t just continue to call them “pilots” is beyond me. Why do they need a special name? Especially one that might point out the fact that they’re armed to any bad guys paying attention? We’ll leave that alone for now. The jist of our conversation was that – in his experience – contemporary Use of Force guidelines as well as defensive tactics are being taught to Flight Deck Officers. He felt that this was inappropriate since the risk is potentially so much greater in a plane, and because so much of the defensive tactics skills being taught today simply don’t work in the limited space of airplane aisles. His comments got me thinking and here we go…

Dave Grossman, a well known speaker / trainer in today’s warrior community, describes people as fitting into one of three categories:

Sheep: The average person. All they want to do is live their life and be left alone. They are peaceful and do no intended harm. If attacked, they will submit to demands and not fight back.

Wolves: The predators. These are the people who commit crimes against others. They prey on the sheep. Violence is their tool. Terrorizing is entertainment.

Sheepdogs: The protectors. The sheep don’t really like the sheepdogs all that much. They don’t trust the sheepdogs. After all, the sheepdog stays to himself on the outside fringes of the group. If he gets angry, the sheepdog snarls and bares his teeth, but if you leave him alone, he’ll leave you alone and all is peaceful. If he is, or those he is supposed to protect are, attacked, he will fight back and fight back hard. He refuses to be prey.

The large majority of today’s society – especially here in America I think – are sheep. They just want to live their lives in peace to pursue life, liberty, prosperity and happiness. Most of them don’t tend to trust the sheepdogs. If you doubt that, take a look at any newspaper or newscast, or do a Google search on “police use of force”. You’ll most likely find some news article about how some police officer is being sued or questioned because of an action he took to defend himself or to protect someone else. The sheep would be perfectly happy if we sheepdogs just weren’t around… until the wolf shows up.

As Dave Grossman says, “When the wolf shows up, the whole flock of sheep will try to hide behind that one sheepdog.”

On September 11, 2001, a group of passengers on Flight 93 decided that they would not be sheep. The terrorists were the wolves. On three other planes, because of what they didn’t know and what airline staff had been taught to do in response to hijackings, the passengers didn’t resist or fight back. They did what nearly everyone would have done in their situation. They sat still and let the flight crew and flight attendants deal with the problem. On Flight 93, when they found out what the hijackers were doing with the planes, they decided to fight back. That decision changed them from being sheep to being sheepdogs. In today’s post-911 world, I submit to you that every passenger on every plane needs to be a sheepdog.

Now we have to consider how to do that given the physical characteristics of a plane. I can’t afford to fly first class, so usually my seat is just wide enough for me to fit in, and if I have a gun on my hip it’s pressed into the armrest. The aisle is just wide enough to walk down, and not even do that without banging into every seat you’re going by unless you walk on an angle to your steps. I ask you, How are we supposed to fight in such an environment using the typical skills we’re taught?

Consider what defensive tactics training you’ve had. Think about it all: Kicks, punches, elbow strikes, knee blitzes, control holds, wrist locks, arm bars, brachial thumps / stuns, etc. How much of what you’ve been taught do you have time and space to perform in an airplane aisle? And then, once you have taken some positive action, what follow up action have you been taught to secure the subject after you’ve taken them down / incapacitated them?

Throughout our careers we’ve been taught specific Use of Force guidelines or Rules of Engagement (depending on what uniform you wear). If a person is making threatening statements but isn’t displaying any aggressive behaviors (on the ground) there is a limit to what you can do to them: verbal commands, and maybe OC Spray if the person continues to be non-compliant. Now put that same person on a plane – it’s a whole different story.

The risk presented by the person on the ground is limited. Unless he/she has a bomb strapped onto their body, they really can only do a limited amount of damage and harm. Even if they do have a bomb strapped on and ready to detonate, the amount of damage they can do is limited by the number of people within the necessary proximity of them and their explosive device. But what about on a plane? Can ONE person cause enough harm or damage on a plane to affect its safe operation? Since there are only two people on the plane who have to be killed to make the plane crash (the pilot and co-pilot) I submit to you that the person on the plane who presents any type of threatening posture should be viewed as a threat to EVERY person on the plane. How many lives is that? 200? 300? It depends on the model of airplane and how many tickets were sold – how many seats are filled.

That said, I view a threat to those 200+ people as far different from a threat to a handful of people. On a plane when a person gets belligerent and makes any kind of threat or causes any kind of disturbance, I believe that an accelerated use of force / rules of engagement protocol needs to be approved, and indeed mandated. Now, I have to say up front that I’m not familiar with much of the Air Marshall program. What rules they operate under are not known to me, but given that our country is governed by the Constitution, Federal Laws, State, County and Local laws, I’d be willing to bet that their rules aren’t much different from the cop on the ground’s.
But let’s even take cops out of the picture. What if there is no Air Marshall on board and a person is getting stupid? I would hope that the Flight Attendants have been sufficiently trained to intervene properly, but if they aren’t or don’t? Then it’s up to the passengers – any sheepdog on the plane – to step up and put the potential predator down. I don’t mean kill them necessarily. Depending on circumstances I believe that a warning should be given. At that point the Wolf knows a sheepdog is there and approaching. His choices are simple: stand down or be put down. No other option exists or should be discussed. No nice, “Please would you be so kind?” The warning should be simple and straight to the point: “Sir (or Ma’am), you represent a threat to the safety of this plane. Sit down and shut up or be put down and locked up.” Arrest powers don’t matter. If a Wolf gets put down on a plane by Joe Average Citizen, the pilot will let the other end know and Air Marshals or local police will be waiting when the plane lands.

Once the warning has been given, two options exist: the Wolf sits down and shuts up, or the Sheepdog puts him down – and down hard. Think about it: the Wolf has expressed his desire to do harm and then has ignored his only warning not to. To me, that indicates his intention to move forward with his stated goal of doing harm. We simply cannot allow that to happen. Too many lives are at risk. Time to act and act definitively.

Now, I ask you: If the threat you face is a potentially lethal threat, then what options are open to you? The answer is ANYTHING. Sure, a nice brachial stun might be effective if you can get positioned and have the room to do it. A wrist-lock take down and then roll him over into a nice arm bar for holding onto him would be great if room permitted. But that’s what cops might do – not the average citizen. What can the average citizen do?

Well, if Mr. Wolf can’t breath, he can’t fight (for long). If he can’t see, he can’t fight. If he can’t stand, he can’t fight (effectively). So, I submit that Mr. Wolf should immediately find himself under attack from Mr. Sheepdog, and Mr. Sheepdog should be attacking in such a fashion as to:

1) Remove Mr. Wolf’s ability to breath by attacking his throat (yeah, he might die, but he HAS presented lethal force)
2) Remove Mr. Wolf’s ability to see (accomplished in a number of ways and some of them won’t even permanently blind him)
3) Remove Mr. Wolf’s ability to stand (it doesn’t take a whole lot to break a knee and broken knees tend to be rather distracting to the person who owns the knee that is broken)
Does that sound rather harsh? Too bad. The Sheepdog doesn’t typically worry about limiting the amount of damage he does to the attacking Wolf. In fact, I’m pretty sure that the Sheepdog would be perfectly happy to have the Wolf lying dead at his feet, no longer a threat and a warning to all others of his kind: leave this flock alone. THIS Wolf thought he’d get an easy meal and all he got was dead. Care to join him?

I know. We’re human. We’re supposed to be compassionate and caring and not blood thirsty. Remember me, the Sheepdog: If you leave me alone, I’ll leave you alone. Let me and my flock live in peace to pursue prosperity and happiness. Mess with me or my sheep and I will show absolutely no mercy in defending myself or them. If you die in the process, that’s the price you pay for having been so stupid as to have attacked THIS Flock on my watch.

THIS is the attitude every citizen must strive to have on every flight. I know they can’t. I know some are simply unable to perform acts of violence. Then again, if 5% can, that’s 15 Sheepdogs on a flight of 300 people. 10 on a flight of 200. 5 on a flight of 100. Against one or two wolves? We should be able to stomp them into the deck and the sit on them until we land. Think about it…