Grandmother with gun confronts intruders in her house

[Just reading posts]

BOYNTON BEACH (CBS12) — A Boynton Beach grandmother was home alone when three burglars entered her house. But what she did next may surprise you. "It was really scary. It was a very, very scary situation. 'Cause I had no idea what they were gonna do," said the woman, whom we agreed not to identify. About 12:45 Tuesday afternoon she went to the peephole and saw a man was at her front door, banging on the door, ringing the bell.

He left but came back a few minutes later, with a T-shirt over his head, and putting on gloves, so she ran to the bedroom to get a handgun from the dresser beside her bed. "I heard something, glass breaking and then I was freaking out," she recalled. Three men, three burglars---- were in her living room, and she was in the bedroom standing just inside the doorway ready to shoot them if they entered. "I decided that it's either them or me, you know. I had to save my life. One of them came to the door here and opened it and when he did I had the gun in his face," she said. She had a gun and she was ready to use it.

"I raised the gun and pointed it at his face," she explained. She says the three guys were mortified and shocked to see a woman aiming a gun at them. "I called them bastards and I said I'm gonna kill you! All three of them started running for the door," she told CBS12. You can still see the damage they did to the front door, where they broke it down when they came in. She says they were in the house for maybe 30 seconds. They didn't steal anything.

"I think it was the worst day of my life. It was the most horrifying day of my life. I couldn't believe it, I thought it was a bad nightmare," she said. She's just relieved she had a handgun to defend herself with. "I think it's wonderful. I think it's the only thing that saved me. It was my Godsend. I don't know what I would've done without it. I've never experienced anything like that before in my life. It was horrible, to have three strangers in your house and ransacking it. I was very angry. It's like, how dare you do this! You know. This is our home," the woman said.

Because of this incident she's telling her neighbors if they don't have a gun, they should think about getting one. She and her husband also intend to get a bigger, more powerful handgun to replace the .22 that she now has. She plans to go to a shooting range and practice to make sure she's ready if it happens again.

Link

[Chemisse]

1. So why did they refer to her as a grandmother?

This story has nothing to do with her grandmotherly status.

This is one of my new pet peeves. Is there no other way they can describe this woman? Is there nothing else she has done in her life besides bear offspring who survived long enough to bear their own?

[jehop61]

2. Because

a story about a little helpless old lady with a big bad gun makes a better story. Gun folks like to promulgate these types of stories to convince us all that everyone needs a gun.

[DonP]

3. Yeah, CBS well known "Gun Nutz"

Everybody knows all the networks are in the tank for the NRA.

Try another fairy tale.

[jehop61]

4. Touchy

aren't we

[DonP]

5. Nah, just sick of the phony bullshit

[Eleanors38]

6. Yes, keeps buzzing around like a fly near your arm pit...

One has to wonder if readers of this story were hoping for more "balance," you know, some extensive background on how the poor thugs were traumatized when Hershey squirting their (respective) trousers, all because of some living-in-fear grandmother with a .22

[DonP]

13. Plus those 8th grade graduation pictures

Funny, since most of then are on Facebook, that the only picture they can supply the cops is that graduation picture from 6 or 7 years ago.

[Marengo]

12. Yeah, I'm sure everything would have been just fine if she didn't have the gun.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

14. Why are you so resentful over the fact she defended herself?

[ileus]

10. I never met a grandparent that was upset to be called grandmother/grandfather.

Has nothing to do with your accomplishments in life, and everything to do with life.



Being called old lawyer doesn't sound as good IMHO.

[Chemisse]

11. I am a grandmother.

But that is not my identity in life. I am many other things as well. I have accomplished many things that I am proud of, during the course of my life. I did absolutely nothing to become a grandmother.

Notice that you never see articles in which a man is identified solely as being a grandfather.

[bluestateguy]

7. And as long as all laws have been followed, that's fine with me

nt

[russ1943]

8. And then there is this;

from San Luis Obispo, CA, where first responders once again found themselves endangered by the presence of a gun in a home to which they’d been dispatched for a medical emergency. Firefighters responding to a medical alarm entered the home, announced their presence, and found the two elderly residents asleep. When the awoke, they told the firefighters it must have been a false alarm, and all seemed well. But somehow, while the firefighters were leaving the home, one of the residents became confused about the situation and decided that the firefighters they had just spoken with were actually intruders. She grabbed her gun, loaded it, accidentally fired it, and then ran after the firefighters, firing her gun in the air. The couple’s daughter arrived shortly afterward and disarmed her mother.

If you have elderly relatives who keep a gun at home, you might want to check in with them from time to time, to see whether—as is sometimes the case with operating motor vehicles—their gun might pose a danger to them or others. You don’t want to find out that they’ve “become confused,” say, next Halloween. Or when the neighbor comes to borrow a cup of sugar. Or for that matter, the day you come to visit to see if they’re still OK with that firearm.


http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/7/1/1507356/-GunFAIL-CLXXXVII

[tortoise1956]

9. Excellent point

Many of the stories on your link are directly due to not following the four rules of gun safety:

1. All guns are always loaded. Even if they are not, treat them as if they are.
2. Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.
3. Keep your finger off the trigger till your sights are on the target.
4. Identify your target, and what is behind it.

#1 is the one most often ignored, which leads to #3 causing injury and death.

As for older relatives, there comes a point in most cases where it may be necessary to remove all weapons from reach. Just as old age is compared to a second childhood, old age, and the changes it brings, can lead to impaired judgment and an inability to consistently act in a responsible manner. In that case, it is up to their loved ones to help protect them from themselves.

I'm coming up on 60, so this may apply to me some time soon. While I hope not, I also hope that my family will be willing to remove my collection in the event that I become incapable of acting responsibly and can't, or won't, admit it. (Although they better wait until I'm at that point - anyone trying to take them early will not like my response...)

[Nuclear Unicorn]

15. Does that mean the woman in the OP forfeits her rights?