TX: Attempted Home Invasion; no Media Coverage

Gun Watch ^ | 23 November, 2014 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

One of the difficult things to quantify about defensive gun uses, is how often they occur without a shot being fired.  The survey information indicates that it happens somewhere between a few hundred thousand to a few million times per year in the United States.  With the Internet, we are becoming more aware of these events.   Sometimes, they are reported in local media. 

It in the vast majority of cases, there is no report to police; if there is a police report, there is no media coverage; if there is media coverage, it is strictly local.   I recall numerous students and friends telling me of incidents where they used a gun defensively without ever firing a shot.  None of these incidents had any media coverage. 

The Internet has expanded the transmission of information by many orders of magnitude, so we now find out about a fraction of cases that are mostly never heard of.   I read about the following case on opencarry.org.  I have not been able to find any media coverage.  Leicajh reports from opencarry.org:

I live out in the county. , Around 1/2 mile from me a bad guy tried a home invasion on Daniels Road. This happened just 30 minutes ago. Bad guy tried to bang the door down while the good guys wife called the sheriff. Bad guy picked the wrong door. Good guy held the bad guy at gun point, ( God Bless Texas ) until the Deputies could transport him to the jail.. Turns out, the Bad guy was on a major parol violation from the State of Texas Prison System, and was to considered armed and extremely dangerous. A very good ending of what might have been very bad. Look up the Otero family murders in Wichita Kansas. I was a Deputy Sheriff there. At dark, as Susan, my daughter can attest, I never answer my door unarmed. Sorry Susan about you former boy friend. H

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑβΕ

The location was listed as near Wichita Falls, Texas.  

The problem, of course, is that people develop a false sense of reality.   I have talked to many people who claim that self defense with a gun "never happens" because "I have never read about a singe case where it happened".   This is how ideological editorial decisions (on the few cases that reach an editor's desk) misshape peoples' understanding of the world.   Add to this the natural tendency to pay attention to blood and violence, while ignoring less dramatic defenses where no one is shot, and false impressions of the utility of firearms are created and furthered.

©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

[marktwain]

Most defensive uses of firearms are not reported or recorded.

[Gen.Blather]

Broom handle Mauser!? Awesome!

[556x45]

LOL, ya I noticed that too...old school works too as long as it goes bang when needed.

[556x45]

‘One of the difficult things to quantify about defensive gun uses, is how often they occur without a shot being fired.’

Not really. I know the NRA and almost certainly govt LE agencies keep records. The last I knew the NRA stat was in the low to mid 90% for no shots fired. Just presenting a FA was enough to stop the attack.

[Zhang Fei]

Fascinating excerpt about the Mauser pistol's popularity in China prior to the Communist takeover:

On the other s ide of the world, in, of all places, China, the Thompson
submachine gun's presence was also felt at this period in time. In the
mountainous province of Shansi, the ruling warlord Yen Hsi-Shan's railway was
often under attack by bandits and other warlords. Ahead of his time in being able
to recognize the military potential of the submachine gun, Yen had his arsenal
produce a copy of the Model 1921 Thompson with which to equip his railway
troops. While this gave them enormous firepower, it did present an ammunition
supply problem since their standard sidearms were 7.63 mm C-96 Mauser
Military pistols.

A famous design in its own right, the C-96 Mauser "Broomhandle" was extremely
popular with the Chinese. Since the C-96 was considered a highly effective
fighting weapon, Yen had no desire to replace the it with another design. So
instead he offered a cash reward to the workers at his arsenal to produce a C-96
chambered for the sam e .45 cartridge as their Thompson. And so one of the
rarest and most exotic C-96 variations was born, the .45 Shansi Broomhandle.

[marktwain]

I happen to know that the Mauser in the picture came to the U.S. via China.

[marktwain]

“Not really. I know the NRA and almost certainly govt LE agencies keep records. The last I knew the NRA stat was in the low to mid 90% for no shots fired. Just presenting a FA was enough to stop the attack.”

I have had a hard time finding the numbers. If you have a link, it would be appreciated.

[Zhang Fei]

I happen to know that the Mauser in the picture came to the U.S. via China.

I'm impressed you can tell just from looking at a photo.

[556x45]

My numbers came from the NRA PPC class I took many years ago. Ill ask for a citation tonight and post when I get it.

[PapaBear3625]

‘One of the difficult things to quantify about defensive gun uses, is how often they occur without a shot being fired.’ Not really. I know the NRA and almost certainly govt LE agencies keep records. The last I knew the NRA stat was in the low to mid 90% for no shots fired. Just presenting a FA was enough to stop the attack.

The problem is that, in cases where no shot is fired and the bad guy leaves quickly, often no police report is made either.

[PGalt]

Thanks for posting and the link leading to this…

http://forum.opencarry.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?136-True-Tales-of-Self-Defense&s=8b71cbe62f71137e22e67b646ccde8c5

[556x45]

Right, thats the weakness of any stat. Its only as good as the backing data. My gut suspicion is that enough ‘no shoots’ do get reported to be statistically relevant. Ill ask that question though.

[marktwain]

I know the provenance of the pistol from sources other than the picture.

It would be nice to have that sort of super power! Able to tell the history of objects at a single glance.

Not quite up there with superman, or the flash... but you take what you can get!

[CharlesOConnell]

Guns got my family in trouble. My wheelchair bound adult son was determined that no one would hurt him, yet he sought rough company as he went around armed to the teeth. He stabbed a man who assaulted him in the presence of many witnesses who supported him, the police wouldn’t charge him, the assailant’ s girlfriend brandished a weapon in our doorway. We moved to a town that is friendly to black people—he’s black— but where black people aren’t a significant minority. They want that security, but it makes them functionally insecure. I don’t need guns here, I literally leave my doors unlocked. Guns won’t stop insecurity. Black people should be required to integrate, not allowed to concentrate where they live together. That must be a kind of anti-racism.

[CodeToad]

“Guns got my family in trouble.”

No, guns didn’t. Guns are objects incapable of thinking.

[marktwain]

You are correct that assimilation is what is needed. One cannot force it under our system, but it could be encouraged. Black culture was much less violent in the 50’s than it is today.

The breakup of the black family has caused a lot of problems. Take any culture and remove fathers as a stable influence, and there are serious problems. Of course, the constant blaming of every problem on racism serves as a handy excuse for not trying harder.

There are black leaders that preach responsibility and following the law, but they are not put forward on the national stage. It does not further the “progressive” agenda.

[Jack Hydrazine]

“...Turns out, the Bad guy was on a major parole violation from the State of Texas Prison System, and was to considered armed and extremely dangerous. A very good ending of what might have been very bad.”

The recidivism rate of convicted criminals is about 65% within three years. This guy will go back to jail and eventually get out and most likely re-offend again.

Does not shooting this guy dead constitute a “very good ending” if he’ll eventually get out and most likely victimize someone else?

Being merciful to those proven to be merciless is just crazy.

[marktwain]

The problem is that the home owner does not know the history of the person he is confronting, and he has to follow the law, or consequences could be severe for him.

It is the criminal justice system that needs to be fixed. Califoring’s three strikes law might be one possibility.