OK: First Time Shooter Drives off Three Invaders

Gun Watch ^ | 2 September, 2015 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

Carmen Smith had never shot a gun before.  She used her recently acquired firearm to drive off three home invaders.  She did not hit any of the criminals, but the shots were enough to send them fleeing from the house.  From newson6.com:

"He was coming towards me. You know, like he was going to do something to me, harm me, and I was going to get him before he got me," she said.

The bullets didn't hit the burglars but got them out of her house.

The shots shattered a picture of Smith's family, left a hole in the front door and even hit the abandoned house across the street.

Smith said, "This was my first time ever shooting a gun, and I was scared."She doesn't want to hurt anyone, but she does want to go to the gun range to become a better shooter.

A good sentiment.  I hope that Carmen follows through.  She has already demonstrated the most important ability necessary to surviving a criminal confrontation: the ability to accept the reality of what is happening, and to act on that information.  In an encouraging trend, Smith said the police commended her actions.

Smith said Tulsa Police are working to catch the burglars, and commended her for defending herself.

Guns are fairly simple mechanical devices.  Mastering them can take decades.  Learning enough to be useful?  Minutes.

As a common meme proclaims:  Handguns, the original point and click interface.


©2015 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.  Link to Gun Watch

[marktwain]

Training is a good thing, but most people successfully use firearms with minimal training, because most of the time, they do not have to shoot.

[relictele]

Bbbbbut.....loopholes! Background checks! Smart guns!

[4rcane]

dem want to deny her the right to protect herself. Blacks need guns the most because their community have high crime

[CGASMIA68]

The shots shattered a picture of Smith's family, left a hole in the front door and even hit the abandoned house across the street.

Woman needs a shotgun not a handgun,she is lucky she didn't kill someone other than the perps

[NorthMountain]

She needs training and practice, a fact she herself recognizes.

[Old Sarge]

My daughters are getting range time this weekend...

[BigEdLB]

Good for her, now, go to a range, and get some practice. Next time the burglars will get ‘frontier body art’

[W.Lee]

Interesting that she missed every shot. When I was running handgun safety courses, almost every time a woman with zero experience fired her first shots, they were center of target. Of course this woman was dealing with the high stress of her situation, but I usually found that woman just naturally put their rounds right where they wanted them. Give her a little training and I think she’ll be quite effective.

[RipSawyer]

I am convinced that women have more of a natural ability to hit a target at close range than men have. At long distance I’m not so sure. My wife passed the firing range test for a carry permit using a tiny Beretta Bobcat .22 that I can hide in my palm. The instructor, someone I had known for nearly forty years, told me that my wife had outdone me although her score was not quite as good as mine. I asked him what he meant and he told me that she was using a tiny pistol while I was cheating and using a “rifle”. What he was calling a rifle was my old H&R .22 revolver with a five and a half inch barrel. I had to agree with him.

[showme_the_Glory]

I tell my wife. Gotta keep one eye open......

[minnesota_bound]

#8 she must love her husband. Other women who center their shots are thinking revenge.... : )

[Mack the knife]

I am convinced that women have more of a natural ability to hit a target at close range than men have.

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That’s not news ... most women swear that many men have trouble hitting an 12 inch circular target from 24 inches away ...