Posted on 04/20/2018 10:30:40 AM PDT by Simon Green
On Sunday morning at about 4 a.m. in Glen St. Mary, Florida, a group of seven masked home invaders barged into a mobile home located on County Road 125. A shot was fired by one invader. Two of the home’s four occupants responded with armed force.
One of the residents had an AR-15 style rifle. The person with the AR said they fired over 30 rounds while repelling the invaders. One invader was killed and others wounded. None of the residents were injured.
As soon as the gunfight stopped, the residents called 911. Baker County deputies immediately responded, stopping a car they found fleeing the scene at a high rate of speed. Five people were arrested and a 16-year-old juvenile was taken to the hospital.
From news4jax.com:
GLEN ST. MARY, Fla – Deputies arrested five people, two of them teens, after a home invasion Sunday in Glen St. Mary escalated into a deadly shootout, according to the Baker County Sheriff’s Office.
The Sheriff’s Office said the five were among seven masked individuals armed with guns who barged into a mobile home on County Road 125 about 4 a.m. to confront four people staying there over a feud.
I have long maintained the AR-15 or other modern sporting rifles make excellent home defense firearms. The reasons are many, as was illustrated with this case.
The rifles are light, easy to use, and reliable. The cartridges used are adequate for home defense. There are several ammunition choices available to limit potential over-penetration. The magazine capacity is especially valuable when confronting several attackers.
The intimidation value of an identifiable platform such as the AR-15 can also help prevent a gunfight…or stop one in some cases.
Investigators found a mask with a bullet hole in it and considerable blood at the scene. While over 30 shots were fired by the defenders, only one of the shots appears to have resulted in a fatality. We know at least one shot was fired by the intruders, which didn’t hit any of the residents.
People who obtain their personal defense information from television dramas often think only one shot is needed to stop an attacker. The reality is, in the heat of a tense situation, many shots miss. Some will wound and few are fatal. That’s the reason people who study combat and self-defense don’t put a limit on the number of shots that may be necessary.
The victims told deputies they acted in self-defense when they turned their guns on the intruders, with one of them estimating he fired over 30 rounds from an AR-15 before the threat was over.
Afterward, the victims retreated to another part of the home before they dialed 911, according to the report. None of them was hurt during the shooting.
The same cannot be said for the intruders, several of whom were inside a vehicle deputies intercepted as it sped away from the mobile home off County Road 125.
One of them, Corey Lauramore, died of gunshot wounds to the head. An unidentified 16-year-old remains hospitalized, and a third suspect, William Lauramore, was treated and released to police.
The AR-15 type rifle is the most popular rifle in the United States. Uninformed commentary to the contrary, they are seldom used in crimes because rifles are rarely used by criminals. The vast majority of homicides and other crimes involving guns are committed with handguns, because handguns are much easier to conceal and transport.
Recent use of AR-15 type rifles in mass murders is cited as a reason to ban them. But AR-15s have been commonly available to the public since 1965. None were used in a mass murder until 2007, and that was a police-issued rifle.
What happened to increase the use of AR-15 rifles in mass murders? Very likely it was media coverage where the exposure created incentives for socially marginal individuals to achieve celebrity status by becoming mass murderers. Since 2012, much media focus has been directed at the AR-15, as many in the media want to see them banned.
From politifact.com:
Among other factors also worth considering is media coverage of mass shooters, which Adam Lankford, a criminology professor at the University of Alabama, said rewards perpetrators with fame and can lead to copycat effects.
“Although firearms availability is the primary reason why the United States has more public mass shooters than other countries, media coverage of perpetrators may largely explain why the United States has seen more public mass shooters and deadlier incidents over time,” Lankford said.
As this weekend’s home invasion in Florida demonstrates, the AR-15 makes an excellent home defense weapon.
©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/
“Using a bump stock basically means you’ve lost control of your weapon. That’s how it works.”
I agree, a binary trigger is a better choice for maintaining control under rapid fire conditions.
The AR is a fine platform. But, I agree with you: For me, in a home defense situation I’d go with the Mossberg 500 with 00-Buck and either a .38/.357 maqnum or a Glock 19 in 9mm. However, I would not feel uncomfortable using an AR.
Sir, sorry but the over-penetration belief is just not true- unless you have some unusual 556 ammo.
Fact is, the standard fodder of 55 grain FMJ from a carbine fragments into many pieces, perhaps two of which weigh more than 10 -15 grains. A soft shatters even more completely, a varmint round after all.
Even heavy 77/75 grain offerings are very good at coming apart after minor contact with stuff like drywall and frame construction.
I suppose the sound of a pump shotgun is awe-inspiring, but so would the very well known and unique sound of the bolt-carrier group of an AR closing a round into the chamber- but that is just theatrics.
it is very well known that buckshot loadings of #4 through 000 penetrate interior walls very well- and of course, one must aim carefully with either- at conversational distances, the 12 ga and 556 need to actually be pointed at and hit the center of something IoT work.
I suggest perusing the net and seeking facts regarding the 556 and 12 buck in home defense scenarios.
Granted, one solid hit with either should be a fight-stopper- both deliver upwards of 1300-1500 ft-lbs of either individual or combined projectile energy.
Google 556 wounds and you will be amazed- the little 556 really works.
The 556 carbine weighing in at 6 lbs , 7 loaded with a 30 rnd mag has virtually no recoil and follow-up is easy, compared to the recoil of the 6-7 lb 12 ga pump loaded with 4-7 2 3/4 in rounds.
Don’t get me wrong, I would pick up either if needed ( and have indeed), nor would I want to be hit with either.
Another given- the 556 carbine with dot optics is useful from 0- 200m, while the 12 ga loaded with buck is useful to 50 m..... You never know.
All stated, I carry a handgun starting with a “.4X” to get to my carbine.
Concluding, the guy who fired 30+ 556 rounds needs training.... both in marksmanship, tactics and fire discipline....
Looks like a boy band. Had to laugh when I saw the dead perp was named Corey. RIP, dumbass. .
Thanks, ctdonath2. You are correct. Not much spread - and Simon, I never said it was a big spread, but even a few inches wide circle is a lot more that a .223 bullet... A 2-inch miss with the rifle is a hit with the shotgun.
But I’ll use whatever’s handy, believe me.
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