Posted on 11/29/2008 4:40:53 AM PST by marktwain
A home invasion has been repelled. And guess by whom:
A break-in at an Ashtabula home forced a teen to open fire, and a man accused of breaking in is recovering after being shot.
The suspect was shot by a teen who was home alone with his brother and police said the young man did the right thing.
Now hold the phone a dang minute here. What happened to all that "expert" advice we're being fed? What happened to keeping the gun separated from the ammunition and separately locked away? For that matter, if we're to believe these same experts, why did the homeowners even have a gun in the house in the first place?
What happened to kids taking a pledge never to touch a gun as part of their "education"?
And what would the outcome have been had Ohio done as the "experts" insist and passed "child access prevention" laws, to hold gun owners "accountable for leaving guns accessible to kids?"
Well, we know what happened in California, where they had such a law and where it was obeyed:
[T]wo innocent children died needlessly, victims of California’s "safe storage" gun laws.
Can you imagine the horror of being murdered by a pitchfork-wielding madman? And to reconcile that with what finally did stop him: being shot, albeit by the "only ones." All because a teenager trained in the use of firearms had no access to one--by law?
What do you think might have happened in Ashtabula had a brave boy not defended himself with available means?
And since when do blanket ignorance and avoidance produce superior results over age-appropriate training and discipline?
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Cops and robbers
Well, I guess it's technically not robbery if you get a gift card and some basketball tickets for a $1,000 gun--but it sure ain't a fair trade.
Ohio blogger "Hairy Hobbit" presents a conversation between cops about the Cleveland gun "buyback."
Their conclusion?
Don't think for a moment that the bad boys turn in the tools of their trade.
My kids learn on a BB gun at a young age, and a 7MM at an older age. By the time they are teenagers, they have knowledge of a rifle and if you SHOW a kid the damage a gun can do, instead of making it like something in a video game, most of the time they’ll leave it alone.
Let them shoot a tomato in front of a light colored plank. That’ll shock them into reality.
I’d have trusted my teenage son to protect us from 15 years old on.
“...home alone with...”
I know this violates some Cosmic Law of logic.
How many people can you be “alone with” before you’re not “alone” any more?
Guns are like cars. When used responsibly, they are very useful. When operated by criminals, they are a menace.
Everyone who is eligible should buy a gun and learn how to use it. If you already own a gun, buy a couple more. The criminals already have guns.
The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
You know, if this happened in California, the parents would have been charged with felonies because the children had access to guns (that the children successfully defended themselves would only be seen as evidence that the parents are guilty of improperly storing guns). Then the children would be taken away and given to a lesbian couple.
Man we’ve come a long way in a short time. Only 42 yo I remember growing up in Ohio not far from Ashtabula. Me and all my friends from the age of 12 or 13 all had guns. Rifles, shotguns, and handguns.
We all kept them in our bedrooms along with the ammo, no big deal.
Later during high school many of us drove to school with our hunting rifles and or shotguns hung up in a rack across the back window of a pickup truck parked in the school parking lot. Again, no big deal.
I didn’t know of a school in Ohio that didn’t have a shooting team and gun safety classes were part of gym class.
Now kids are kicked out of school for merely drawing a picture of a gun or wearing a t-shirt that depicts one. Pathetic!
“Let them shoot a tomato in front of a light colored plank. That’ll shock them into reality.”
The nice thing about being diet and clear, is that it washes out easily.
You are exactly right in the usefulness of these demonstrations. They show kids reality instead of TV.
His eyes still get big when he talks about it.
Simple principle involved here. As parents it is our RESPONSIBILITY to teach our children a large variety of things from birth.
Don’t touch the fire, don’t put that small object in your mouth, play politely with your friends, clean your room.... That list is too long to go on but you get the idea. Remember that guy that had the “things I learned in Kindergarten” ideas?
Self defense, home safety and gun usage are also in that list. We have a 2nd amendment right to keep and bear arms. That infers that we have a responsibility to teach our children not only the 2nd amendment idealism but the mechanics of how said ideal works. ie: guy breaks in, retrieve gun (which is hopefully loaded but in a safe location), safety off, take out the threat. End of story. Parent did an excellent job. Parent will, in my opinion, probably be well qualified to guide adolescent through the aftermath.
Agreed.
“What happened to keeping the gun separated from the ammunition and separately locked away”?
YOu try to break in to my home and every one of my 15 guns are sitting around loaded and ready go have a go at anyone stupid enough to try.
Unloaded and locked away never accomplished anything.
Teach your kids wife and everyone in the home to properly use them and you will be much safer than if you solely rely on your local police who may just be waiting on the fresh donuts.
Pretty simple concept isn’t it? Parenting isn’t all about playing team sports and carpooling.
My kids are now grown and living on their own. One of the many wonderful things I know about my children is that if anyone breaks into their homes they both have guns locked and loaded, ready to use. LOL - it’s one less thing a mom has to be concerned about with adult daughters IMHO.
Or you may live rural and rely on a sheriff... who is at best a 30 minute drive away!
Besides, in our case, loaded guns are also needed on various threatening varmints. In a scenario with a rattlesnake 2 feet from the back porch is it better for a kid to have to get mom or dad, wait for the gun, and then not know where the snake went, or just to reach inside the back door to the waiting 12 gauge and take care of the threat? It would be the same concept IMO when talking of threatening human scum.
My father was a decorated WWII infantry soldier. When I was eight and my brother was six He did the same demonstration with the both of us. We remember is with clarity to this day.
When we went to high school most of the pickups in the parking lot had loaded guns in the back window and we knew how to use them well.
vob
Several years ago a group of illegals broke into a house near me, the only one home was a 14 year old girl. Her parents had taught her to use her head and use a firearm. She managed to sneak into her parents bedroom closet with a telephone. Her father’s guns were stored in the back of the walk in closet. She got into the closet, armed herself and called the sheriff. She waited quietly while the illegals ransacked the house and as luck would have it the sheriff’s deputy arrived just as the illegals were approaching the bedroom she was in. This was a country girl and I have no doubt the illegals would have had a nasty surprise if they had managed to get to her hiding spot. I am also glad the deputy managed to get there before she had to, so she wouldn’t have to live with the issues of taking lives. The deputy said when he told the illegals after he arrested them that the girl was armed to the teeth in that closet, they about crapped their pants- they said they had no idea anyone was home.
I can only imagine what the outcome may have been had her parents not taught her about firearms, and about using her head the way she did in this situation. Many of these liberal parents are raising their children to be victims when they refuse to teach them to defend themselves, and teach them that the only way to deal with crime is to call LEO. Thank goodness that girl’s parents had raised her to have a plan, and a backup plan, and to be able to defend herself if needed.
He is now 19 and breaks Skeet targets (almost) as well as I do, and is going in to USMC early next month.
“I didn’t know of a school in Ohio that didn’t have a shooting team and gun safety classes were part of gym class.”
I’m 20 years older than you, but I can say that I never knew of a school in Ohio that had those classes or teams. Maybe rural schools did, but Independence did not. Neither did University School.
Obviously, the parents did an outstanding job teaching their children to shoot responsibly and accurately. Kudos to them.
Not if they're normal boys. They'll just get all excited and want to try it with something bigger!
As a young teen I used to shoot wax bullets from a .38 sp in an indoor range in our basement.
Never did I realize how unique that experience was.
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