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73-Year-Old Man with Gun Stops Home Invader in His Tracks, Says 'They Picked the Wrong House'
Western Journal ^ | August 29, 2019 | C. Douglas Golden

Posted on 08/29/2019 3:38:23 PM PDT by Mr. Mojo

A 19th-century adage goes something like this: “God made man, but Samuel Colt made them equal.” Colt, of course, was the man behind the first successful revolver.

Daniel McGown wasn’t carrying one of Mr. Colt’s first models. However, he certainly managed to show one home invader why over a century and a half after that bromide was coined, a firearm is still the greatest equalizer of all.

According to WEWS-TV, McGown, 73, heard a commotion at his house in Akron, Ohio, a little after 5 a.m. Tuesday.

McGown told officers someone rang the doorbell several times. He then heard a voice inside his house.

That’s when the grandfather grabbed for the equalizer tucked away under his pillow: a 9mm pistol. He then made his way from the second-floor bedroom to the living room on the first floor, where he found the home invader.

“I pointed the pistol at him and said, ‘If you don’t move, I won’t shoot you,'” McGown said.

“He said, ‘Don’t shoot me.'”

McGown then had to get the intruder upstairs, since he realized he left his cellphone there. He told the man to walk ahead of him as they went to the bedroom.

“I told him, ‘You’re going to walk ahead of me and we’re going to go upstairs where I can get my cellphone and call the police,’ and he said, ‘Please do call the police. Please don’t shoot me,'” McGown said.

“I told him to get down on his knees in the front of the bed, lay down on it with his arms out, and I called police and they showed up and here he was,” he said.

McGown had been robbed recently while he wasn’t home; laptops, guns and ammunition were taken.

While that property hasn’t been recovered yet, at least McGown’s latest intruder was taken into custody by police.

Thomas Gaffney, 51, faces a charge of second-degree burglary in the incident. Fox News reported that (surprise, surprise) he was also charged with possession of drug paraphernalia.

Police are trying to determine whether he was involved in the first burglary as well, according to the Columbus Dispatch. Police Capt. Dave Laughlin also said officers are investigating 10 other break-ins at other homes and businesses in the area over the last eight or nine weeks.

As for McGown, he said he “wasn’t adrenaline-fueled” when he confronted the home invader.

“My home was being violated and here was a guy doing it in my presence. Here’s the guy, and I just wanted to make him stop doing that,” McGown said.

“They picked the wrong house.”

And that they did. McGown is a concealed carry permit holder and managed to defend himself and his domicile against someone who clearly shouldn’t have been there. He said he was prepared to shoot.

“If he had reached his hand towards a pocket or something where I thought he might have had one of the guns that went away last night or the night before, I might have been tempted to do that,” he said. “But I’m glad it didn’t come to that.”

Yet, what would have been the case without a gun? Seventy-three is usually a lot different from 51 in terms of physical ability, after all. Would he have gotten beaten? Would this have ended up with McGown in the hospital — or worse?

We don’t know, of course. What we do know is instead going to the hospital, McGown went back to sleep after the burglar was taken away by police.

How could he sleep after something like that?

“I’m 73 years old, I can sleep almost anytime,” he said with a laugh.

Sleep well, Mr. McGown. Sleep well.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; US: Ohio
KEYWORDS: banglist

1 posted on 08/29/2019 3:38:23 PM PDT by Mr. Mojo
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To: Mr. Mojo

Ahhhh..... a good gun story.

This news will not be broadcast by the mainstream media.


2 posted on 08/29/2019 3:42:36 PM PDT by ptsal
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To: Mr. Mojo

"Doan shoot me 'n all 'cause I was jus' hongry, that's it....

3 posted on 08/29/2019 3:52:34 PM PDT by Fightin Whitey
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To: Mr. Mojo

Disparity of force.

Further you only have to believe your life is in danger.


4 posted on 08/29/2019 3:54:58 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not Averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Mr. Mojo

I’m going to steal his line, “if you don’t move, I won’t shoot you.”

Conveys real meaning beyond the usual.


5 posted on 08/29/2019 4:02:21 PM PDT by A strike (Import third world become third world)
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To: Secret Agent Man

“...Disparity of force. Further you only have to believe your life is in danger...”
Depends on the state’s laws.
Here? IF I caught someone inside my house, uninvited, especially at night....hell, yeah my life, and the life of my family, is in danger. They’d get the same exact treatment as in this story, or be swiss-cheesed instantly should they make a wrong move...it would be solely their choice. They need to choose wisely if they want to keep wasting God’s good air.


6 posted on 08/29/2019 4:09:12 PM PDT by lgjhn23 (It's easy to be liberal when you're dumber than a box of rocks.)
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To: Mr. Mojo
McGown is a concealed carry permit holder

Which has nothing to do with keeping and bearing arms in your own home. Nice work by the "journalist."

7 posted on 08/29/2019 4:10:29 PM PDT by TigersEye (This is the age of the death of reason.)
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To: TigersEye
Here's another one:

McGown had been robbed recently while he wasn’t home;

That's called being burglarized, not robbed.

8 posted on 08/29/2019 4:18:15 PM PDT by real saxophonist (Yeah, well, y'know that's just like, uh... your opinion, man.)
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To: real saxophonist

That one is really dumb. Probably not politically motivated though as I suspect the “CCW” mention was.

If I had turned in a paper like that in the 5th grade my teacher would have dinged me on both of those things. But that was a long time ago.


9 posted on 08/29/2019 4:23:22 PM PDT by TigersEye (This is the age of the death of reason.)
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To: Mr. Mojo

He has more restraint than I believe I would have.

I am known to frequently fear for my life, fear for my life, fear for my life.... mmmmmm fear for my life.

I never saw a snake that didn’t need a good killin.


10 posted on 08/29/2019 4:29:44 PM PDT by Sequoyah101 (We are governed by the consent of the governed and we are fools for allowing it.)
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To: Mr. Mojo

And since when is 73, “old”?? ;)


11 posted on 08/29/2019 5:22:52 PM PDT by DCPatriot ("It aint what you don't know that kills you. It's what you know that aint so" Theodore Sturgeon))
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To: ptsal

Good thing it wasn’t his garage. Half of FR would be rooting for the perp.


12 posted on 08/29/2019 5:39:35 PM PDT by eyedigress ((Old storm chaser from the west))
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To: Fightin Whitey

Remarkable this dude has made it to 51.


13 posted on 08/29/2019 6:17:05 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Who will think of the gerbils ? Just say no to Buttgiggity !)
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To: Mr. Mojo

Wow. That’s a pretty cr@ppy house for an attorney. Just sayin.


14 posted on 08/29/2019 7:09:05 PM PDT by Brooklyn Attitude (The first step in ending the war on white people is to recognize it exists.)
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To: DCPatriot

When you are not in Congress or an elite.


15 posted on 08/29/2019 9:20:09 PM PDT by funfan
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To: Mr. Mojo

We old geezers still have some surprises for the bad guys, usually loaded too.


16 posted on 08/29/2019 10:57:13 PM PDT by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
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To: Mr. Mojo
“God made man, but Samuel Colt made them equal.”

Yup. Dunno when it came out, but this little ditty is still popular:
Fear no man, what 'eer his size
Just call on me, I'll equalize

17 posted on 08/30/2019 10:24:29 AM PDT by Oatka
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