Posted on 12/30/2002 9:19:48 PM PST by GailA
Carjackers Surprised By Victim With Gun
A couple of would-be carjackers got more than they bargained for in South Nashville. Their victim had a gun of his own.
It happened at the Golden Gallon convenience store on Haywood Lane. Billy J. Brown had been inside to get a snack. When he climbed back in his car, one of the carjackers jumped in the seat behind them and told Brown to drive.
That's when Brown pulled out his own gun, and shot and killed the carjacker. The other carjacker tried to run away, but police later caught him.
"He came back here to police headquarters and during the interview, he gave statements to the effect he and his friend were out, and robbery was one of the topics they were looking into," said Detective Todd Watson of Metro Police. "The one suspect that was shot was wanting to get money to bail out a friend or a relative."
Brown wasn't charged although the District Attorney's office will likely review the case. Brown is a former officer with the Tennessee Defense Force. He also ran for the 59th District seat in the state House of Representatives this past November.
Once you go with a SureFire lite in search mode, you are stuck with it for the duration since your own night vision is shot. A goblin seeing that beam sweeping the living room or barn and yard will get in a shadow and wait in ambush for "flashlight man" to pass by before shooting him in his backlit back.
Keep the SureFire light, if you MUST use it, for a one second ID and blinding burst RIGHT before you shoot him, AFTER you have found him in stealth mode.
I cannot think of a better way to get dead than to go looking in the dark for armed criminals by sweeping far out ahead of me with a bright light, practically yelling out "HERE I COME! GET READY FOR ME!!!!"
IMHO, tactical gun lights are ONLY for SWAT Teams who are rushing in on shocked and dazed perps who have just been awakened by flash bang grenades. THEN they make perfect sense. If they are used by the single property owner, he must be VERY disciplned, and NOT give in to the temptation to announce his coming with a light search. He must save it for the last second to ID and blind before shooting.
All just my humble opinion mind you, based on no personal experience shooting bad guys. Your mileage may vary.
But nevertheless, it has been classified as a "homicide" committed with a gun. Remember that next time someone brings up gun-based homicide statistics. How many are in self-defense?
What the guy should have said is "they are no longer a immediate threat". (Laughter!)
When a nest of cobras, black widow spiders or youth street gangs take up residence in your community you are under a constant threat. To think otherwise is absurd.
Kipling's tale of "Riki Tikki Tavi" illustrates the point. Nagi (the female cobra) realizes the mere presence of humans in the great house is a threat to her unhatched brood and so plots the death of the humans.The liberal mind set of "when a Cobra attempts to bite you and turns to flee.... you should not chase and kill it since it is no longer a threat" ignores the fact that the bite (crime) was "unprovoked" by the victim and the fleeing Cobra (criminal) will bite again. This behavior goes on until the cobra is dead.
The Thebans lit torches and set out to hunt them down. The Plataeans simply waited in the dark and using the light of their enemies torches to locate them killed them.
I guess those people 2,500 years ago already knew not to use flashlights improperly.
BTW I could be mistaken on the identities of the combatants as I am going on hazy memory but the basic story is true.
I really like outside motion detector triggered lights, esp those that are independent of house power and run on solar charged batteries. They will still work if your house power is cut.
If one absolutely must go looking for the source of that bump in the night is worth the money for some good night vision googles or monoccular. As a boater I have found them a great boon for navigating narrow channels on moonless overcast nights where there is almost no ambient light. They are also priceless for seeing what has awoken my hound in the middle of the night. I can quickly tell if it is racoon or the porch or a coyote in the yard, or a potential intruder.
As for .30 carbine a .38spl revolver is a very good means of self defense that will very likely serve you very well. Unless one is willing to devote the time to throughly master a semi-auto pistol so that working the safety is absolutely a conditioned response, and one is willing to do the necessary maintainence faithfully there is very little advantage in the quick reload for the opdinary citizen. A whole lot of the people on this website have shot for 20 or 30 years so we talk about our tastes and preferences as though they were gospel they are not. The only absolute truth about handguns for self defense is a .22cal short that hits the target exactly is a whole lot better at stopping than a .50cal hand cannon that misses the target. I also note that more than one shooter has had their night vision limited severly by their own muzzle flash in the dark, Thus a .38 spl that does not have as big a muzzle flash as a .357 magnum may be a better choice for hime defense in the middle of the night. Just my humble opinion.
Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown
I think folks are seduced by sexy TV dramas showing SWAT teams (as in 4-6 guys together!) rushing into rooms: but they are wearing armor head to toe, and already know the layout and have just stunned the bad guys with flash bang grenades. They are in full out "ID and shoot right now" mode. Totally different from a homeowner on his own!
Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown
Just an idea...
Merry New Year !!....Stay Safe !
Stay well - stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown
LOL! My husband is unreeling the 300' of 14 gauge wire even as we speak . . . . (g) not really, but he's interested in the idea. Unfortunately, he is 6'6" so guess who gets to run the wire? I already had to inch through an 18" crawlspace to run the wire for the LAN . . . and I don't like mud, spiders, or crickets. :-(
We're currently living in a house we didn't build, which is really annoying, if you've ever built a house (our family's built 5 if you count 2 additions). Nothing is where you want it to be. When the kids all finish school and we move to a smaller house, we'll build again, and my husband has already put the "malefactor illumination circuit" into our plan list (he just put it back into the drawer.)
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