Granny deserves self-defense

[Paladin]

http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns ... 75857.html

"Granny deserves self-defense
Nov 16, 2005
by Cam Edwards

It was just after midnight last Wednesday when Susan Buxton realized all was not well in her Arlington, Texas home. The 66-year old was getting ready to let her dogs out before she went to bed when she noticed her 28-year old granddaughter was still awake. “I asked her, ‘What are you doing up?’ and she says, ‘Gigi, I heard glass breaking.’�

That didn’t raise too many alarm bells for the grandmother, but when she discovered a muddy footprint on her back porch, she knew someone was in the house. Luckily, Susan Buxton wasn’t alone. Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson have been Susan Buxton’s constant companions for the past twelve years, ever since a stranger tried to abduct another granddaughter from her front yard.

So, armed with her .38 and a flashlight, Susan Buxton went through every room in her home. Just like in the movies, it wasn’t until she had searched every room that she knew where the intruder was. Hiding in her closet in her art room, Christopher Lessner saw the door swing open. He looked at her and whispered, “Shhhh�.

Buxton was having none of it. Pointing her pistol at the intruder, she told him to get down on the floor. Then she yelled for her granddaughter to call police. When Lessner tried to grab the gun, Susan Buxton shot him. He fled the home, bleeding from the leg, and Susan Buxton shot at him again. This time she missed. Police later found him cowering under a neighbor’s backyard deck.


Half a country away and just twenty four hours later, 60-year old Thomas Morganstern woke up to noises in his Roselle, Delaware home. Unlike Susan Buxton, Morganstern didn’t have to go looking for the source of the noise. When he opened his eyes he saw two strange men in his bedroom. Morganstern grabbed a handgun and followed the pair as they ran down his stairs.

In the living room, the two fired at Morganstern, missing him. He returned fire, and hit both assailants. They fled the house, and police found them hours later. One was hiding near Morganstern’s detatched garage. The other was lying under bushes across the street, dead.

Just a day after Thomas Morganstern saved his life, , 65-year old Roland Burns woke up to find a stranger in his home in Rush, Kentucky. He too grabbed a firearm. He too told the intruder to leave. And he too eventually had to defend himself when 32-year old Shannon Conley refused to obey that order. According to Kentucky State Police Trooper Ed Ginter, “"Mr. Burns ordered the man to leave the home. A struggle ensued, and Mr. Conley was fatally wounded."

What chance would a 66-year old grandmother have against a bigger, stronger, man a third of her age? What chance would a 60-year old man have against two men, armed and in their 20’s? And what chance would a 65-year old have against a man half his age? Without an equalizer, ,these individuals would have no chance. Because that equalizer was a firearm, all three are alive today.

Americans over the age of 65 are now the most likely age group to be armed, according to the General Social Survey, part of the National Opinion Research Center at the Unversity of Chicago. The reasons for this are almost as varied as the individuals who make up that demographic. Some are life-long gun owners. Others have picked up firearms as they got older for reasons of personal safety. In Arizona alone, more than 30-thousand people between the ages of 50 and 69 have concealed hangun licenses, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

If seniors are the most likely owners of firearms in this country, then they’re also the most likely victims of gun control laws. A day before Susan Buxton confronted the intruder in her home, voters in San Francisco banned handguns from their city. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are more than 70,000 San Franciscans over the age of 65. How many of these are gun owners who are now being told to disarm? How many will be victims of crime now that the street thugs have been notified of an unarmed populace?

And yet, proponents of gun control continue to insist that these seniors are putting themselves more at risk by simply owning a gun. Appearing on Fox’s ‘Hannity and Colmes� last week, Michael Beard of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence said, “The privatization of public safety is a dangerous situation in our society.� He also revealed he doesn’t have a gun in home. Of course, he can’t legally own one. He lives in Washington, D.C., home to a firearms ban since 1976 and the nation’s murder capitol 14 of the last 15 years. Still, Beard says he doesn’t need a gun. He has a telephone.

89-year old Lois Cannady had a phone. She used it to call 911 in Durham County, North Carolina on June 5th, 2002 to report an intruder in her home. By the time police arrived, four minutes later, she had been murdered. Michael Beard can perhaps take comfort in the fact that he’s not an octogenarian, and could possibly fend off an attacker for four minutes. But the average response time in Washington, D.C. in 2004 was 8 minutes and 25 seconds. Are you prepared to go almost three rounds with a criminal who may be armed with a gun?

The 98,624 people in San Francisco who voted to ban handguns may be willing to try and duke it out with an armed thug. But the fact they’ve now denied the more than 70,000 senior citzens in the city the opportunity to choose another means of protection is shameful. A lawsuit has been filed seeking to overturn the handgun ban as a violation of state law. Let’s hope the judges have more common sense than a majority of San Fran’s voters.

Cam Edwards is the host of “Cam and Company� on http://www.nranews.com and Sirius Satellite Radio. A veteran talk show host and political analyst, he blogs at http://www.camedwards.com in addition to his daily talk show. Cam lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and five children. "

[j1132s]

[urlhttp://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/CamEdw ... 75857.html[/url]

Then she yelled for her granddaughter to call police. When Lessner tried to grab the gun, Susan Buxton shot him. He fled the home, bleeding from the leg, and Susan Buxton shot at him again. This time she missed.

From the article, it seems the granny shot again while the bg is fleeing. After reading, I feel her 1st shot is self defense but not so sure about the 2nd shot. However, grany being under stress, I may be able to accept that her 2nd shot is also fired in self defense since I feel a person may not be able to fully process the entire situation when under adrinaline.

On another issue, this article gives me the feeling that it advocates confrontation w/ bg. In the above situation, I would have stayed where I was w/ gun and not go investigating. I'd call the police let them investigate. Seems very dangerous for grany to do what she did w/o backup and the training that police officers may have.

[seadawg221]

My personal opinion is this... If ANYONE comes into my home without permission they DESERVE to be hunted down and shot on the spot. If they make it outside MAYBE I won't continue the hunt.

Just my feelings on this subject!

[dws1117]

However, grany being under stress, I may be able to accept that her 2nd shot is also fired in self defense since I feel a person may not be able to fully process the entire situation when under adrinaline.

That hits the nail right on top and drives it home. It's easy to sit back and examine the scene after the fact and come up with a very large list of what ifs.

Fortunately I've never been in that type of high stress situation. I can't enen speculate how I would react given the same circumstances. Some of our members that are LEO, former military having been in actual combat, or others who have been in a real self defense situation are much better able to even relate to what granny went through.

[stevie_d_64]

Maybe the criminal community amoung us will think twice, and then some about stalking and victimizing old folks...

And start coming after us younger, more refined marksmen and women...

I'm ok with that...Because its a lose-lose situation for the BeeGee's...

[Bubba]

My personal opinion is this... If ANYONE comes into my home without permission they DESERVE to be hunted down and shot on the spot. If they make it outside MAYBE I won't continue the hunt.

Just my feelings on this subject!

+1
Calling the police is something to do after the threat is gone. The LEO response time may be quick if you're lucky or it may 20 or 30 minutes. Lots of bad stuff can happen in that time, so eliminate the danger first and do the paperwork afterwards.
Bubba

[Paladin]

I think at the first clear sign of a criminal being in the house (Broken window, muddy footprints) they should have called the police.

To Search or hole-up?... is a personal decision. I know that many would advocate finding a safe area to hole up. Lessner could have had a weapon and attacked as soon as they opened the closet door.

Personally, I wouldn't shoot Lessner if he ran.... but if the guy wasn't following instructions, came out of the closet, and grabbed for my gun... I probably would have emptied my mag into him. Including several head shots. I stop shooting when Lessner hits the floor and is no longer a threat.

[MikeJ]

Will the cops actually respond to a report that you think someone is in your house? I have my doubts, but if anyone has experience to the contrary, please correct me.

[Paladin]

Will the cops actually respond to a report that you think someone is in your house? I have my doubts, but if anyone has experience to the contrary, please correct me.

With broken glass and muddy footprints, yes. Although it's hard to say how long it would take for them to get there.

[stevie_d_64]

Will the cops actually respond to a report that you think someone is in your house? I have my doubts, but if anyone has experience to the contrary, please correct me.

Yes, they do...Why should they not, and respond in a timely manner???

We used to live in an apartment complex near the high school I attended...

Our nieghbor was a single mom with a pre-teen daughter who came back from work and school one afternoon early...I was home because I had that day off...And was sitting on the porch (with a low fence) when they got home...

I had only been out there for about 2-3 minutes before they walked up...

The mom unlocked the door and her daughter bolted inside and when upstairs...About halfway up she screamed and said there was a man up in the hallway there...

They both ran outside, shutting the door behind them, and told me what she saw...

I got my phone and called 911, requesting they come by and clear it all out...

HPD responded in about 4-5 minutes, during which time I put them inside our apartment, and told them to lock the door till the PD arrived...

My idea was to remain in my "gated" area and watch to see if someone came out...(Be a good witness first and foremost in this situation...)

When the PD arrived and saw that there was no immediate threat to the area...I told them everything that had happened so far, and told them I did not see anyone go in before the homeowner arrived...So I felt a little useless...

Lucky for us one of the officers who cleared the apartment was the little girls soccer coach...

Anyway, they cleared leather, and proceeded to clear the rooms...

I thought it might be some drama the girl was dreaming up to get attention, but was surprised to hear some raised voices coming from their apartment...

Yep, there was someone in there, and it, to make a long story short, was a maintenence guy the apartments just fired a few months previously...He still had a master key, and it turns out he'd been the one stealing stuff out of the apartments for a while...

So yes, L.E. does show up and do these types of services...

I was like you, I thought they wouldn't show up in a timely manner, and I stood the chance to watch someone come out and leave with a bunch of stuff...

Does that mean I would have been cleared to intervene, if this is what the premis of the subject dictated???

I would say no...But within a reasonable no...Things would have had to present themselves differently for me to act in any capacity above and beyond what I was doing at that time...

Just food for thought...

[MikeJ]

I know from personal experience that police in this area don't seem too worried about property crimes, and I've heard that HPD no longer sends an officer to investigate routine burglaries. (Not that they really did anything more than make a list of stolen property anyway.) That's why I asked. Perhaps the possibility of confrontation gets a quick response.

[stevie_d_64]

Perhaps the possibility of confrontation gets a quick response.

Exactly...

Thats why nowadays, I do not need my hands to make a certain phone call...

[and no cheap comments from the peanut gallery!]

[dws1117]

[and no cheap comments from the peanut gallery!]

Way too easy.