Update: Thanks to Glenn Reynolds for the Instalink.
New visitors might want to check out my BLOCKBUSTER saga where a convicted terrorist and perjurer sought to obtain my true name and address by subpoenaing Google and Comcast. You might want to start with the filing I sent to the court, here. It has been described by another blogger as “one of the most epic pantsings I have ever seen performed anywhere” so you might enjoy it. You can also use this link to keep abreast of the whole saga.
The original post follows.
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A eighteen year old single mother in Oklahoma faced her worst nightmare recently. Her husband had died on Christmas day and a pair of (alleged) burglars apparently thought she was an easy target (allegedly), trying to break into her home on New Years Eve. But instead she went into “Momma-Bear” mode and the intruders paid the price. ABC has the video:
New visitors might want to check out my BLOCKBUSTER saga where a convicted terrorist and perjurer sought to obtain my true name and address by subpoenaing Google and Comcast. You might want to start with the filing I sent to the court, here. It has been described by another blogger as “one of the most epic pantsings I have ever seen performed anywhere” so you might enjoy it. You can also use this link to keep abreast of the whole saga.
The original post follows.
-------------------------
A eighteen year old single mother in Oklahoma faced her worst nightmare recently. Her husband had died on Christmas day and a pair of (alleged) burglars apparently thought she was an easy target (allegedly), trying to break into her home on New Years Eve. But instead she went into “Momma-Bear” mode and the intruders paid the price. ABC has the video:
The sad thing is that she was worried enough that she might get in trouble that she felt the need to ask 911 for advice. And frankly they should have known the law enough to have told her that she would be just fine.
A while back I ruminated on the way that guns allowed disabled people to achieve a certain equality in a way that was quintessentially human:
And gun ownership by the handicapped also taps into another big philosophical belief I have about the handicapped. In a very real way, humanity is the disabled species. Think about it. Compared to other species, we are slow, weak, blind and deaf; we have little sense of smell, our teeth and “claws” are weak, etc. If left naked in the wild we would be easy supper for the other animals out there. And yet we dominate the planet for one simple reason: our brains. And those brains have allowed us to create tools that in turn makes up for our deficiencies. So we can’t run as fast as a cheetah, but we invented motor cars that allowed us to move even faster and for long periods of time. We can’t see like an eagle, so we invented the telescope and can see things no other creature can. Our brains haven’t just leveled the playing field between animal and man, but in fact gave us a critical advantage over them which is why we rule this planet and no longer have any natural predator (except ourselves).
And in no area has our brains been more critical in making up for our psychical deficiencies than in combat. Now we might suspect a few tough souls like Chuck Norris or Todd Palin** could take on a grizzly bear with their bare hands, but for most of us, if we don’t have a gun we are SOL (and from my understanding, even with a gun they are hard to kill). Our only option is to run.
So to tell a disabled person that they can’t use artificial help goes directly against the grain of what we have done as humans. For instance, I have difficulty writing by hand. But it only affects my ability to write by hand, so I buy a computer and I am rendered “normal.”
Likewise, Mr. Boyd has cerebral palsy. I have known people with that condition and it almost certainly impairs his ability to win a fistfight. I’m not saying he can’t do it, but it’s almost certainly harder. Now, the anti-gun approach would tell him tough and that he would just have to remain defenseless and hope that if someone attacks him that he cops get there in time. But the second amendment allows him to say, “screw that,” and defend his own life and safety as need be.
Likewise, this woman probably was not a physical match for the men who broke into her home, especially given that they had her outnumbered and had a knife to boot. But rather than hope the cops get there in time—indeed in the face of a dispatcher that couldn’t even tell her whether she could use deadly force or not—she said “screw that” and defended the life or her and her baby.
And good for her for doing so.
Via the Daily Caller.
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Sidebar: And my gosh, what a horrible holiday season this woman has been having. Here’s hoping things turn around for her.
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Follow me at Twitter @aaronworthing, mostly for snark and site updates.
I've seen the video, and my first thought was that it was a pity that she didn't nail both of those lowlifes. Considering that the one who survived turned himself into police later, I'm guessing that she did a pretty good job of scaring the crap out of him.
ReplyDeleteAnd I have a feeling that things will be getting better for her.
I feel awful for her.
ReplyDeleteJeez.
A close loved one recently had an issue where there was worry for her safety. She's tiny. First stop: the gun store for a subcompact pistol. Second stop, a range to learn how to use it and a CCW course. Now she had freedom to go from place because technology has solved the problem of weaker people being victimized.
God bless America.
However, you are 100% right that people need to know when they can defend themselves. I don't really worry about the law because the only times I'd ever harm another person were if someone was in such danger that I'd use force even if it were illegal, but still, the laws should be understood and there are good places to go to learn it.
Many states are helpful enough to put guidelines up such as this one: http://licgweb.doacs.state.fl.us/weapons/self_defense.html
Yes, it's a good and even wonderful thing that this poor woman was able to defend herself from the pile of human filth whose reign of terror she terminated; but I think you're quite right to note how we have become frightened of the legal and media terrorism which so often follows acts of self-defense. This woman actually was so scared of our legal system and the media that she took her attention away from protecting her child to seek police permission to save its and her life. Amazing.
ReplyDeleteI was also astounded at the namby-pamby response of the 911 operator. The woman should have been told, "Hell, yes! KILL HIM! Drop the phone and as soon as you have a shot you shoot him and keep on shooting him until the guns won't shoot any more!" But no, it became a "maybe, maybe not, but don't quote me" speech.
It reminds me of the old joke about the cop who was forced to shoot and kill an assailant bent on killing him. With the usual media ignorance and bias a reporter shouted "Officer, you shot that man 10 times! 10 times!! Why did you shoot that man 10 times?!"
"Because that's all the bullets I had."
That's why the original Colt was called "the Equalizer."
ReplyDeleteAnd thank God we're not yet like England, where homeowners are arrested for defending themselves against assailants.
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/877845-homeowner-arrested-after-suspected-burglar-shot-in-the-leg
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Martin_%28farmer%29
It is immoral for the state to arrogate the blood feud, demand a monopoly on violence, and then REFUSE to enforce it.
TX DPS used to record CHL qualification scores. It isn't real hard to shoot a perfect 250 on it. They were forced to stop because dead perps scumbag attorneys were subpoenaing the records and asking the OJ juries why someone who scored 250 on the qualification wasn't marksman enough to "shoot the gun out of his hand" or "shoot to wound" so using deadly force wasn't justified...
ReplyDeleteA white 18yo trailer trash girl and her 58 yo child molester sugar
ReplyDeletedaddy would make a great TBS movie on "Okie Redneck lifestyles of the Poor and Stupid".
You know damn right this story would be promoted in a completely different
light *HERE* if her name was Quarlisha,KimKasha, Shaskira ,Keishas, Mo'Niques or Shaquandra and the dopers where named Tyrone and Leroy.
Hey Lost in Space, at least you have the minimal self-awareness to realize that you do not know excrement from a well-known shoe polish. so you are stupid enough to think that people whose marriages you do not like deserve to be stabbed, raped, and murdered>? How about you do something useful to society like performing a cranio-rectal impaction and jump off a cliff??
ReplyDelete"You know damn right this story would be promoted in a completely different light *HERE* if her name was Quarlisha,KimKasha, Shaskira ,Keishas, Mo'Niques or Shaquandra and the dopers where named Tyrone and Leroy. "
ReplyDeleteAaron doesn't have a racist bone in his body. I am sick and tired of people lying about other people. You had no basis for that comment. You made it up, and you did it because you have a problem with conservatives.
The truth is that gun rights are a major civil rights issue, historically no truer than for blacks fighting off the KKK. Aaron has even mentioned that multiple times.
The fact is, if you cared to look, he has celebrated what you claim he would criticize.
The sad thing is that she was worried enough that she might get in trouble that she felt the need to ask 911 for advice. And frankly they should have known the law enough to have told her that she would be just fine.
ReplyDeleteDo you really want 911 operators telling an unknown someone over the phone to shoot somebody? Do you want to be the 911 operator who says such a thing and turns out to have been spoofed? (Are you really a lawyer?)
Likely, the 911 operator knew there are laws prohibiting non-lawyers from giving out legal advice just fine. And the 911 department's regs too.
The cagey answer the 911 operator gave, "I can't tell you that you can do that but you do what you have to do to protect your baby" may well be the most correct answer possible that she could have given the caller.
As a 911 dispatcher for the past twenty years I can say that the dispatcher in this case was exactly right.
ReplyDeleteIn dispatching there is something called the "Voice of Authority" which means that the caller will try to get the dispatcher to give them permission to take some action and if the dispatcher does so, the liability passed to them.
But the dispatcher is not on scene and knows only what the caller is telling her. And, believe it or not, callers do not always give accurate information.
The dispatcher was exactly right. "You need to take whatever steps you need to protect yourself and your baby."
That puts the onus on the person on the scene with the most information. In this case, evidently shooting the bastard was the correct thing to do.
But the dispatcher does not know whether this is an actual break in and assault, or some cleverly concocted scheme to justify shooting an inconvenient ex. I had a woman call on New Years Eve to report her husband missing. It was later proven that she and her new BF had killed him and buried him in the woods.
This was handled exactly right.
Lost:
ReplyDeleteLet’s fisk this line-by-line:
> A white 18yo trailer trash girl
It is sad that you look down on the poor like that.
> and her 58 yo
Actually I had not realized he was 58 years old, but credit where credit is due, that is apparently true. There's a daily mail story on the subject that verifies it.
> child molester
Well, first, as far as the state of Oklahoma is concerned, it is not statutory rape. I mean right now I am not sure we can technically say that he definitely had sex with her before she was 18. How old was that baby, after all? And in fact the age of consent in Oklahoma appears to be 16.
Otoh, yes a 58 year old guy with a girl that young is creepy. But its also beside the point. Whether her dead husband was 58 or 19, this woman’s and her baby’s life were in imminent danger and I find it distasteful to take the occasion of this woman almost being victimized as a chance to criticize her private life. Indeed, in a true statutory rape situation, I, and the law, consider the younger person a victim. So basically your argument is that having been the victim of child molestation, in your own words, she should now just lay down and be the victim of whatever these intruders had in mind for her. And her baby, who is by definition innocent, deserves that, too.
> sugar daddy would make a great TBS movie on "Okie Redneck lifestyles of the Poor and Stupid".
> You know damn right this story would be promoted in a completely different light *HERE* if her name was Quarlisha, KimKasha, Shaskira ,Keishas, Mo'Niques or Shaquandra and the dopers where named Tyrone and Leroy.
Well, besides all the kind and correct words Dustin said, I would like to point out a few other things. First it is interesting that the only person who has demonstrated prejudice in this thread is you. You seem to think that “white trailer trash” should not be allowed to protect themselves from deadly threats (or perhaps only if they were recently married to much older men because that is relevant, somehow). I think anyone, no matter how poor or even trashy,* still has a right to their lives and a right to defend it. But I suppose you would have this mother and her baby die because of their disfavored demographics.
And really, the amount of prejudice you are assigning to me is pretty stunning. You are basically arguing that I consider black people to be so sub-human that a black mother should not be allowed to protect her life and that of her baby, when faced with an imminent threat.
And you think that applies even if—indeed especially if—her attackers are black. Historically even the really knuckle-dragging klansmen supported black people defending themselves against black criminals, but not against white ones.
But as a point of fact I have favored black ownership of guns and the use of self-defense and indeed have favored complete equality of opportunity without regard to race and even a limited amount of affirmative action. So in fact what you wrote about me reflected your stereotypes and prejudices about me, rather than the facts.
* And I am not calling the woman in this story trashy. When I think “trashy” I tend to think of people like Paris Hilton, or the Kardashians.
Michael, “Some Schmuck”
ReplyDeleteNot a fisking, like with “lost in space” but a respectful reaction. I think a dispatcher can say clearly, “if he breaks into your house you can shoot the bastard.”
I guess I think of the story of a couple in England that mark steyn talked about once. Some burglars broke in and literally started torturing them for information like ATM pins and the like, burning them with irons. When asked why they didn’t fight back later, they said that they were concerned that if they did they would be prosecuted. And they have genuine cause for concern. Increasingly self defense is dead in England, that most basic human right. So that was what I was thinking of when the operator said that.
Then again it is Oklahoma. Most people should know they believe in the second amendment down there.
And I think I was a little too critical in my language of the operator. I am sure she was doing exactly what she was told. But she should be told that she can give truthful information about the law. And this is a basic issue. Obviously i don't expect a 911 dispatcher to know every rule in the criminal code but a few basics of self defense law would be nice.
But i could be wrong...
Ok . The white trash teenage loser comment was a bit over board so I can only comment on her PARENTS for letting a teenager in HIGH SCHOOL get in a relationship that produces a CHILD.
ReplyDeleteWhat is wrong with you idiots ?
I stand by my other observations that her 58yo pimp *husband* was a child molester, and gun nutters would ranting a complete different chant if the story was surrounded with black Americans as compared to the red-dirt hillbilly's.
Why would two man-boys pound on a door for 30 minutes KNOWING the girl was in there.
Something stinks in Oklahoma .. And it's ain't horse shit. I suspect there were some other crap going on that this girl is sharing.
"Do you really want 911 operators telling an unknown someone over the phone to shoot somebody? Do you want to be the 911 operator who says such a thing and turns out to have been spoofed? (Are you really a lawyer?)"
ReplyDeleteI think Aaron said people should know the law before they call 911. Not sure where you've coming from with that.
"I stand by my other observations that her 58yo pimp *husband* was a child molester, and gun nutters would ranting a complete different chant if the story was surrounded with black Americans as compared to the red-dirt hillbilly's."
ReplyDeleteThat's a powerful and nasty accusation. Do you have any evidence for it? I explained Aaron has lauded black Americans using their gun rights in the Klan era. At least that's my recollection.
If the only basis you have to say something like that is your own imagination, you are the prejudiced one here.