Bad guys don’t always wait until there are adults around. Part of teaching kids firearm safety is knowing when they’re responsible enough to use a gun to defend hearth and home.
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Castle Doctrine
Early one December morning, the Vance County, North Carolina dispatcher received a 911 call from a teenage girl reporting that she was hiding in a closet. Intruders had smashed the glass out of the back door and were downstairs, and her 14-year-old brother was guarding the upstairs hallway with a shotgun.
When one of the intruders came upstairs and rounded the corner, the young man fired a single shot with the shotgun, causing the intruder to flee down the stairs and out the door, where responding deputies found him on the lawn. The home invader was transported to a local hospital and was pronounced dead on arrival.
Source:WRAL-TV, Raleigh, North Carolina, 12/29/11
You’re in Charge ‘Til We Get Back
When the parents of a 14-year-old Laveen, Arizona boy left the house to go to the store, they told him he was responsible for babysitting his three younger siblings. Shortly after they left, there was insistent ringing of the doorbell and knocking at the front door. The boy peered through the peephole and did not recognize the man and woman on the front porch. Seeing the man preparing to kick the door open, he herded the other children upstairs, instructing them to hide in a bedroom while he fetched his father’s handgun and phoned his parents for help.
At that time, the intruder gained access and began coming up the stairs, aiming a handgun at the oldest child, who stepped out of the line of fire. The intruder backed down the steps and waited at the bottom. As the boy peered around the corner, he spotted the armed intruder and fired a single shot, causing his assailant to collapse. He kept the attacker covered until his father, rushing back from the store, could take over. As the son handed the pistol to his father, the intruder reached for his dropped gun and was shot two more times by the father.
Source:The Arizona Republic, Phoenix, Arizona, 6/29/12
Get Away From My Mom!
An Oklahoma City woman was startled when an ex-boyfriend kicked in the back door of their home and attacked her. Infuriated that she had discovered he had been molesting children and reported him to the authorities, he stabbed her repeatedly in the eye, neck, and chest.
Seeing the horrific attack, the woman’s 11-year-old daughter retrieved a handgun and shot her mother’s assailant multiple times, forcing him to abort his murderous assault and sending him stumbling into the night. The man collapsed in the street from his injuries and was taken into custody by the police.
Source:KFOR-TV, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 9/24/14
Get the Gun, Then Hide
When a 12-year-old girl in Bryan County, Oklahoma heard an intruder trying to force his way into her home, she called her mother, who instructed her to get the family gun, find a place to hide, and call 911. While her mother raced home, the girl hid in a closet and called the police.
When the intruder found her, the young girl fired at her assailant, wounding him and causing him to flee. Her mother arrived home to find that the police had already responded to the emergency and put the wounded intruder under arrest.
Source:KOTV-DT, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 10/18/12
