The Armed Citizen

In a story May 2, two illegal aliens, Ralphel Resindez, 23, and Enrico Garza, 26, probably believed they would easily overpower a home alone eleven year old Patricia Harrington after her father had left their two story home. It seems the two crooks never learned two things: first, they were in Montana, and second, Patricia had been a clay shooting champion since she was nine.

Patricia was in her upstairs bedroom when the two men broke through the front door of the house. She quickly ran to her father's room and grabbed his 12 gauge Mossberg 500 shotgun. Resindez was the first to get up to the second floor only to be the first to catch a near point blank blast of buck shot from the girl's knee crouch aim. He suffered fatal wounds to his abdomen and genitals. When Garza ran to the foot of the stairs, he took a blast to the left shoulder and staggered out into the street where he bled to death before medical help could arrive.

It was found out later that Resindez was armed with a stolen .45 caliber handgun he took from another home invasion robbery. The victim, 50 year old David Burien, was not so lucky as he died from stab wounds to the chest.

Patricia staved off a robbery and potential rape because her parents taught her how to use a gun. Her parents wisely educated her on the power that a firearm provides, and that training made her comfortable around firearms. Ignorance can be deadly, but fortunately for this Montana family, knowledge was power.

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My daughter was taught to be proficient with handguns when she was 13, and that experience helped her in her military career. She remains the only female in history in the 63rd Chemical Company, 801st Battalion, 101 Airborne Division to qualify expert with the 7.62 mm SAW, or Squad Automatic Weapon.

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Proficiency with firearms is not only a requisite in today's world, it's fun too. On occasion I participate in IPSC (International Practical Pistol Confederation) competition, which is fun mixed with training. That competition entails shooting at various targets at various distances, scored by number of hits in the shortest time. This, and most other shooting sports, provides training that is applicable to real-life situations, and can save your life. It did for little Patricia.

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A May 15 story in The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) serves as a good reminder of how a person’s support for gun control often changes after a personal experience with crime.

State Representative Michael DeBose (D-12) of Cleveland was an opponent of Right-to-Carry, having voted against the measure twice. All that changed on the night of May 1, when he was confronted by two men, one of whom was wielding a gun. On that night, Rep. DeBose’s sense of security in his neighborhood changed, as did his view on lawful citizens being able to defend themselves.

Rep. DeBose was lucky—this time—that his running, screaming, and summons for help prevented him from being harmed. When asked how this recent experience may change the prism through which he views Right-to-Carry, Rep. DeBose was crystal clear: "I was wrong. I'm going to get a permit and so is my wife. I've changed my mind. You need a way to protect yourself and your family. I don't want to hurt anyone. But I never again want to be in the position where I'm approached by someone with a gun and I don't have one. There are too many people who are just evil and mean-spirited. They will hurt you for no reason. If more people were packing guns, it might serve as a deterrent.”

Welcome, Rep. DeBose, to the growing list of Right-to-Carry converts. While it is too bad it took a life-threatening situation to convert him, we hope he will share his experience, and his newfound respect for the right to self-defense, with his other colleagues who still don’t get it. It is our hope they won’t have to endure a similar experience to do so.