Ask Them If They’re Glad They Had a Gun

With all of the stories about gun control filling the newspapers, the radio talk shows and the TV networks, I think it’s time for me to talk about a few stories that deserve much more coverage than they received. These are heroic stories about law abiding citizens who had guns and knew how to use them when the wolves were hunting. The liberals who want to take our guns away might want to ask . . . (these would-be victims) what they think about guns. Ask . . . if they’re glad they had a gun in the house, on their belt, in the lunch box, in their purse, or in the car.

The most recent story took place in Loganville, Georgia just the other day. WSBTV, the local news channel and their Internet web site covered it, but the national news did not.

Have you heard this story? Probably not, and that’s too bad, because it’s a story with a very happy ending!

Kerry Kavanaugh was working upstairs in her home office when she spotted a strange man outside a window. Kerry grabbed her 9-year-old twins and ran to an attic crawl space to hide while the man used a crowbar to break into the house. He made his way through the house and eventually discovered that the three of them were hiding behind the attic door. When 32-year-old Atlanta resident Paul Slater opened the door he was greeted by a .38 loaded revolver in the hands of a very brave woman. She nailed Slater with five shots from the revolver and threatened to shoot him again if he moved. The intruder begged her to stop shooting and ran when they both realized her gun was now empty.

Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman and deputies found Slater on the ground not far away saying, “Help me, I’m close to dying.” Slater had been shot in the face and in the neck. On Friday night Slater was on a ventilator and was suffering from two punctured lungs, a punctured liver and a punctured stomach. Hopefully he did not survive the night because he was scheduled to have taxpayers cover his surgical repairs the next morning.

Not too far away in Fairburn, Georgia, on the same Friday night, Melissa Burke looked out her window when two hooded males rang her doorbell after midnight. She turned on her alarm and went back to bed only to hear the doorbell ring again later. This time the doorbell was followed by her door chime letting her know that they were inside her house. She ran to hide, but the multiple intruders found her and shot her multiple times. Burke was able to call 911 after they left and she was taken to the hospital where she seems to be doing “okay.”

Her uncle, Otis Burden, couldn’t understand the heartless actions of the burglars and why they had to shoot her multiple times when, “They just could have took what they wanted and left and not done that.”

“Why would you do that?” he said. “She’s loving, caring, sweet. Give you the shirt off her back.”

The police found their stolen vehicle later, but the perpetrators had jumped out and gotten away.

protection or dependence?

Two very different stories and two very different results: one with a happy ending and the other with a sad one.

The next story also happened on January 4th. Two masked men entered a Casper, Wyoming Quality Inn shortly before 1 a.m.. The woman working the desk was greeted with, “This is no joke. This is a holdup.” The men did not display weapons, but one of them made a “gun gesture” with his hand. The clerk pulled a gun from her lunchbox and the men ran from the building. No shots were fired and no one was hurt. The perps, aka “wolves,” suspected in other local robberies, got away and are still at large.

Early in December a man walked into a Casper, Wyoming nail salon where he asked a female employee whether she wanted to buy some diamonds. Upon replying that she didn’t have the money to buy them, the man reached into his coat pocket to pull out a silver pistol. One of the ladies who had been getting her nails done saw the man reach for his gun. She opened her purse and brandished her own pistol. The 6’4” 250 lb. well-dressed, would-be robber saw the lady pull her pistol and quickly ran from the building.

No one was hurt, the robbery attempt was foiled; but the perp escaped. More than likely the wolf will hunt again. He will be on the prowl for weaker, unarmed prey.

On December 11th Jacob Roberts walked into the food court of Clackamas Mall in Portland Oregon armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle he’d stolen that morning. The angry wolf opened fire, killing two innocent people and seriously wounding 15-year-old Kristina Shevchenko. Kristina survived bullet fragments to one of her lungs and her liver. Newspaper reports detail the gunman’s rifle jamming and how he ran down a service corridor where he later shot himself. Surprisingly, of the hundreds of articles covering this tragedy, there is only one local article which talked about Nick Meli, an armed professional who was at the scene.

Meli, a 22-year-old, armed with a Glock 22 pistol, saw Roberts “pulling the charging handle and hitting the slide” as he was trying to clear his jammed rifle. Meli drew his pistol and aimed it at the shooter but saw people moving behind Roberts who were in the line of fire. Meli wisely decided not to fire. The only shot fired by Roberts after he saw Meli’s drawn pistol, was the one he used to kill himself.

Had Meli not shown his weapon Roberts could have cleared his rifle and continued his slaughter? Meli was carrying what he packed every day: “keys, phone, wallet, gun” saying,

“You never know what will happen.”

Ask Kerry Kavanaugh, her twin 9-year-olds, her husband and her parents whether they’re glad she had a gun.

Ask the Quality Inn desk clerk in Caspar, Wyoming whether she was glad she had a gun in her lunchbox when the wolves approached at 1 a.m..

Ask Melissa Burke whether she now intends to purchase a gun. Ask her whether she wished at the time of her ordeal that she had a weapon near her bed. Ask her whether she wished that she had been trained in how to use one.

Ask the hundreds of Christmas shoppers and their children who were in Clackamas Mall on December 11th whether they’re glad that Nick Meli drew his gun and took aim at the wolf that night.

The irony of this story is that many of the Christmas shoppers who were at the Clackamas Mall on the night of December 11th would say, “We need more restrictive gun laws. Malls, like schools should be gun-free zones.” They support the President and those in Congress pushing to advance new anti-gun legislation.

Why would they say or believe something so foolish after being saved by a responsible gun owner, aka “sheepdog,” citizen like Nick Meli?

Because the liberal media chooses to keep the masses in herds of gullible and defenseless sheep.

The wolves are out there, people! They are always prowling–looking for easy prey. Tear away those media-installed blinders. Don’t follow them like sheep being led to the slaughterhouse.

If you choose not to have a gun, that’s your decision. I wouldn’t advertise it by telling everyone how opposed you are to guns.

But . . . don’t kill the sheepdogs!

Support the 2nd Amendment!

And read: “On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs – Dave Grossman”

Here are a couple of shameless links to Dave’s excellent books:

“On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society”

“On Combat, the Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace”