Fear & Loading: When Criminals Meet a Gun

Criminal confrontations often end the moment a perpetrator discovers their law-abiding, easy-looking “victim” has a gun and is willing to use it to protect themselves or their loved ones. Mainstream media may cover it, but the lack of sensational video/photo or sordid facts buries it deep in the news, below last week’s toenail fungus outbreak on campus.

This one should make the front page. A gun owner in Nevada with a carry permit stopped a kidnapping without firing a shot. “About 50 yards in front of me, the driver grabs this young child and starts stuffing him in the car,” he told reporters. “I carry a concealed firearm everywhere I go…I lifted up my shirt and put my hand on my gun.” A BMW speeding seemingly out of control down his street initially caught his attention. When he confronted the driver, it provided enough time for the youngster to escape unharmed. The criminal sped off before law enforcement arrived—17 minutes later.

There’s always reader interest when criminals pull something stupid. This one deserves to be on the top page of Sunday’s comics section. After an alleged criminal in Arkansas managed to escape law enforcement with moves that would make a contortionist jealous, his undoing wound up being in selecting a particularly stinky hiding place at the wrong house. The incident gives an all-new meaning to the term, taking out the trash, though.

Then there’s a 78-year-old woman in Myrtle Beach, S.C., who apparently wasn’t intimidated when a young man wanted on murder changes tried to break into her house. “He’s messing around with me,” she told the 911 operator, “and if I have to, I’m going to shoot to kill him.” Law enforcement arrived before that become necessary, and ultimately she helped corral the accused. At the very least that story belongs in the lifestyle section as a reminder that age doesn’t grant immunity from dangerous criminal attack.