The Armed Citizen® February 8, 2021

Armed Citizen® Today

A man in Old Hickory, Tenn., defended himself on the night of Feb. 5 from an apparent armed robbery that turned out to be an ill-planned prank attempt.

The incident occurred around 9:20 p.m. that Friday night in the parking lot of Urban Air trampoline park. Two young adults had the idea that they would fake an armed robbery on people walking to their cars in the parking lot to make a prank video for YouTube. The two fake armed robbers, wielding butcher knives, decided to target a small group of people in the parking lot.

The two approached the group wielding their butcher knives, but unbeknown to them, an armed citizen in the group wouldn't be so helpless. When confronted, the man in the group drew his pistol and fired, killing the 20-year-old prankster in the process. No charges have been filed against the armed citizen, and the investigation is ongoing. (wkrn.com, Nashville, Tenn., 02/06/2021)

From the Armed Citizen® Archives January 1977

When a late-night intruder broke into the rural Fowler, Calif., home of Forest H. Smith, 81, neighbors alerted his son-in-law, Roy Garrett. Garrett and his two teenage sons rushed to the old man's home, where they found the thug holding a knife to Smith's throat.

After the man swung at him several times with the knife, Garrett shot him in the shoulder with a rifle, but the powerful crook kept coming. Garrett's younger son then broke a shotgun over the criminal's head, sending him fleeing outside. There, the other son bashed him with a baseball bat, then held the unconscious burglar for sheriff's deputies. (The Bee, Fresno, Calif.)