The Armed Citizen® January 2010

*Shocked onlookers watched as a vehicle careened across a mall parking lot, nearly striking a tree. Inside, a man was savagely beating his girlfriend as she screamed for help. While others stood by and watched, a 27-year-old man with a concealed carry permit ran to the woman's aid, drew a Glock semi-automatic pistol and shouted at her boyfriend to end the assault. The boyfriend saw the gun and promptly complied. Police praised the armed citizen's actions. "For all we know, he could have saved her from serious injury," said Police Captain Norman Cloyer. "I'm going to call him and tell him that when he gets ready to renew his [concealed carry] license, it's on me." (News-Telegram, Sulphur Springs, TX, 10/15/09)

*A great-grandmother and five of her relatives were enjoying a family trip when an armed robber stormed inside their motel room. Shouting orders, the robber forced the great-grandmother onto the floor, which actually positioned her closer to her .357 magnum revolver, a gun she inherited from her late husband and for which she had a permit to carry. As the robber threatened three generations of the woman's family and demanded money, she quietly got her gun. A shot rang out. "I thought I was shot," her son said. "I didn't realize my mother had shot him. It was mass chaos." The robber stumbled outside and died. "She said to me, 'God was with me tonight. You know I couldn't have done that myself,'" her son recalled. (The Columbus Dispatch, Columbus, OH, 10/23/09)

Armed Citizen Extra:

(The following account did not appear in the print version of American Rifleman.)

Police say a Chicago man awoke in the middle of the night to two intruders attempting to burglarize his apartment. The man, who is in his early 20s, struggled for quite some time with the suspects before finally getting a hold of his gun and firing a shot, killing one of the men. The other suspect quickly fled the scene. The resident was not expected to be charged with a crime. (Chicago Tribune, Chicago, IL, 09/22/2009)

From The Armed Citizen Archive:

January 1969: When two bandits entered a Van Nuys, Calif. Liquor store and pulled a gun on the clerk Lew Barnett, Barnett let them have the $340, then grabbed his pistol from under the counter and shot one dead. The accomplice fled to a getaway car driven by a female confederate and fled the scene. Police soon picked up the pair who led them to a hideaway where 8 co-conspirators were taken into custody. (Van Nuys News, Van Nuys, CA)