These 10 Examples of Defensive

Gun Use Underscore Second

Amendment’s True Purpose
Amy Swearer / @AmySwearer / September 10, 2020

A “legally armed citizen” intervened during an instance of domestic violence in a

convenience store parking lot, police said, possibly saving a woman’s life. (Photo:
YourNikonMan/Getty Images)

In announcing the launch of “Sportsmen and Sportswomen for Biden,”

the former vice president’s campaign demonstrated earlier this month
how many gun control advocates misconstrue the purpose of the
Second Amendment.

The coalition of “50 prominent hunters and anglers” stated that Joe
Biden would “protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding
Americans to purchase and responsibly use firearms for hunting and
sporting.”

Unfortunately for gun control advocates, the Second Amendment is

not, and never has been, concerned with the protection of hunting or
sport shooting. It is concerned with the protection of something much
:
 more fundamental to American democracy—maintaining the “security
of a free state.”

An armed citizenry is the best and most natural defense against threats
to individual rights, whether those threats stem from a tyrannical
government, a foreign army, an anarchic mob, or an individual criminal.

And although the threat from a tyrannical government or foreign army

may appear remote or far-fetched, the threats from anarchic mobs and
individual criminals are very common.

Every day, untold numbers of Americans rely on their Second

Amendment rights to protect their lives and livelihoods.

According to a 2013 report by the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention, almost every major study on the issue has found that
Americans use their firearms in self-defense between 500,000 and 3
million times a year. There’s good reason to believe that most of these
defensive gun uses aren’t reported to police, much less make the local
or national news.

For this reason, The Daily Signal each month publishes an article
highlighting some of the previous month’s many news stories on
defensive gun use that you may have missed—or that might not have
made it to the national spotlight in the first place. (Read accounts from
2019 and so far in 2020 here.)

The examples below represent only a small portion of the news stories
on defensive gun use that we found in August. You may explore more
examples by using The Heritage Foundation’s interactive Defensive
Gun Use Database.
:
 Aug. 2, Klamath Falls, Oregon: A “legally armed citizen”
intervened during an instance of domestic violence in a
convenience store parking lot, police said, possibly saving a
woman’s life. After seeing a man fire a gun several times at a
woman in a car, he drew his own firearm and shot the assailant
twice before calling 911. The assailant—later identified as the
woman’s boyfriend—was arrested and charged with attempted
murder. The woman was not harmed, although multiple rounds hit
her car.
Aug. 5, Jonesville, Virginia: A Virginia state prosecutor
determined that a man acted in lawful self-defense when he shot
and wounded his ax-wielding father. The father was described as
drunk when he began threatening his son and other family
members. The son attempted to de-escalate the situation and call
911, but shot his father when the older man started swinging the
ax at him. The family previously had filed police reports about the
father’s abusive behavior.
Aug. 7, Youngstown, Ohio: A woman used her AR-15 to defend
herself from her armed ex-boyfriend, who had come to her home
to pick up some items after the breakup. He brandished a
handgun, chased the woman into her home, and threatened to
“mess things up,” police said. After the woman grabbed her rifle,
he fired a shot at her, prompting her to return several rounds in
self-defense. Wounded, the ex-boyfriend tried to flee but police
officers responding to the scene arrested him. Neither the woman
nor her children, also in the house at the time, were injured.
Aug. 11, Columbia, South Carolina: When two would-be robbers
walked into a Waffle House late at night, pointed guns at
employees, and demanded money, an armed patron quickly sent
them fleeing by drawing his gun and exchanging fire. Law
:
 enforcement officers quickly tracked down the suspects with a K-
9 unit. No one was injured.
Aug. 15, Salt Lake City, Utah: A nightclub employee acted quickly
to protect patrons when a man entered the club firing a gun and
pointing it at other people. The employee ran to retrieve his own
firearm from his car, returned, and fatally shot the armed man
before he could injure anyone. Everyone else escaped unharmed,
police said.
Aug. 17, Cottage Hill, Florida: A man was on a computer in his
grandmother’s home when he saw an intruder who had entered
through an open garage door. The man grabbed his handgun and
kept it pointed at the intruder—who police said apparently was
high on drugs and didn’t know where he was—until police arrived.
Aug. 19, Bronx, New York: A retired New York police officer shot
a man who tried to mug her and chased her into her home. The
woman shot him with her licensed revolver after he pushed her up
against a wall and threatened her with a cable box, police said. She
held him at gunpoint until police arrived.
Aug. 23, Hopkinsville, Kentucky: A child’s father and
grandfather got into an argument over child custody. Police said
the grandfather shot the father several times, wounding him. The
father then shot and wounded the grandfather in self-defense,
police said. The grandfather was charged with several felony
offenses, including receiving a stolen firearm.
Aug. 29, Warren, Michigan: A man with a concealed carry permit
defended himself during an incident of road rage, drawing his gun
and returning fire with a driver who shot at him. The permit holder
was struck in the leg and treated for injuries that weren’t life-
threatening. It could have been much worse had the enraged
driver not sped off after realizing the permit holder also was
:
 armed.
Aug. 31, Palo, Iowa: A homeowner shot and killed an intruder who
attempted to break in to several residences after crashing his car
into two parked vehicles. Police said the intruder broke a window
of a child’s bedroom, threw a flowerpot through glass in the front
door, entered, and threatened residents before the homeowner
shot him.

Again, the Constitution does not protect the right to keep and bear
arms so that Americans can hunt or engage in sport shooting. It
protects the right to keep and bear arms so that Americans like the
ones highlighted here can ensure the security of a free state and
defend their inalienable rights when the government cannot or will not
do so on their behalf.

Of course, new gun owners should understand that their right comes
with corresponding duties to act responsibly.

They should take care to get proper training, learn their state’s gun
laws, and invest in safe storage for their firearms. They should think
through important questions about who should (and shouldn’t) have
access to their firearms and develop plans for dealing with firearm
access should mental health problems arise.

But at the end of the day, the primary purpose of the Second
Amendment is not so that you can secure your dinner.

It’s so that you can secure your inalienable rights.

Want to keep up with the 24/7 news cycle? Want to know the most
important stories of the day for conservatives? Need news you can
trust? Subscribe to The Daily Signal’s email newsletter. Learn more >>
:
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