Add a section about lack of self defense?

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I've been been browsing the forum for a few weeks and enjoy the discussions very much. The stories about people successfully defending themselves are inspiring, and I would like to contribute stories that I come across, but I was wondering where I should post the story that was on Fox News this morning:

Naval Officer Killed by Carjacker While Home on Leave

Monday, June 12, 2006
DALLAS—A Naval chief petty officer home on leave from the Middle East was shot and killed by a carjacker just three days before he was to report back for duty.

Kameron Pratt, scheduled to return after minor shoulder surgery, was shot by an unidentified carjacker who dragged him from his pickup truck at his parents' home in Dallas on Friday night.


Here is the link for the full story: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,199033,00.html

I don't want to add to the hurt of a victim's loss by discussing it at length. However, I am more inspired to carry personal protection by realizing that there are bad people doing bad things to good people than I am by reading stories of people killing other people justifiably in self defense.

It's hard to convey the correct tone of my argument in text. I was just thinking that if we could highlight cases where people could have defended themselves if they had been carrying it might add an interesting angle to this topic. It is hard to predict what would have happened, but I assume that this gentleman, being a Naval officer, would have been able to defend himself had he been carrying a sidearm.

Another example would be the family that was attacked by the black bear this spring near Benton, TN. The mother tried unsuccessfully to defend her family, but having only sticks and rocks she was dragged off into the woods by the bear. Here is a link to a newspaper account: http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060415/NEWS01/60414068

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Opie, I am not the Admin but I am guessing lack of self defense would be ok in this section.

To your point: Just about every news story regarding robbery and battery and murder would fall into the 'what if they were armed' category. I ask myself that question when I watch the news. It just reaffirms my choice to carry.

Welcome to OCDO!

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Opie,

Thanks for your first post!

I think VAOpenCarry is right. This forum is probably the right place to put stories where being armed would have possibly saved a life or where lack of resistance still lead to the death of a victim.

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Heres one where if the witnesses had been armed maybe the victim would have survived.

Police: Man Fatally Slashes Son In Front Of Neighbors, Kills Wife LAKE MARY, Fla. -- A 40-year-old disabled Army veteran is accused of slashing his 11-year-old son to death with a machete in front of neighbors and killing his wife inside a home in Lake Mary, according to police.

Witnesses said they saw the boy, Nico Duzant, stagger out of the home located on 484 Queensbridge Drive bleeding from the neck and wrists and his father, Franklyn Duzant, 40, allegedly chasing him with the weapon.

The father kept attacking the boy while he was on the ground and then ran into the house, according to the report.The incident happened on the boy's 11th birthday, authorities said.

Artie Bourgeois, who lives next door to the Duzants, said neighbors watching the attack yelled at Duzant to stop."He then started chasing them with a machete. It's crazy," Bourgeois said.

http://www.local6.com/news/9385975/detail.html

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Here is a video that I stumbled across. I certainly shows how people are reluctant to defend themselves. It happened in Wales, but I don't think it is reflective of just the British. Similiar situations have happened here where people just watch the violence happen and don't help. The website may be NSFW.
http://www.filecabi.net/video/jorandom.html

Here is a similar situation in Ohio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu0O1VNZWeE&search=beating akron

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on the subject of the Ohio beating, if I recall correctly, the man that was beaten was on the phone to the police when the larger man sucker-punched him, then began to beat him pretty senseless; again, IIRC, they had to plate his face.

To me, and this is my opinion, mind you, take it for what it's worth, this would have been a deadly force situation.

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I am disabled to the point of being unemployable with rheumatoid arthritis, with my hands being swollen most of the time and my shoulders, elbows and knees affected andunable to defendmyself,any kind of assault on my body wouldpossibly belethal to me, I am lucky so far in that I can still use my hands where my firearm is concerned and I practice every day to keep it that way.

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It's surprises me howmany people just watched the Ohio event take place, and didn't either do something or try to leave. Two things popped into my mind about that video. One was that there had obviously been some problem between the man on the phone and the screaming lady. The second was that, in retrospect of course, the man on the phone could have tried to leave. I'm definately not saying that getting beat was his fault, but I'm suggesting that if I was facing an angry 250+ pound man I would TRY TO RUN!

I understand about not wanting to get involved - just pretend it isn't happening and it will go away. Also, it takes a while for people to realize or accept that a fight is happening. If you're not being aware and checking for such situations a fight might be over before you notice it. Once when I was in jr. high I was walking down a city street and two men started fighting. I was right beside them when it started, and I didn't realize what happened until it was over. It was short - a punch to thejaw and a kick in the face, and one guy was curled up on the pavement and the other fellow stormed off. Neither of them acted like I was there.

Also, many people might not want to get involved in the fight. A karate teacher of mine said, "If you get into a fight expect to get punched. If it's a knife fight expect to get stabbed. If it's a gun fight expect to get shot." There are several ways to look at that statement, but what it meant to me was to try to avoid fighting! Common wisdom says that if you try to break up a dog fight you'll get bit. Probably the best way to have handled the Ohio problem would have been for someone (store manager?) to try to defuse the situation before it came to blows.

I was driving across the country earlier this year and witnessed a fight late at night outside of a convenience store where I was getting gas. The fight was between two men who looked to be in their early twenties. I'll say that they were "scrapping" because it was obvious that neither one of them was an experienced fighter. They werepretty much just giving each other bear hugs while alady who worked at the store was yelling at them to quit fighting. In this instance I simply got my cell phone ready in case things turned ugly, but the guys got in their cars and drove off. After I finished filling up I spoke with the attendants and they confirmed that it was a lover's quarrel over one of the ladies who worked at the store. No harm, no foul.

What really makes me nervous is cases like the Wales video, or the recent news about the kid in Illinois shooting cars on the interstate, or the stabbings in the NYC subway. It doesn't matter how nice you are or how careful you are - some day someone may decide that they just have tohurt someone, and you might be the lucky one! -Opie

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Just a quick list of the local ones. It makes me angry that many of these were not given a choice because of where they live. Them being law abiding citizens are denied access to what might have saved them. The gov't feels that it know better so these people had to die.

I don't know if any or all of these people would carry, but they were not given a choice. I think I only referenced DC and MD here. There might be some VA in here also. My ire is less because I know it is thier choice at this time. I do still have issues with education of the public. There are signs everywhere telling us what the laws are, why isn't there ones telling people they do not have to be sheep here in VA.

In your home: http://www.news8.net/news/stories/0706/347497.html
http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=25&sid=854311
http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=25&sid=851203

In a park: http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=25&sid=857065

Around town: http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=25&sid=855734
http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=25&sid=854588
http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=25&sid=853224
http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=25&sid=849447

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http://www.wsbtv.com/news/9593546/detail.html

In the news now. This is sad, really sad.
"Officials announced Friday they have charged Michael William Ledford with the brutal murder of Jennifer Ewing along the Silver Comet Trail earlier this week."

Also a reference for park carry.