Couple Claim Armed Men Robbed, Held Them Hostage

This is a not a self defense story...but a situational awareness and security reminder issue.

http://www.kvia.com/newmexico/29836290/detail.html
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MESILLA, N.M. -- A prominent Las Cruces couple said they were robbed at knifepoint in their home in Old Mesilla.
Glenn and Sally Cutter, owners of the Cutter Art Gallery, said they were robbed and held hostage Friday night by men who may also have been carrying a gun.
Cutter said he and his wife feared for their lives and called the crime a "horrendous thing for anyone to go through." He told the Las Cruces Sun-News that two masked men entered his Mesilla home, tied him and his wife and then stole his wife's jewelry collection, including their rings and a watch. Some of their silver pieces and a small amount of cash from Cutter's wallet were also taken.
Cutter said the men then put him in a closet before taking his wife to their gallery on University and El Paseo, but Cutter said nothing was taken from the gallery.
The men returned to the home with Cutter's wife and put her in a closet, but she managed to escape to a neighbors home to call the Mesilla Marshal's Office.
Cutter said the ordeal spanned three hours. He said he and his wife were, "without a doubt," scared for their lives.
"Its a horrendous thing for anyone to go through," Cutter said. "We just feel lucky to be alive and to be here this morning. We have a lot of empathy for people who have gone through something similar."
Authorities are being very tight-lipped about the situation. One official said authorities don't want to compromise the investigation.
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We always lock our doors, we always have a weapon nearby and within reach. We don't answer the door to strangers...Our dogs are great long distance door bells...I'd love to get inside this successful, rich person's head and find out where they let their guard down and how many times they have done so. He's a former jewelry store owner and now has a successful high end art gallery.

All that being said, I know I let my guard down unknowingly....I don't always have a weapon ON ME (due to work)....I am vulnerable too. But I AM situationally aware....usually......it only takes once to let my guard down....

Stay safe, stay alert..and a reminder to me...stay armed!

Well, most people (usually liberals but sometimes conservatives, in this case just guessing that someone owning an art gallery is a liberal) need something bad to happen to them -- to wake them up MAYBE -- because they just won't listen to advice re: not being a victim-waiting-to-happen. Instead, they play the odds that with so many people out there just like them (prey animals) criminals (predators) probably won't pick THEM but someone else. Or they think guns are evil and they can reason with criminals. Or rely on a criminal's "mercy" not to do worse to them. These people were lucky the wife wasn't raped/strangled and the guy shot (or worse).

Did they learn anything? Will at least ONE of them carry NOW? Did they vote for anti-gun politicians pushing anti-gun legislation in the past? Will they continue that policy NOW? The article doesn't say (didn't ask them?) what the victims will do from now on, but it may be they will just HOPE it doesn't happen to them again. And maybe even vote for MORE repressive anti-gun legislation, as if "being tougher on guns" would disarm the criminals who robbed their gallery. And since they felt "lucky" it wasn't worse, apparently they depend on luck a lot more than themselves -- another standard liberal trait.

As for a gun, being within arm's reach (at the very least) is a good rule a home, but on your person is better since it's more convenient when you move around your house/apartment (unless you have something in every room, as some do). Of course, going past your front door it definitely needs to be ON you, not in your car, purse (women's or a "man's" European Shoulder Bag or metrosexual carry-all) or left at home.

Simple common-sense rules, really, but few seem to get it.

P.S. I know when I stop for gas anythere on Central Ave (in ABQ -- in Las Cruces I get gas at the Shell across from the Village Inn on Lohman @ Telshore -- a lot safer), I need to be MORE aware due to the number of transients/bums there, some of whom come up to you asking for change. And that's in broad daylight, mind you: After dark it gets a whole lot worse and the "quality" of the bums goes WAY down then, with a few certified card-carrying psychos added to the mix. But, it's good practice.

Yes, try to be armed at ALL times. It's not paranoid, it's just prudent.

The chances of being in a car wreck are relatively low, but we still should always wear our seat belts. The chances of a fire are also low, but we keep fire extinguishers around (loaded ones).

It's not paranoia, it's preparation.

There was a soldier in El Paso recently whose husband answered the door and found a bullet in his face. The shooter, who was a subordinate at work under disciplinary action, went upstairs and shot the soldier several times, killing her. On the way out, the husband managed to get several shots off at the shooter before dying.

If he had his gun on him instead of off somewhere else, he might have done something before his wife was killed.

The shooter went off to another part of town and got shot by his girlfriend after getting in a fight with her, so luckily the taxpayers won't be paying for his room and board.