Guns Save Lives: Defenders With Disabilities Edition

Self-defense is a human right, and you don’t lose it if you are, or become, disabled.

Ask any law-enforcement officer about the quality of criminals these days, and they’ll tell you: The vast majority of them aren’t exactly evil geniuses, a la Professor Moriarty, nor are they particularly brave. In general, two-legged predators are very much like the four-legged variety; they’re hoping for the easiest possible pickings and will generally avoid potential targets who look like they might give the criminal a hard time. Unfortunately, that means that muggers, home invaders, rapists and other assorted evildoers really seem to enjoy selecting people with disabilities as victims. In fact, the latest available statistics show that people with disabilities endure serious violent crimes at a rate three times higher than that of the general populace. That’s why I’m taking such particular pleasure today in bringing you the tales of two people with disabilities who evened the odds in the most effective way…a gun.

1. Famous Last Words, Anyone?

This one is so perfect that, had I not seen it in a reputable news outlet, I would have suspected it was a creative-writing exercise. It starts with an elderly man who needs to use a wheelchair. He was awakened one recent morning at “nothing good happens at this time o’clock” by the sounds of a home invader. The homeowner demanded the intruder leave, but instead, the intruder started fixing himself a snack. (And didn’t even have the common decency to make one for the homeowner…RUDE.) The homeowner got his hands on an old .22 rifle he kept around, but that didn’t faze Mr. 3 AM Snack Man. Undeterred, the intruder let slip the following sentence:

Now give me that gun before you hurt yourself, old man.

I know what my response would have been to that statement, and I can make a fair guess at what yours would have been, too. Seems that the burglar was rather shocked to discover that, rather than a nice free plate of Spaghetti-Os, he wound up with a new orifice where none had been before. The burglar survived his wound and has been arrested and charged.

2. But NoBodY NEeds aN AR-15!!!

One of my favorite anti-gun tropes is the “nobody needs” phrase; these days, they’re largely using it in reference to modern sporting arms. (They’ve also used it for guns that had calibers larger than they like, guns that are small and concealable, guns that are inexpensive, and so on.) In a dazzling illustration of the saying “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing,” anti-gunners have picked up on the fact that rifles are often considered less-than-ideal for home defense due to overpenetration concerns. They then extrapolate that into thinking that rifles–especially scary-looking black ones–are useless for home defense. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, due to their adjustability and customization options, AR-15s can be excellent choices for people with disabilities (and the rest of us, too).

Here’s an example of just that. A disabled homeowner fought off not one, not two, but four home invaders using his AR-15–and he did it after he himself had been shot in the abdomen by one of the criminals. It’s relatively rare for a self-defense incident to involve more than one attacker, but it does happen, and having the ability to fire more than five shots probably saved the nameless disabled homeowner’s life.

Both of these stories highlight just how important armed self-defense is for those of us who either are, or appear to be, vulnerable. The predators out there don’t play fair, and you shouldn’t either. If you’d like help getting started, here’s a good place!