Unload: Homeowners Open Fire On Invaders

WND – by COLIN FLAHERTY

Is Detroit now America’s safest city?

It’s a thought.

In the last week, three different Detroit residents have used their guns to fire at home invaders. The toll after seven days: Two dead, one wounded, three arrested and a whole lot of people rethinking the idea that Detroit homeowners are soft targets for hardened criminals.  

The latest case of lethal self-defense happened early Saturday morning.

“Two men broke into a home armed with a tire iron,” reported the ABC affiliate in Detroit.

“The intruders tried to knock out the homeowner, but the homeowner fired back with his gun. He shot them both and killed one of them, a 21-year-old man. The other man got away.”

Just a few hours before that, a home invader tried his luck with a woman pulling into her driveway.

“A man with a gun appeared out of nowhere. She dropped her keys on the ground as a distraction and then reached for her own gun and shot and killed him.”

The third case, about a week ago, was captured on video. Three black people stormed a home and found a mother inside with her children – and a rifle.

“I let them know I had a gun once they were in the house,” the mom told WXYZ-TV in Detroit. “They challenged me and said I don’t have a gun. That’s when I shot the first round.”

And that is when the three suspects ran – on video. She missed. Police arrested the three suspects soon after.

The shootings came after years of Detroit building a reputation as one of the most dangerous big cities in America. With its local government in chaos, the police department in turmoil, and residents feeling more and more in danger, city leaders got at least one thing right: In June, they hired James Craig to be the new chief of police.

Craig promised change. And he apparently meant it: He has been telling citizens they need to protect themselves with guns.

Because the police cannot.

The Detroit News warily reported it: “Craig made national news earlier this month after he told The Detroit News he’d changed his mind about the gun issue, and came to the conclusion that armed citizens could dissuade criminals from attacking them – a rarity among urban police chiefs, who generally don’t publicly support citizens’ right to carry firearms.”

Local criticism of the idea was present but muted: Even the liberals moved out of Detroit long ago.

But in San Francisco, Robyn Thomas, director of the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, criticized Craig’s new policy as being dangerous and emotional.

The only thing heard in Detroit in the aftermath of the shootings, however, is more calls for more of the same.

“I think it is just a matter of the individual homeowners protecting themselves,” said deputy chief Rodney Johnson. “They are finally catching up with the criminals. Enough is enough and they are not going to take it anymore.”

WND previously documented Craig’s startling stance.

He spent 28 years on the force in Los Angeles and tended to agree with his state’s tight control over concealed carry permits, believing fewer guns would lead to fewer violent crimes.

But when he moved to Portland, Maine, in 2009 to serve as the city’s new police chief, he discovered a different culture – one in which guns actually made people safer.

Now Craig, in Detroit, has been telling constituents: Arm yourselves, and criminals will think twice about attacking you.

“When we look at the good community members who have concealed weapons permits,” he has said, “the likelihood they’ll shoot is based on a lack of confidence in this police department.”

He said his change in perspective followed the evidence.

“Maine is one of the safest places in America. Clearly, suspects knew that good Americans were armed,” he said.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/02/unload-homeowners-open-fire-on-invaders/#Wa23ELJWHB0MHro0.99