Americans have frequently used legal weapons to thwart crime, defend themselves or their homes, and even stop mass shootings. Some estimates suggest that cases of firearms being used in self defense number in the millions each year.
“Having a gun is by far the safest course of action when people are facing a criminal alone,” Dr. John Lott, economist and president of the Center for Crime Prevention Research, told Fox News Digital. at the beginning of this year.
Lott believes the media has drastically underestimated the number of times Americans use firearms in self-defense, saying that in a typical year there are only about 2,000 news stories about the defensive use of weapons. That number is more likely to be in the millions, Lott said, pointing to an average of 18 national surveys that estimate that guns are used in self-defense about 2 million times a year.
FBI UNDERCOUNTED NUMBER OF TIMES ARMED CITIZENS FOUGHT ACTIVE SHOOTING INCIDENTS: REPORT
The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
(iStock)
“The vast majority of successful self-defense cases don’t make the news,” Lott said.
With that trend continuing through 2022, here are five cases where armed citizens were able to defend themselves and others this year.
Texas homeowner defends children by shooting trespasser twice in the chest
A San Antonio homeowner defended several adults and several young children at his home in December by confronting an intruder with his gun.
San Antonio police say the homeowner heard someone trying to break in through the side window of his home around 6 p.m. earlier this month, prompting him to reach for his gun to confront the intruder. The owner fired two shots, hitting the intruder in the chest.
TEXAS HOMEOWNER FATALLY SHOOTS INTRUDER TWICE IN THE CHEST
Emergency personnel arrived and attempted to perform CPR on the intruder, but the man was pronounced dead at the home.
New Orleans Mom, Iraq War Veteran, Defends 2-Year-Old With Gun
A Louisiana mother and Air Force veteran was sitting in an interstate traffic jam with her 2-year-old son in February when an intruder attempted to enter her vehicle, forcing her to draw a weapon.
“You shouldn’t have to navigate your own city like a war zone. It’s un-American,” Charise Taylor, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, told WDSU. “Crime is out of control and it’s scary. At this point, having to use the same tactics in an American city that you use in Iraq and Afghanistan just to navigate the city is scary, and I’m not the only one.” Mom feels that way.”
“I’m trained to do this. I’ve been to classes. I’m a former military man. If I have to pull the trigger, that’s what I have to do.”
Taylor was on her way to pick up her husband in New Orleans when the dramatic incident unfolded. According to Taylor, a group of people in a truck waved for her in slow traffic to let them into her lane. When she refused, a man approached the passenger door and tried to pull the handle on her.
NEW ORLEANS MOM, IRAQ WAR VET, PULLS GUN AT MAN TRYING TO GET INTO HER CAR: ‘LOCKED AND LOADED’
A New Orleans Police Department vehicle.
(NOPD)
“So when he comes over, he’s close and he’s pretty aggressive trying to open the car door, he makes eye contact with me, he’s still trying to open it a couple of times,” Taylor said.
That’s when Taylor said she drew her gun and warned the suspect that the gun was “locked and loaded.”
The intruder ran off without Taylor firing a shot, but the mother said she would have used the gun if necessary to protect her son.
“Emotions, honestly, your body takes a different form. I stayed in my body, of course, but everything transformed. I’m trained to do this. I’ve gone to class. I’m a former military. If I have to pull this trigger, that’s It’s what I have to do,” Taylor said.
Florida gunman uses a gun to stop a vicious attack on a pregnant woman
A Florida gunman stepped in to defend a pregnant woman who was being assaulted by the father of her unborn child in a Publix parking lot.
According to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, Cole Joseph Danisment, 27, began a brutal assault on the mother of his unborn child, who was 14 weeks pregnant at the time, after an argument in the parking lot of the pharmacy in December. Danishment started punching her in the face several times and continued her attack by stomping on her head after she fell to the ground.
Cole Joseph Danisment
(Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office)
ARMED BYSTANDER IN FLORIDA STOPS ATTACK ON PREGNANT WOMAN
That’s when a nearby witness who believed the attack was “so brutal in nature” that he feared for the woman’s life, intervened, drew his gun on Danisment, and ended the attack.
Officers who arrived later said the woman was “covered in large amounts of blood” and may have suffered a broken nose as a result of the attack.
Arizona employee arrests shooter in parking lot of Amazon facility
A Chandler, Arizona man has been called a “good Samaritan” by police after he stopped a shooting in the parking lot of an Amazon facility and likely prevented more bloodshed.
Police say Jacob Murphy, 29, pulled into the employee parking lot of an Amazon facility in December, jumped out of his car and began shooting at employees in the parking lot. Murphy did not work at the Amazon facility, but he reportedly had “jealousy issues” with his girlfriend, who worked at the facility.
According to police, Murphy set out to find a male employee of the facility she knew only by first name. But when he tried to enter the building, he was confronted by an employee who thought it was “weird” that Murphy was trying to gain access to the premises. An argument developed between Murphy and the employee before Murphy fired multiple shots.
Arizona police say 29-year-old Jacob Murphy was killed by an armed Amazon employee when he opened fire in a parking lot
(KSAZ-TV)
ARMED AMAZON EMPLOYEE ARRESTS SHOOTER WHO OPENED FIRE AT ARIZONA FACILITY: ‘GOOD SAMARITAN’
It was then that an armed facility employee noticed what was unfolding and drew his firearm, shooting and wounding Murphy.
“He came to the aid of an individual who was shot by a suspect. So in that case, he would say that he is a good Samaritan,” police said of the incident.
Murphy was found dead in the parking lot by police when they arrived. Police said Murphy died from a gunshot wound from the armed employee and a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
‘Tactically Sound’ Armed ‘gThe Good Samaritan stops the mass shooting at an Indiana mall
An Indiana gunman was at the Greenwood Park Mall with his girlfriend in July when Jonathan Sapirman, 20, entered the mall with multiple semi-automatic rifles, a pistol and more than 100 rounds of ammunition and began shooting at customers in food. Court.
Sapirman was able to fatally shoot three people and wound two others before he was confronted by Elisjsha Dicken, 22, who was legally carrying a handgun under Indiana’s new carry without permit law.
Dicken approached the gunman from a distance of 40 yards and fired 10 rounds at Sapirman, hitting him eight times and ultimately killing him.
POLICE SAY ‘GOOD SAMARITAN’ AVOIDED MORE LOSS OF LIFE IN INDIANA MALL SHOOTING: ‘TACTICALLY SOUND’
Elisjsha Dicken, 22, of Seymour, was identified as the bystander who shot and killed a gunman who opened fire at the Greenwood Park Mall in Greenwood, Indiana.
(The Dicken family)
Police praised Dicken as a “good Samaritan” and praised his actions as “tactically sound” despite his lack of military or police experience, saying his actions prevented further loss of life in the shooting.
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“Many more people would have died last night if it weren’t for the responsible armed citizen,” Greenwood Police Chief James Ison said at the time.
“His actions were nothing short of heroic. He engaged the gunman from a considerable distance with a pistol. He was very skilled at it, very tactically sound. And as he moved to get closer to the suspect, he was also signaling people to come closer.” . go after him.”
