Given the New York Times’ recent attempts to paint gun-owners as menacing felons, it’s worth noting that thousands of times a year, citizens use guns in self-defense. Here’s a recent example from Oklahoma:
A young Oklahoma mother shot and killed an intruder to protect her 3-month-old baby on New Year’s Eve, less than a week after the baby’s father died of cancer.
Sarah McKinley says that a week earlier a man named Justin Martin dropped by on the day of her husband’s funeral, claiming that he was a neighbor who wanted to say hello. The 18-year-old Oklahoma City area woman did not let him into her home that day.
On New Year’s Eve Martin returned with another man, Dustin Stewart, and this time was armed with a 12-inch hunting knife. The two soon began trying to break into McKinley’s home.
. . . McKinley told ABC News Oklahoma City affiliate KOCO that she quickly got her 12 gauge, went into her bedroom and got a pistol, put the bottle in the baby’s mouth and called 911.
. . . When Martin kicked in the door and came after her with the knife, the teen mom shot and killed the 24-year-old. Police are calling the shooting justified.
Good for Mrs. McKinley!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseFrom The Blaze's reporting on the story.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"She spoke with the operator for 21 minutes, making sure she had the right to shoot if the men forced their way in."
RE: "operator for 21 minutes"
Yep...we were kicking this story around at work. I thought it would have been darkly funny for the 911 operator to transfer the caller to the 24/7 "Legal Team" and let them deliberate for a few days. Kick around all the crap that normally comes out in a trial. "Ma'am, was the intruder abused as a child? Are you aware of any mental deficiencies on the part of the intruder? Has the intruder consumed a Twinkie™ recently? Is Chewbacca currently living upon Endor?" "Uh, hold on...I'll ask him..."
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhen seconds count, the police are only minutes away!
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse(The police arrived at the 45 minute point.)
Aw, shucks, you beat me to it!
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse911="Dial-a-Prayer"...
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse45 minutes? Just how far out in the country does she live?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHeck, she was on the phone with 911 for 21 minutes! And, this is OK - she could be *way* out there.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe police took longer than 21 minutes to get there? If they're that slow, a citizen has to be armed!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI read about this yesterday, and I think that (unfortunately) there's got to be more to the story. The woman is only 18, but her recently deceased husband was in his 50s. It sounds like she's been living with him since she was a minor. Makes you wonder if the husband wasn't exactly the best person himself, and the trailer was apparently way out in the middle of nowhere - sounds like maybe a meth dealer's dream location? If this was a black woman and she's shot some associate of her dead drug dealer husband who was trying to break in, would this story be getting the same kind of press coverage? Probably not.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSo because her dead husband was creepy-old, and possibly involved in something illegal, that means she shouldn't shoot burglars armed with knives?
I'm not convinced that this wouldn't be newsworthy if the woman was black, or what your point would be if that were true.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSo, you're saying one's right to self-defense is suspect if one is poor or living in questionable circumstances?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMaybe port1080 is saying protected class-on-protected class violent crime is under-reported in the MSM. Note the editorial comment/caption on the ABC video "Make My Day" and "Pistol Packing Mama".
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOr black, apparently we can't trust the smokes with guns or something.
(In case my disdain isn't evident, I find the post Gregory is responding to to be repugnant. This is sarcasm)
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'm saying that when some dealer shoots another dealer in self-defense when a drug deal goes bad, we usually don't talk about him like he's the second coming. I don't have any problem with this woman defending herself and her child, but I don't think that she should be a poster-girl for self-defense, either, particularly when you look at all the oddities that appear in the story. It's the difference between celebrating a drunk driver surviving a car accident and celebrating the person the drunk driver hit surviving the accident. In both cases, you're glad the person is alive, but you're not going to spend a lot of time praising the drunk driver for his survival skills.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDisagree thoroughly with your analogy - besides the fact it isn't parallel, the "drunk driver" in this case is dead.
Yes, I think there might be more to the story - and if she is arrested at some later point for dealing or some other crime, I won't defend her on the basis of this act. But, I won't diminish my kudos to her for this act based on some speculation that there might be more to the story.
(Now, if you find some information that says she shot this man after picking him up hitchhiking and brought him home to plant in her home, then I might feel differently. Or some such.)
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNice of you to assume that anyone who lives in the country and in a trailer, must be a drug dealer.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIn the no-holds-barred conversations I've had with friends RE: this case (It's fun. Try it sometime. Speculate without fear of political correctness.), it was brought up that the deceased husband appeared to be WAY, WAY older than the chick in question. She's still in her teens and, from what my bud said, a photo of him in his younger days appeared to be from the 1970's.
Extending from that - yes, with the trailer park element mixed in - yes, we concluded that there may very well have been drugs involved. I.E. - Hubby was a dealer, kicked the bucket (hence dude showing up at funeral), and the perps figured they'd grab the drug and/or money stash now that she was on her own. They chose poorly.
Doesn't matter to me. I'm not in favor of any citizen being forced to endure home invasion - even if they are sitting upon a stash of illegal goods.
Boom goes the dynamite.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSo people living in isolated trailers have no right of self-defense? people with weird marriages are supposed to let some thug rape and stab them? think again you blatherskite!
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"blatherskite"
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNice! *makes note to add word to vocabulary*