Must Be Something in the Memphis Water

AlphaPatriot points to this story about the sixth home-defense shooting in five weeks in Memphis. Excerpt:

This is what happened about 2 a.m. Friday, according to a police report:

The robber took a screen off a back room window of the house, raised the window and crawled inside. He confronted the homeowner, Estella Schaefer, 65, and demanded money. He apparently was not armed.

It took Schaefer 15-20 minutes to look for money as he waited and she then gave him $200 in cash.

The robber told Schaefer, "'I know you've got more money than that. Someone told me,'" the police report says.

That's when Schaefer reached into her china cabinet and pulled a .32-caliber black revolver, shooting twice at the robber as he ran toward her to take the gun away from her.

He failed to get the gun, but Schaefer was cut on her left knuckle during the struggle. She declined medical assistance.

The robber ran out a side door and north on Meagher.

Police found a trail of blood going out of the house and for about half a block on a sidewalk on Meagher. They believe the robber was wounded.

Schaefer, who could not be reached by The Commercial Appeal for comment, told police that she didn't know if she hit the robber with either shot and had never seen him before.

Police described him as a black man in his mid- to late 20s, standing 5-foot-7 and weighing about 200 pounds.

Now, let's see what we have here:

A 65 year-old woman.

A 20-something 200 lb. male.

A loaded .32 caliber revolver "unsafely" stored in a china cabinet. (And, being a .32, it would most probably qualify as an evil, useless "Saturday Night Special" with no "sporting purpose.")

Per normal police recommendations, the woman tried to comply with her assailant's demands - after all, she gave him $200. It wasn't enough. THEN she resisted.

Results?

The woman was able to get to her weapon. ("Safe storage" would have made her gun unavailable to her.)

A minor injury on the part of the 65 year-old woman.

The gun wasn't taken from her by the younger, much larger male.

The younger, much larger male most probably has at least one and probably two .32 caliber holes in him.

The younger, much larger male left the premises.

But we're told that women using handguns for self defense is a myth. Yes, according to the Violence Policy Center "The false message...was clear: the greatest threat posed to a woman was an attack by a stranger and, the best form of protection a woman could rely upon was a handgun."

Now, just who is spreading a "false message?"

One other thing: Note in the VPC fear-mongering piece that they limit themselves to women killing their assailants. No mention is made of what actually defines a successful self-defense: Making your attacker STOP. Ms. Schaefer's assailant may not (probably will not) die as a result of his injuries. But he was stopped. But to those valiant defenders of life at the Violence Policy Center, that doesn't count.

And another: In D.C. what this woman did would be illegal. No handguns are allowed in D.C. In New York she'd have to have a pistol permit - that costs a ridiculous amount of time and money to get. (Read here for a typical example of the costs of getting a permit in NYC.) And she most probably wouldn't get a premises permit. Without that, she'd be in jail today.

For defending her life.