Another of Those Rarities - A News Report of a DGU With No Shots Fired!

This time from Oakland, Michigan:

Woman's gun may have saved her life

Web-posted Mar 20, 2004


By STEPHEN FRYE
Of The Daily Oakland Press

Four years ago, she was helpless as a man robbed her at gunpoint. On Friday, legally armed with a handgun, she may have saved her life.

And Farmington Hills Police Chief William Dwyer, who dreaded a change in the law in 2001 to make it easier to receive a concealed weapons permit, admits that he's changing his mind about that law.

Yes, after the predicted "blood in the streets" and "Dodge City Shootouts" that never occur, then law-enforcement begins to re-think their opposition.

Why they can't study the other states and draw a similar conclusion prior to CCW passage is beyond me.

Dwyer said the woman could easily have been killed after she was targeted by a couple looking for an easy score. They were waiting at 6:30 a.m. outside an office building at the southeast corner of 12 Mile and Drake roads.

Angela, a married mother of two, was arriving at the office where she has worked for six years. She asked that her last name and hometown not be made public.

She saw a car in the lot that she did not recognize, with two people inside, putting her on her guard. When she left her car, a man got out of that car and walked toward her.

He passed the entrance to the building and continued toward her. The man came within 10 feet of her, and she knew she had to act.

"I didn't get a chance to get in the office," she said. "He had his hands in his pocket with his hood pulled up. I opened my purse and pulled my gun out.

"I felt my life was in trouble. The first instinct was to pull out my gun."

The man turned tail and walked away, and the car pulled up to him near the roadway. He jumped in and they drove off.

No shots were fired.

And THAT's how it's done.

Except in some jurisdictions Angela would be charged with "Brandishing," because they don't allow their proles to carry in self-defense, and doing so is an affront to the State.

Good thing her workplace doesn't have a "no guns allowed" policy, isn't it? Or does it? Does she now face dismissal from the job she's held for six years because she carries a firearm to work? But like Tracey Warner said, "Sometimes you do what you have to do."

Dwyer said there was "no question" she was in trouble.

"She took the appropriate action," Dwyer said. "She probably saved her life. She is a very fortunate young lady. (Also) she did an excellent job as far as giving a description of the vehicle and the suspect. She's a very courageous young lady."

Her calm demeanor and quick thinking - she called police from her cell phone immediately after the suspect drove off - led police to the man and his female accomplice within a minute of the robbery attempt, Dwyer said.

He said the couple - a 21-year-old man and a 28-year-old woman from Detroit - would be charged with conspiracy to commit armed robbery.

Police confiscated a loaded 9 mm handgun from the couple's car. The man has several outstanding warrants and the woman was convicted for receiving stolen property.

Later Friday, Dwyer said a 28-year-old Southfield woman who knows Angela had been arrested for setting up her robbery.

Police are seeking a fourth suspect.

Dwyer, who as head of the state's police chief's association opposed the change in state law that made it easier for residents without criminal backgrounds to carry guns, acknowledges that the law has saved at least one person.

"I always said the CCW (Carrying a Concealed Weapon permit) legislation is somewhat controversial," he said. "I'm certainly rethinking it."

Perhaps because the ratio of people using guns in self-defense vs. those accidentally shooting people is so tremendously high? Remember, the argument against CCW is always that "more guns on the street" means "more wrongful injuries and death."

He credited her for taking the appropriate training and, equally important, using common sense.

"I'm just a woman," Angela said. "You hear about things like this. I didn't want to be a victim again."

Yes, Angela is "just a woman" - who didn't have her gun taken away and used against her as we are repeatedly told will happen.

Good for you Angela.

It's amazing, actually, that I've found two stories in less than a week in which handguns were used defensively and nobody got shot! Usually, unless someone bleeds it never makes print. Actually, unless someone dies it hardly ever makes print, when it comes to defensive gun useage.

UPDATE: 3/21/04 - From Clayton Cramer's Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog comes this typical example of how defensive gun useages are covered in the local media, the same story related above as "reported" by ClickOnDetroit.com

Woman Stops Robbery With Own Gun

Farmington Hills Office Robbers Surprised

POSTED: 4:17 pm EST March 19, 2004

A woman in Farmington Hills stopped a robbery Friday with a concealed weapon she was carrying.

Police tell Local 4 the woman was entering an office building around 6:30 a.m. when two men confronted her. She reportedly pulled the gun and called 911. Police responded and arrested the two men.

The woman has a concealed weapons permit for the gun.

That's it. No blood = no story.