10 Examples of Defensive Gun Use Show It’s Time to End War on Lawful Gun Owners

Major gun control groups are already lamenting the outcome of the Nov. 5 election, decrying the results as detrimental to public safety.

In reality, though, President Joe Biden’s yearslong war on law-abiding gun owners repeatedly and wrongfully placed them at the center of the federal government’s target.

But ordinary lawful owners of firearms never have been the driving force behind violent crime.

Not only that, but they regularly rely on their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms to protect themselves and their loved ones from violent criminals when the government can’t or won’t be there to ensure their safety.

Almost every major study has found that Americans use their firearms in self-defense between 500,000 and 3 million times annually, according to the most recent report on the subject by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2021, the most comprehensive study ever conducted on the issue concluded that roughly 1.6 million defensive gun uses occur in the United States every year.

For this reason, The Daily Signal publishes a monthly article highlighting some of the previous month’s many news stories on defensive gun use that you may have missed—or that might not have made it to the national spotlight in the first place. (Read accounts from past months and years here.)

The examples below represent only a small portion of the news stories on defensive gun use during crimes that we found in October. You may explore more by using The Heritage Foundation’s interactive Defensive Gun Use Database. 

• Oct. 1, Seattle: A woman came out the front door of her residence and pointed a shotgun at two process servers, police said. One of them, drawing his own gun, shot and killed the woman.
• Oct. 7, Hubert, North Carolina: Police said a woman fatally shot her ex-boyfriend after he showed up at her home in violation of a protection order and climbed through a window. Local officials said the man had a lengthy history of domestic violence and was wearing a court-ordered ankle monitor after having violated protection orders at least twice before. He allegedly called the woman 26 times and sent her dozens of text messages in the hours before the deadly encounter.
• Oct. 10, Sioux Falls, South Dakota: Several people wielding baseball bats confronted a group of motorcyclists at a gas station, mistakenly believing that they had jumped a friend earlier that night. After ducking to avoid a blow from a bat, one motorcyclist drew a gun and fatally shot two of the assailants. He also shot and wounded a woman who pointed a gun at him. Police confirmed that the motorcyclists weren’t involved in the original assault, calling it a case of mistaken identity.  
• Oct. 11, Cut Bank, Montana: Two juveniles broke into a car and stole a handgun before a resident confronted them, police said. One juvenile shot the resident in the leg with the handgun before another resident arrived and, armed with his own firearm, held the shooter at gunpoint until police arrived. Both juveniles were taken into custody; the wounded resident was expected to recover.
• Oct. 12, Poplar Bluff, Missouri: A woman shot and wounded a man as he illegally entered her home through her bedroom window early in the morning, police said. The suspect—who police said was caught on camera in 2022 trying to enter other homes—faced unspecified charges.
• Oct. 16, Columbus, Ohio: When a newsstand employee caught a man trying to steal an item from a cooler, police said, the would-be thief drew a handgun and pointed it at him. The employee called for his nearby brother, who drew his own gun and shot and wounded the thief. He was charged with felony aggravated robbery.
• Oct. 20, Upper Darby, Pennsylvania: After being kicked out of his girlfriend’s house during a dispute earlier in the day, a man returned, pinned her to the floor, and held a knife to her throat in front of her children. One of the children, a teenager, grabbed a firearm and fatally shot the man, police said.
• Oct. 25, Chicago: When a bystander tried to intervene in a quarrel between a man and a woman on a public sidewalk, the man pointed a gun at him. The bystander—a concealed carry permit holder—drew his own gun and fatally shot his assailant. The incident occurred a day after two other Chicago gun owners successfully defended themselves against violent criminals.
• Oct. 29, Stratford, Connecticut: Police said an armed resident confronted two would-be car thieves who he discovered breaking into his car, exchanging gunfire with them until they fled. The resident wasn’t hurt.
• Oct. 31, New Iberia, Louisiana:  A man broke into two residences and stabbed two victims—one in each home—before an armed resident in the second home shot and wounded him, police said. All three were taken to a hospital for treatment; the suspect was charged with attempted first-degree murder. 

All of these lawful gun owners highlight just how important the right to keep and bear arms is to ordinary Americans.

Ending the Biden-Harris administration’s war on the Second Amendment won’t threaten public safety, as so many gun control activists claim. It only will threaten the safety of violent criminals, from whom lawful gun owners want to defend themselves.

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