MOBILE, Ala. – An 81-year-old woman shot a homeless man after finding him washing his clothes in her laundry room, police said. Ethel Sanders told police she heard noises in her laundry room Monday morning, so she grabbed her handgun and found a man standing in his underwear near the washing machine, police spokesman Officer Eric Gallichant told the Press-Register.
Sanders, who normally uses a walker, shot the man when he came at her, Gallichant said. She was knocked to the ground by the force of the gun and the man grabbed it from her, Gallichant said. The man pointed the gun at Sanders, took his clothes from the washing machine and fled, Gallichant said.
Sanders told the newspaper she bought the pistol about four years ago to protect herself because she lives alone, but had never fired it before. “Whenever I hear a noise, I just go grab my gun,” she said.
| Some people might be safer not owning a gun. Locking the doors might be a good idea too. |
More often than not an attacker can get the weapon away and use it on the homeowner.
What kind of gun?
she bought a magnum? XD
Did she had permission and training for using it?
this can only happen in US =/
David, bull shit.
The usual response on seeing a gun is to run.
hhopper, so this old woman has no right to defend herself?
Sure, she has a right to defend herself but it was pretty obvious that she had no clue about handling a gun.
She’s damn lucky the guy didn’t blow her away. He didn’t have a gun until she dropped hers.
Hmmm… Pretty strong case against having a washing machine in your house! I mean the Bum would not have broken in if she only had a washing board, yep, definitly need laws in this country to ban private ownership of washing machines…
#2 – this can only happen in US =/
Bullshit. It can happen anywhere a 81 year old woman has a gun.
Hopper’s right… She’d have been better off without the gun as would most people.
What kills me is how often the crowd likes to make blanket statements about how stupid everyone else is, how incompetent we all are, how ignorant and lazy we are… and then in nearly in the same breath prattle on about how much better off we’d all be if we all packed guns.
Bullshit. The gun fetishists just like guns, and it seems their ability to think critically decreases in direct proportion to how hard guns makes their cocks.
I have no problems with the Second Amendment. It’s quaint and archaic, but still the law. And I don’t want to ban guns. In fact, I don’t care if you have a gun or not. But reality is that guns aren’t nearly as useful as the Bullethead Club wants you to think, and aren’t nearly as dangerous as the Bunnies and Buttercups Brigade want you to think.
One real problem with our society is why we all think killing is such a casual thing. Guns are just tools that are often used right and often used wrong… like any other tool.
The only mistake she made was not taking her gun to the range and practicing. Had she done that, she wouldn’t have been knocked down.
#2: The gun she had was a 38cal. In Alabama, you do not need permission or training to own or use a gun, although that’s probably a good idea.
You do need a permit to carry a concealed weapon, but anyone not convicted of a felony can own a handgun and keep it in their home. And last year, our governor signed a new gun law that changed a previous one. Previously, if someone was coming into your home, the law said that you should try to escape if possible, rather than staying to defending yourself. The new law changed that. If someone in in your home who isn’t supposed to be, just go ahead and fire.
Writing from Mobile, AL.
muoncapture
Hand guns are defensive weapons. You don’t have to shoot someone for it to have performed it’s task. Most hand gun incidents are “show and tell.” Show the lowlife a gun and tell him to get away from you. Generally he excuses himself.
Perry Noiya
Does a bank robber only use a gun to rob a bank if he kills someone?
I’ve used a gun for self defense several times. Guess what? No dead bodies. Most people I’ve pointed a gun at either fled or got real peaceful.
The purpose of a hand gun is to have something easy to carry that will kill people. I allowed the person I pointed the gun at do decide if I should pull the trigger, and they decided they did not want me to.
Jeez. Charging the guy with first-degree burglary for doing his laundry at his sister’s godmother’s place? That seems a little rough.
Sounds like incompetence is it’s own penalty, in this case, though I’m glad that her tactical error didn’t cost her life.
That woman needs a softer shooting gun and some time at the range.
Why the hell is this old woman alone in htis house?? She needs a walker and obviously is forgetfull as her house isnt secure… Where are her children?? (if any) Relatives?? come on!!! she shouldnt be on her own like this!!!
You will notice that well over half of firearm related deaths are suicides. Maybe if life in the USA included some form of healthcare for poor folks, (especially the aged) treatment for drug addiction besides just sticking you in jail, and didn’t have a criminal justice (HAH!) system that has a vested monetary interest in keeping minor offenders rotating through the system, maybe, just maybe, that statistic might be a smidge smaller. And the homicide figures include police shootings, shootings by security guards and the like. I guarantee there were MORE than 323 “legal interventions” in 2001. I don’t like the idea of stupid people having guns any more than the next person, but the Founding Fathers knew that individual ownership of firearms were essential for protecting the human race from bad government. Oh, I know, “It’s a different world now”, blah,blah, yadda,yadda. Except that PEOPLE haven’t changed one freaking bit. And that’s the most important variable in the equation
It’s not about the ownership of the gun. People simply don’t respect the dangers of guns the way they should.
If somebody gets their drivers license then doesn’t drive for 10 years, then one day decides to take a spin on a crowded freeway theres a pretty good chance someone’s gonna get hurt.
If the lady was taught to respect the gun, and how to properly use it, and actually practiced with it there wouldn’t be a problem.
We don’t force people with cars to practice driving after they get their license, yet a car be just as if not more dangerous than a gun.
Granted I am not totally against having periodic gun safety and shooting practice for gun owners. The same could be said for your drivers license too though, way too many people in America suck at driving, way too many people have no business behind the wheel of a car what so ever. We’re usually close to 45,000 fatal accidents per year, but you almost never hear of people talking about more regulation of people’s drivers license. Why??? Because nobody wants to be regulated, and where gun ownership is concerned it’s us against them, but where driving is concerned safety is all of sudden less important.
I’m not in favor promoting ownership of a gun. This is the reason why we are paying taxes and we have a police force to protect from any kind of abuse or crime.
[This part deleted – See Comment Guidelines. – ed.]
What we need is better guns. Give everyone recoilless pistols and accuracy will go up, accidents will go down.
Should have used a shot gun
Mr. Fusion (#9),
I call bullshit on your statistics, they don’t define LEGALLY owned firearms. OFTLO got it right that both sides exaggerate their case.
I lived in Minnesota the first year of their new conceal and carry law allowing most people to get one. Over one hundred murders in the state, not one with a LEGALLY owned firearm.
#9 “In the U.S. for 2001, there were 29,573 deaths from firearms, distributed as follows by mode of death: Suicide 16,869;”
If it’s about saving lives than maybe we need to get our priorities set right.
On average 600,000 people a year die from heart disease. Maybe we should ban all fast food, processed foods, meats, refined sugars, soft drinks, dairy, and cigarettes.
#22, ethanol,
Hey, I’m only quoting statistics compiled by the Center For Disease Control. Which, it so happens, is the Federal Agency charged with compiling and disseminating death statistics.
If you care to call bullshit, especially when I gave three sources, then that is your prerogative. Of course, I notice you didn’t counter with more “accurate” numbers. As for the “legality” of the weapon, that is a strawman argument. All weapons start out as “legal”.
#23, Maybe you’re right. Maybe we should ban tobacco, trans fats, and refined sugars.
The difference is, like the suicides, these are self inflicted. Firearm deaths are inflicted upon others.
Mr. Fusion (#24),
Interesting how you ignored the word following legal, owned. If I steal a firearm and commit a murder with said firearm, that murder was not committed with a legally owned firearm.
People that go to firearm safety class, get a conceal and carry permit, etc. are not the people committing murder.
I do totally agree with you that suicide is a different issue.
I don’t understand conceal and carry. Why does the gun have to be concealed?
#27 I don’t understand conceal and carry. Why does the gun have to be concealed?
That’s so we don’t scare the living daylights out of all the people who hate guns. Also the permit doesn’t allow us to carry everywhere. A lot of placed are off limits.
The beauty of CCL’s is the bad guys don’t know who is armed and who is not. So they have to think is he (she) armed or not.
#26, Ethanol,
Interesting that you still distinguish between the firearm’s status. It is the firearm that kills, not the legal status.
The point is that the pro gun people are so quick to point out “what if someone …”. The statistics point out that in 1% of the time, that might happen. The rest of the time a gun kills someone, it is not a legal shooting.
The case in point is that the woman shot the man. There was no evidence that she was in danger. In fact, after he was wounded, he helped her back to her feet. She had even helped raise him as a child and had talked to him the day before. You may legally shoot someone ONLY to protect yourself or the life of someone else in imminent danger. She was not in danger and so if she killed him it would not have been a “legal” shooting even though the gun itself might have been “legal”.
As for the idea of guns being legal, accidents happen. At least 800 of them in 2001. That doesn’t include those where the owners kids or even extended family took the guns for misadventure.
While I don’t know, how many suicides were done using “legal” guns? It would make far more sense that a suicide would use a gun they either already own or have easy access to. And there were almost 17,000 of them in 2001.
Guns are useful and have a place in our society. I have little issue with long guns. I do have a problem with handguns though. They should be banned except for law enforcement. And if you join the militia, then you may have a handgun.
Guns are useful and have a place in our society. I have little issue with long guns. I do have a problem with handguns though. They should be banned except for law enforcement. And if you join the militia, then you may have a handgun.
Comment by Mr. Fusion
Mr. Fusion you are the militia and so is everyone else who is not a felon. Militia does not equal National Guard, reserves or the standing military.
#30, john,
Are you suggesting I can legally own an RPG launcher or my own supply of anti-personnel mines? How about the other guys on my street and I having our own Anti-Aircraft missiles, complete with roving radar?
Who do we answer to, God?
(/sarcasm)
Geeze, some people can post stupid comments.
#31 – “Are you suggesting I can legally own an RPG launcher or my own supply of anti-personnel mines? How about the other guys on my street and I having our own Anti-Aircraft missiles, complete with roving radar?”
If I were properly in charge the answer would be Yes.
#16 – but the Founding Fathers knew that individual ownership of firearms were essential for protecting the human race from bad government.
In an age of muskets…
In the modern United States, guns serve no such person and only a delusional fool thinks they do.
#28 – That’s so we don’t scare the living daylights out of all the people who hate guns
Why do you think people who don’t want to carry guns necessarily “hate” or “are afraid of” guns?
I drove a cab on the graveyard shift for three years. I neither hate nor fear guns. I just don’t care about them. Sometimes they are useful… sometimes you’d have been better off without them… and they aren’t even remotely relevant in squabbles with the government.
Guns, however, is a good issue, like abortion, if you want to get two sides to blow up like pufferfish.