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.


  1. OhForTheLoveOf says:

    #35 – In the modern United States, guns serve no such person and only a delusional fool thinks they do.

    Obviously, I meant “purpose” 🙂

  2. Mr. Fusion says:

    #34, Jeff,

    Thank you for that, I really didn’t know.

  3. MaTa says:

    F**k all that anti-gun nonsense and that its for “militias” only. I have guns, I WAS in a ‘militia’ (Army Reserves) so I could use M60 machine guns and M16 assault rifles then but NOT a pistol or shotgun now? Forget that! this small, slender gal is not going to leave the odds in the favor of some big ass criminal. . . .I’ll even them up with a little help from Colt, thank you very much.

    If I could wave a magic wand and all weapons in the world suddenly disappear and everyone breaks into “Its a Small World” while holding hands. . .sure, great, BUT that’s probably not going to happen and there are way too many violent thugs out there for my likings. Gun control just screws those who obey laws.. . not the scum bags that we need the protection from. Many/most of them are already felons that aren’t allowed to own guns, anyways. See how much gun control helps?

  4. Phillep says:

    Suicide is means independent. Including suicides in these statistics serves no purpose.

    Samual Colt grew up with muskets and other single shot weapons, and learned first hand how poorly they worked against bandit gangs in the port cities, New York, Philidelphia, Shang Hai, San Francisco, etc. where the criminals used knives, clubs, and sharp sticks to rob and kill. Remove hand guns somehow, and the gangs will start up again. Long guns just are too inconvenient for personal defense.

    “OhFor”, so what if you don’t want to carry? Why do you have a problem with me carrying? Are you going to accuse me of wanting to rob cabs? Yeah, I’ve been around people who literally wet their pants at the sight of a handgun (even if it was not pointed at them). Their behavior is exactly the same as those who freak at the sight of a spider or snake. That is not sane. That is a phobic reaction.

  5. GetSmart says:

    Well, ” since the age of muskets” people still haven’t changed one freaking bit. Corporations and the governments they own, do seem to have gotten a little slicker. Not better, not nicer, mind you, just slicker.

  6. OhForTheLoveOf says:

    #39 – “OhFor”, so what if you don’t want to carry? Why do you have a problem with me carrying?

    Show me where I said I had a problem with you carrying anything. I don’t care what you carry. I only said you are a delusional loonbat, but that ain’t so different from most. Pack whatever useless heat you like.

    ====

    Where are you all living that packs of violent thugs terrorize your streets? Where are you guys living that you have many chances to use guns in defense? Is there some special lawless Mad Max state I haven’t visited yet?

    Gun nuts are just that. Nuts.

    But carry what you will. I’m a Chicagoan. I’m from a cop family. I drove a cab at night for a long time. I hang out in some dicey places. All I’ve learned from my experience is that guns are not very important and rarely ever seen.

  7. Phillep says:

    It’s kind of hard to guess when I might need to have a hand gun. If it was easy, I’d just avoid the situation or location.

    A hand gun is like a lifetime insurance policy with a single payment. It is no use for some situations, and, like an insurance policy, there’s times when it should work but does not. Unlike an insurance policy, inflation does not effect a hand gun’s value. Nor does age; the oldest hand gun I own is a Browning HiPower, made early in WWII, and it works just fine, and has cost me nothing in the years I’ve owned it.

    Where do I live that I need a hand gun? Well, a wide variety of places, but the first time I used a hand gun was in a middle class neighborhood I did not live in, in Jacksonville Florida when a gang of teen agers tried to sneak up on my girl friend and me. I pulled this rinky dink .22 and it was assholes and elbows time. Twelve of them and me with a .22 snub nose 6 shot revolver.

    Let’s see, there was just the one time I ran some burglers out of my home. The rest of the self defense uses were away from my home, I think one was between where I lived and where I worked. I’d have to think on the rest. I’ve forgotten most of them because they were no big deal to me when they happened, and the hand gun put a prompt stop to the situation.

    A reputation for minding my own business and for going armed allows me to live a very peaceful life in areas with high violence rates. That is worth the money I paid long ago for a hand gun and the minimal trouble of putting on a shoulder holster in the morning.

  8. BubbaRay says:

    #6, OFTLO/TP Guns are just tools that are often used right and often used wrong… like any other tool.

    Exactly — a power so great it can only be used for good or evil.

  9. Mr. Fusion says:

    #42, Phillep,

    You mention how you once had to use a pistol for defense. The situation you described is a felony in most States. Unless you were defending yourself, which you didn’t mention in your post, you can’t threaten someone with deadly force.

    Or, “running” some burglars out of your home. Again, most States I am aware of would count that as a felony. You simply are not allowed to defend property with deadly force.

    So, an at least twice self admitted felon is carrying a gun “legally”. Maybe the next time you pull your gun you might re-evaluate why you still consider yourself “legal”.

  10. Steve says:

    #44 Mr Fusion – Phillep did not say he threatened anyone in either case of his self defense scenarios. Point out one state where it against the law to inform someone that you have a firearm (notifying police excluded) or showing someone that you have a firearm. In our state it is clear that we have a duty to retreat in the face of danger and must exhaust those avenues prior to using deadly force but you are allowed to inform the threatening party and show them the gun.

    I am licensed to carry in two states which gives me the right to carry due to reciprocity agreements in 39 states. I recently returned from vacation during which I carried the whole trip to and from our destination. Why? Because I have been assaulted and fired upon, had knives pulled on me and threatened with bodily injury in my own driveway so I take precautions when I deem it prudent to protect myself and my spouse.

  11. Mr. Fusion says:

    #45, Steve,

    Pulling a deadly weapon on someone is too a felony. As for Phillep, well I suspect most reasonable people would guess that he did more than show them the hand gun in the holster.

    … I pulled this rinky dink .22 …

    ***

    … there was just the one time I ran some burglers out of my home.

    ***

    …and the hand gun put a prompt stop to the situation.

    I’m 55. In my life I have never been been accosted by anyone using a knife or handgun. I haven’t been in a physical altercation since I was a teen except for one time I got between two kids fighting and one turned on me. My house has never been burgled but my car has been broken into twice. So where is all this violence you and Phillep keep coming across? Is it just the gun nutters that keep running into violent situations?

  12. Steve says:

    #46 Mr Fusion – You assumed he pulled his weapon and brandished it in some way that made it a felony. Phillep didn’t say he did that. Pulling it out and showing it to someone is not the same thing as pulling it out and threatening someone with it (which is a felony unless your life is in danger).

    Everything I mentioned has happened within 15 miles of my home. In the major city 2 miles down the road there are shootings almost every day and in the last 6 months that shit is moving towards us. Some of the most recent killings have been within 2 miles of our house. Coupled with I believe 6 home invasions around here in the last 4 months and our area is going to hell in a hand basket.

    The threat in my own driveway was because some jackoff almost ran me over on my mower with their van. I looked up from what I was doing (crossing my own driveway THIRTY FEET from the road only to see this dipshit almost hit me. I yelled (a natural response) but never did I use profanities and he got out and threatened me.

    I now carry my sidearm while working outside (for coyotes and two legged assholes).

    You can call me a gun nut but much as I don’t pick on people because of their religious beliefs I also don’t pick on people because of their gun beliefs.

  13. OhForTheLoveOf would like to give 110 pound women the “right” to get in fist fights with 200+ pound rapists.

    There is nothing archaic about the second amendment. What would have happened if this woman didnt have a gun, and then confronted that man? He obviously could have overpowered her, maybe he left the scene because he feared the gunshot would have alerted neighbors? Maybe he left to get treatment? Either way, if somebody is in your house and doesnt have a right to be there, put one in them. The bottom line is, its your home, you shouldnt have to “reason” with them, or “ask them politely to leave and not take anything.” I am so low as to submit to some scumbucket in my own home. If you come in unwelcome, expect to catch some lead. My family is too important to me to not defend them.

  14. ***I am not so low as to submit to some scumbucket in my own home.


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