Don’t mess with grandma!
A 67-year-old Brazilian grandmother who shot and wounded a bag-snatcher in Rio de Janeiro will get a medal from the crime-ridden city’s legislators even though she faces trial for illegal gun possession.
A spokeswoman for the municipal legislative chamber said on Wednesday deputies had voted unanimously to award pensioner Maria Dora dos Santos Arbex with the Pedro Ernesto Merit medal, for exceptional service to the city of Rio de Janeiro.
On October 8, the retired nurse was walking her poodle in the middle-class neighborhood of Flamengo when a thief tried to take her cell phone and purse.
Dos Santos Arbex, who said it was the fourth such assault she had faced, took out a .38 caliber revolver and shot the thief in the hand. The man tried to flee but was caught by police, who also charged her with illegal gun possession.
She has been released on parole but is awaiting trial. Her case has caused a barrage of criticism against the authorities for doing nothing to contain street crime.
One of those cases that really divides opinion. Do you have a right to defend yourself and your property by any means necessary?
It’s about time common sense isn’t shoved aside in favor of the Chicken Littles of slippery slopes.
I have nothing to complain about here as I think things were done right. If their society believes it is acceptible to shoot people in self defense, I agree with giving the woman a medal for stopping a crime.
The fact that she is being charged has nothing to do with her self defense, just that she never legally registered her gun. If she had, there would have been no problem.
The only thing she did wrong was neglecting to aim for the center of mass
The center of the bullet-proof vest?
Remain flexible and vary your tactics depending on the situation.
They need to ban such uses of guns. People shouldn’t have guns. It’ll just lead to more crime. Also, we should follow Britain’s lead and ban knives and mace too. Maybe we should have a robber’s bill of rights.
Does Brazil have a law requiring gun registration ?
Granny wrestled the gun away from the robber..my statement and I’m sticking with it. Wonder how she learned to shoot so accurately ?
Bet she goes to work for the cops !
To answer the origional question – yes you have a right to protect yourself, those around you and your property.
Sadly, in my state of America (Maryland) you do not have this right.
If she were to do that here she would be prosecuted for having a gun on her person without a permit (which, unlike 40-some other states, is almost impossible to get), nailed for illegal gun discharge and more than likely be banned from owning any guns in the future.
We might not have to register our guns with the government (yet), but here in maryland they do their best to give criminals the upper hand. And unsurprisingly, most people are afraid to go into certain areas after dark. Not to mention the fact that in Baltimore where gun laws are even more strict than the state in general, the crime is the worst in the nation.
Hooray for stupid people making laws and being afraid of guns! Why use common sense and allow law-abiding people to help protect themselves and others when you can instead say that guns are bad!
As a semi-retired Rent-A-Cop, NRA Member, CHL holder, and devout right-winger, [expletive deleted] ABSOLUTELY!
Regards,
Stu.
Sorry i said that…Please forget about…and any other mention.
[edited]
#10 Okay, fine. Two to the chest, one to the head. Mozambique drill.
I’m not afraid of guns. I’m not afraid of concealed carry laws. I’m not really afraid of very many things.
But I’m afraid of gun ownership advocates. Not all of them, but some of them. Two in chest, one in the head, over a purse? It isn’t that you want people to have the ability to defend themselves… I want that too. It’s that you gun nuts romanticize killing people. You want to kill people. You dream of the day when you finally get to pull that trigger and snuff the life from another human.
And what blows me away is that it is the right wing “culture of life” guys that lust over the power to end another human being’s life. I suppose abortion is bad because it reduces the number of potential targets in the future.
All Y’all Liberals, If you come to Texas, remember to never stare at the driver of the car with the bumper sticker that says, “Keep honking, I’m reloading”.
I´m a Brazilian and this case is a litle bit more complex than explained here. In our country a citzen is not allowed to take a machine in the streets even for defense purposes (exception for judges, policemans and some federal law workers).
The old woman took the gun from her daughter´s wallet, withou permission, to take a ride with her dog (truly, she takes 2 dogs to the street: on small and another big, whose function is to protect they all). But this day the bif one was in a pet shop so the old decided to make her own security.
When the guy ame to her asking for money she took the gun from her bag and, seeing the unexpected scene, the robbery tried to get the gun from her hand, wich explains the fact he got his hand shooted.
Best regards,
Rodrigo
#15, thank you Rodrigo for the extra information. It adds some depth and insight to the story.
#8, Tim
Maybe the situation in Baltimore is so bad because all one needs do is drive to Virginia or Pennsylvania to buy one. So if you want one, they are very easy to come by. Any prohibition will not work when the banned material is easily available with just a little effort.
Hooray for stupid people making laws and being afraid of guns!
Gee, I’m glad to hear that. You must be so smart and would have no problem staring down someone with a gun in your face. Me? I have a respect for any danger within my control and a healthy fear of any danger out of my control.
Why use common sense and allow law-abiding people to help protect themselves and others when you can instead say that guns are bad!
Maybe because it is the stupid people with the guns that keep shooting each other. Outside of target practice, the sole use of a gun is to kill. And target shooting is just learning to kill better. More innocent people are killed and injured by their own handguns or the handguns of a family member then are bad guys. All handguns are a danger in the wrong hands and most hands count as the wrong hands.
The NRA has a point when they say Guns don’t kill people, people kill people. But guns sure bring out the stupid in a lot of people. Generally speaking, handguns are bad.
#14 – My original comment was that she should have aimed for the center of mass, which is what any instructor will tell you. She hit him in the hand, which means she made a very poor shot, whether intentional or otherwise.
Someone else made a comment about body armor. So I (mostly in jest) made a reference to the “Mozambique” drill. It wasn’t serious.
Oh, and someone makes a habit of mugging old ladies I have no problem with their death. So yeah, I guess I’m a bad person anyway.
Comment by BryanP — 10/20/2006 @ 3:47 am
Well, you probably are not a bad person… I thought about that after I posted and I hope you didn’t get the idea that I was literally passing judgement on you. I obviously can’t do that based on a few lines in an anonymous blog.
I come from a law enforcement family and have grown up around guns and criminals and “good ole boys” and you know… the whole pallette of characters.
I have many friends who are gun collectors and many who are cops. There is definately a difference between those guys, and the guys who are all guns all the time. Its those guys I’m talking about…
As for the purse snatcher… well, if he attacks someone and gets killed… that’s the breaks… You take your chances when you play the game. But I’m anti-death penalty and I believe that killing in self defense is justifiable but must be a last resort thing… and if we let people own guns, they need to go through some serious training.
But the thing is, our hypothetical dead mugger… He had a mother. He might have had kids. Who knows what’s up in his head. I find no fault with the victim saving their own life, but the life lost demands consideration. It’s still tragic.
If it isn’t, then all pro-life “culture of life” Republicans need to shut up.