Florida sheriff praises homeowner for shooting home invader: 'Only Santa Claus gets to come in your

[Demovictory9]

Florida sheriff praises homeowner for shooting home invader: 'Only Santa Claus gets to come in your house'

A Florida sheriff praised a homeowner for standing his ground and shooting an attempted home invader on Wednesday.

"The homeowner did exactly what he should have," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told WFLA-TV after a man in Lakeland, Florida shot an intruder in his home.

"He had a gun, he knew how to use it, it was loaded, and he shot him a lot," Judd said. "He gave him an early Christmas present. Only Santa Claus gets to come in your house — and Santa Claus is invited."

According to police, the homeowner says an intruder tossed a flower pot through the glass French doors of the home in an attempt to gain entry from the back porch. The homeowner then shot the intruder three times.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/florida-sheriff-praises-homeowner-for-shooting-home-invader-only-santa-claus-gets-to-come-in-your-house/ar-AARVKSJ

[Baked Potato]

1. More of the story:

“According to investigators, a shotgun that belonged to Stillwell was found in the homeowner’s backyard.

They add that surveillance footage captured Stillwell running from a gate in the backyard to the home’s porch, where the glass doors are.

“The homeowner did exactly what he had a right to do. I commend him for protecting himself and defending his home,” Judd said.

Charges are pending against Stillwell at this time. Officials with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office say the man has an extensive criminal history that includes 14 felonies.”

https://www.wesh.com/article/florida-homeowner-shoots-intruder-flower-pot-break-in/38540520#

Seems this is exactly what home defense is all about.

[Dial H For Hero]

2. To all appearances a textbook case of self defense.

[maxsolomon]

3. For every 1 Home Invader shot, how many Gun Suicides are there?

I find the Sheriff's glee appalling. He's elected, no doubt.

[PTWB]

8. Defensive gun use estimates vary wildly.

Estimates range from 60,000 to 2.5 million defensive gun uses per year, according to a study cited by the Centers for Disease Control. There's no way to quantify how many shootings or violent attacks were prevented as a result of those defensive gun uses.

The data I found for 2020 indicates that there were 13,663 homicides committed with firearms. Of those, 708 were justifiable homicides.

The preliminary data for suicide in 2020 indicates that approximately 24,000 committed suicide with firearms (of the nearly 45,000 total suicides).

[maxsolomon]

9. Yeah, that 2.5 million is a John Lott #

America would be a crime-ridden hellscape if it were accurate.
24,000/708 = 34:1 ratio.

[PTWB]

10. 2.5 million is the high end of the estimate cited by the CDC

A defensive gun use could be as simple as showing a gun to a potential car jacker and that car jacker fleeing. No shooting need happen, so no crime-ridden hellscape is necessary.

As their estimated range is quite broad (60,000 to 2.5 million DGUs annually), the true number certainly falls somewhere in between.

We need to devote more resources to studying gun violence so we can have better numbers and make informed decisions about what actually makes effective gun control legislation, assuming we can ever pass any.

[maxsolomon]

12. the "2.5 million CDC number" is probably horseshit.

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/aug/14/curt-schilling/trump-backed-ex-pitcher-curt-schilling-misleads-sa/

The report was requested by the CDC, but was done by what is now known as the National Academy of Medicine, a federally chartered nonprofit.

The report did not produce its own estimates; rather, it cited estimates from studies.

It also made clear that estimates vary widely.

"Defensive use of guns by crime victims is a common occurrence, although the exact number remains disputed," ranging from 108,000 to 3 million instances per year, the report stated.

Both the 3 million figure, and a 2.5 million figure mentioned in the report, stem from one gun researcher, Florida State University criminal justice professor Gary Kleck.

Kleck said in an interview with PolitiFact that the 2.5 million comes not from the CDC but from a national survey he and Florida State colleague Marc Gertz did in 1993, asking a random sample of adults if they had used a gun in "self-protection" or in protection of property in the past year, and how they had used it.

[PTWB]

13. Indeed, as I said the study cited by the CDC indicates 60,000 through 2.5 million.

And the number almost certainly falls somewhere in between. Even 60,000 (or 108,000 in your post) at the bottom end is still a very significant number.

I said it before and I’ll say it again: We need to devote more resources to studying gun violence so we can have accurate numbers and make informed decisions about what actually makes effective gun control legislation, assuming we can ever pass any.

[PTWB]

4. I think the Sheriff's comments are a bit over the top...

The Sheriff is trying to score points with right wing voters. But it sounds like it was a good shooting--a home invader armed with a shotgun forces entry and then is stopped by the lawfully armed home owner. That's how it is supposed to go, right?

[Dial H For Hero]

5. They do seem needlessly flippant for a public official.

[Demovictory9]

6. this sheriff likes attention. google him on youtube. Long, slow reports about crimes

[albacore]

7. That's one example of home defense. Lemme give you another kind of home shooting.

NOT safer with a gun in the house. This is not an "accident".... it is negligence. At least lock the damned things up!
"A Georgia man has died after he was accidentally shot by a toddler, the police said on Tuesday.
Dustin Walters, 25, was found at his home with a gunshot wound on 5 December. He was taken to a hospital, where he died from his injuries, the Savannah police department said in a statement.
Preliminary investigation revealed that he was wounded when a “toddler, who was just under 2 years of age, found and fired the handgun, striking Walters,” the police said."

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/georgia-man-toddler-accidental-shooting-b1977128.html?fbclid=IwAR0tQgr8_5luf4lMLddNfhOk7QO2BDtfbLVmRO3LYpsadxqWbtFTdpLA-Z0

[albacore]

11. nt