DGU- does it count?

[sarisataka]

Last edited Thu Apr 4, 2013, 11:01 PM - Edit history (1)

SPOKANE, Wash. (CBS Seattle) — Spokane police say a grandmother held a burglar at gunpoint at her home until authorities arrived.

KXLY-TV reports that Sandy Mize, a grandmother to 10, fired a warning shot and held the suspect, 35-year-old Sean Denny, in her living room until he tried to get away. That’s when authorities apprehended him in her backyard early Wednesday morning.

“I told him I was armed,” she told KREM-TV. “He kept coming, so I started backing up.”


Mize says she fired a warning round at the suspect but it did not hit him.

http://seattle.cbslocal.com/2013/04/04/grandmother-of-10-holds-burglar-at-gunpoint-at-her-home/#.UV4sc2V7wxg.email

13 votes, 1 pass | Time left: Unlimited
	Ideal situation, no complaints
	1 (8%)
	Shouldn\'t fire warning shots but otherwise good
	9 (69%)
	She should have given him another warning without shooting
	0 (0%)
	He was not armed, so using a gun was not justified
	0 (0%)
	Guns should never be used
	0 (0%)
	She should have just ran away
	0 (0%)
	This is one of those extremely rare situations where a gun evened up an unfair situation and prevented her from being a victim
	0 (0%)
	I always vote other
	0 (0%)
	A can of beans was all she needed
	3 (23%)
	1 DU member did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. I protest the lack of "she should have used a can of beans" options

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

2. Everyone's a critic

[sarisataka]

3. My apologies for the oversite

it has been fixed

[AtheistCrusader]

8. Where's my 'hit him with a bicycle tyre' option?

[sarisataka]

13. There are only so many choices

you can put in a poll

[petronius]

4. I would certainly call that a legitimate DGU - she had no idea what his intentions were

towards her, and she acted to ensure her own safety. When he retreated, she made no effort to detain or interfere. I certainly applaud her choices to protect herself and summon the police as soon as it was safe to do so.

I'm a bit skeptical about the warning shot, especially since she wasn't sure if she'd hit him - was it a warning or a miss? And I don't know if a warning shot is ever really a good idea, legally or tactically. But all's well that ends well...

[iiibbb]

5. This woman is a fetishist who hates children and is clearly part of the problem...

and she could have done this with a 2-bullet gun.

[CokeMachine]

6. Tough choices but --

she should have cooked the perp a can of beans while re-attaching his bike tire while still waiting for the police. She is definitely a bad host/hostess.

[sylvi]

7. Didn't she have a Life Alert button to press or something?

Instead of going first to her death-spewing penis-extension?

"Help, I'm being assaulted and I can't get up."

[AtheistCrusader]

9. Not legit in some states.

Maybe ok here in WA. Not recommended though, could end up a very unfortunate test case.

[S_B_Jackson]

10. According to Kellerman,

this would not be counted as a DGU at all since no one was shot.

[sarisataka]

14. That is part of my curiosity

anti gun groups, like VPC and Brady usually compare criminal and self defense homicides, excluding cases such as this that end with no death or injury.
The other point often made is the armed civilian had military or police training, so the incident is not valid. Lastly we are told how the potential victim could have easily avoided, fled or complied without using a firearm.

Here we have an apparently untrained senior citizen, accosted by a much younger intruder in her home who used a gun to end a potential assault. My purpose is to see how many believe this is a valid, justified DGU. I even included the option to say it is very rare, but yes this case is so. The pro gun side is always being asked to condemn negligent stupidity. At this post i see one who has the intellectual honesty to say the presence of a gun was a good thing, and likely stopped a crime in this case.

edit to add: I don't keep a detailed list of every person strongly pro gun control, it is one name that pops out at me. I apologize if others have voted this is one positive case and I have overlooked them.

[ileus]

11. rude toter.

[Lurks Often]

12. All of you have it wrong

she was supposed to dial 911 and while waiting for the police to arrive minutes later, allow her fate to be at the mercy of the burglar