Rob- Introduction- I’m glad you found us and welcome to episode 124 of Self-Defense Gun Stories. This podcast is for people who are curious about a firearm for self-defense, and for those who already own one. I’m your host, Rob Morse. We’re joined this week by self defense instructor Robyn Street.
Hi, Robyn. I see that you’ve been busy with clinics on the weekend and your women’s group during the week.
Robyn- Hi, Rob.
Rob- Robyn, how do you listen to the show?
Robyn- I listen to it on my iPhone on the apple podcast app
Rob- That is how most people listen. Please put us in your pocket and give us rating on I-Tunes and Stitcher. Please leave a comment to tell us what you liked about the show. Now that we’ve talked about how to listen, tell our new listeners what to expect.
Robyn- We’re looking at several new stories of armed defense. These gun owners survived a life threatening situation, but were they lucky, or did they have a good plan? What should we do if we were in their place, and how would we learn those skills?
Our first story took place last week in Spanaway, Washington.
Rob- First story- Are you armed at home early in the morning?
You and your mom hear a scream from across the street. The sun is just coming up. You get dressed and go next door to see what is going on. Your neighbor had been attacked by her ex-boyfriend. The neighbor already called police.
You and your mom walk back to your home and notice that the power is off. That seems suspicious. You grab the family gun. You are only 16 years old, so you can’t carry in public. A few seconds later the ex-boyfriend forces open your back door and attacks you with a knife. You push him away and fire your gun. Now he runs.
Your mom calls police. They arrest your attacker. He is charged with first degree assault, burglary, and domestic violence.
Robyn- I would have preferred that the mother and daughter have called the police when they heard the scream. There was also a vandalized car. Both of these are clues that it is time to plan for our own safety.
Rob- We tell people to stay at home and call police, but the police had been called several times and were unable to stop the threat.
Robyn – They left the relative safety of their home to go to see what was going on at the neighbors house. It does not appear that they had any plan to protect themselves or the neighbor when they went to check on the neighbor. Lots of warning bells should be ringing in their head. I would prefer that they had stayed home planning for their own security.
Robyn – Domestic situations are very dangerous. Highly emotionally charged. We are not sure, but perhaps that is why the ex-boyfriend attacked their house. Perhaps he felt that they were interfering or preventing him from succeeding with his ex-girlfriend.
Robyn – I also imagine that it was quite possible that he was under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Lots of variables were in place to make this a very dangerous situation.
Robyn- If they were worried, I think that they should have called the police and then called the neighbor to check on her welfare. That would have been much safer for the mother and the daughter to stay in the relative security of their home.
Robyn – I have several questions about the 16 year old grabbing the family gun. Where is it stored? Why didn’t the mother grab the gun? What training did the 16 year old have? Did they have a plan on what to do if a bad situation was unfolding?
Robyn – the daughter heard a noise coming from the back door and saw the suspect standing in the doorway. I hope the noise occurred because the door was locked and he had to break into the house. Now is the time to install study locks like dead bolts and to use them all the time. It is also helpful to lengthen and strengthen the screws used to hold the door frame in place. This would discourage less motivated intruders, slow down the motivated intruders and make noise to provide a warning for the homeowners.
Robyn – I would also advise the mother and daughter to position themselves in a position the provided concealment and cover. A place where they could see what was happening in the doorway and where they would not be close enough for the intruder to start cutting the 16 year old with his knife. A firearm is a distance tool. She could have protected her family without being in close proximity to the intruder.
Robyn – the intruder told the 16 year old that she was going to die and cut her several time with his knife. That is a tough young lady. She was not going to let him kill her.
Robyn – I am happy that one shot was enough to convince the intruder that he needed to leave. He had not prepared for his intended victims to fight back. It certainly sounds like without the pistol this story would have had a very different ending.
Robyn – I am glad that the police found the ex-boyfriend and I hope that this situation will be enough to keep him away from his ex-girlfriend and the neighbors for a long time.
Rob- What would you tell your students to do?
Robyn- I like for families to have plan about how to handle situations. I wish the young woman’s mom would have been the one that was armed. She should have been the responsible adult protecting her child. But we do not know all the details of their lives. I am glad the mother was at least on the phone with the police while the daughter was defending the family. They needed to get help there as soon as possible!
Robyn- Our second story happened last week in LIncoln, Illinois.
Rob- Second Story- Are you armed when you answer the door at sunrise?
It is just about dawn. You hear a crash from the front of your house. Before you could go outside to investigate, there is a crazy man rattling your door knob. Fortunately, the door is locked. You yell for him to go away. He breaks the side window and tries to reach inside. You shoot at him and he runs away. You call police.
Police report that a madman has broken car windows and front doors all along your street.
Robyn – Here we go again. Please harden your home. Strengthen your locks and use them. I know that side windows can be pretty but not the best idea from a security point of view. It does not take much money or effort but in a bad situation, you will be thankful that you have done everything that you could do to ensure your security.
Robyn- Don’t open the door. Don’t go outside to investigate. Stay inside and use cameras to gather information. Call the police and let them come investigate. Until the police arrive, stay on the phone with 911 and put your self-defense plans into action. Prepare for the worst situation and hope that the police arrive before you are forced to enact your plan.
Robyn – That brings up a good point. You need to make plans now. It is easy to come up with plans and evaluate them and improve them while we are calm. Planning also helps to eliminate the time that can be lost from the denial/justification loop. Planning also our brain to stay in control. It is helpful for the brain to stay in a rational state and to say “well, we know this could happen let’s put that plan into action and protect ourselves.”
Robyn- Have your tools with you and position yourself where you are prepared to protect and defend yourself.
Robyn- That includes your phone, flashlight, other defense tools and medical supplies.
Robyn- Don’t fire through a door or window. If the door is in the way, then the intruder is still outside. Let the doors and windows do their job and keep the intruder outside.
Robyn- We replaced our windows with hurricane glass. If flying trees aren’t going to break through, hopefully that would keep the brick from breaking the glass. It can’t hurt and at least we tried.
Robyn- As long as the intruder is still outside there is still time to avoid firing the gun. But it is certainly time to prepare in case the situation demand it.
Rob- We include links to these news stories in the transcript of the show. That is on our website, and some podcast applications put it in your phone as well.
Robyn -Our next story happened last week in Palm Beach, Florida.
Rob- First this message from my friends at DRGO
Please support Doctors for responsible gun ownership, DRGO.us
Rob- Third story- Are you armed as you run errands with your children?
You ran an errand while your 12 year old son was getting a haircut. Your 5 year old daughter is asleep in the backseat of your car. You park at the curb right in front of the barbershop. This is South Florida in September, so you leave your car running as you walk in to pick up your son and pay for his haircut. As you’re walking in, you hear a car door slam behind you. Someone is trying to take your car. You run to the passenger window and yell for him to stop. The car starts to move with your daughter still inside.
You have your concealed carry permit. You’re armed. You draw your firearm and shoot the kidnapper. Then you open the passenger door and guide the car to a stop.
Your attacker had a record of breaking into cars and not showing up for his court dates. Two days later the police say they will not file charges against you.
Robyn- I know it is inconvenient to wake a sleeping child but please don’t leave your child in the car.
Rob- This happened very fast.
Robyn – So many things are going wrong. The child is unattended in the car, the doors must not have been unlocked and the car was running for a quick get away. Oh my…this is not good.
Robyn – I am glad that the father had his firearm on his body. There was no time to go get it. Imagine if he had been storing the gun in the car. When a bad situation develops you have the tools that you have at that moment and nothing else.
Rob- Was dad justified in using lethal force against a car thief?
Robyn- No. Dad was justified in using lethal force against a kidnapper.
Rob- What else?
Robyn- I like the line that said that he father drew his gun and ordered the kidnapper to stop. But I have trouble with the next statement that he then opened fire. How many times did he shoot? What was he hitting? Were any bystanders injured. Was the child injured? So many things could have gone wrong.
Robyn – He slipped into the car and prevented it from crashing. Brave and determined father stayed in control of the situation after things had gone terribly wrong.
Robyn – As soon as it was safe he needed to call 911 to get police and medical help to the scene.
Robyn- Our fourth story took place in Garland, Texas.
Rob- Fourth story- Are you armed as you meet someone to buy a camera?
You and your girlfriend are waiting outside someone’s home. You found a camera for sale, and you want to see it. The seller said he’d be there in a moment. That is when a stranger comes up and demands your money. You say you don’t have any. You attacker then pushes you and your girlfriend and says he knows you have money. You try to stop the attack on your girlfriend. Your attacker hits you. You draw your firearm and shoot him once.
Now you can withdraw and call police?
Preliminary reports indicate that the person selling the camera was the same person who tried to rob you.
Robyn- I hope that our listeners know better than to do this. Tell your friends not to do this any longer. Make sales at the police station.
Rob- A firearm is lethal force. I have to ask again if lethal force was justified.
Robyn- Best plan is to avoid this type of situation. Planning might also have prompted you to have other tools to defend yourself – OC spray might have changed the attackers mind.
Robyn – Protecting someone else is a bit more complicated. In this case, he was confident that the girlfriend was innocent and was certainly in danger of death or grave bodily harm. How many punches can his girlfriend absorb before she is incapacitated and lying defenseless on the ground? One? Two? This had to be stopped.
Rob- It is harder to run away if you have a partner with you. Do you talk about defending a friend, a spouse, a child with your students?
Robyn- We help families and friends develop plans about how to best defend themselves in bad situations. It is very helpful to honestly evaluate the skills and limitations of each person. Each person needs to know how the other person will react to situations.
Robyn- Sometimes it is as simple as having a code word to let others know this is unacceptable and I need you to do exactly what I am saying or we need to enact our plan now.
Rob- Is there more?
Robyn – Call 911 to get police and medical help on the way as soon as possible.
Exit- Rob- That wraps up this episode. Robyn Street, thank you for helping us again. Where can we learn more about you?
Robyn- I’m at Step by Step Gun Training in Naples Florida. We provide custom training courses as well as group classes. (Ladys weekday at the range?) Leave me a message for us on the Step by Step Facebook page.
Rob- Let us know what you think. Do you like the longer podcast with four stories? Do you want more personal news from our instructors? Leave us a message on the podcast facebook page. We have an inbox there if you don’t want to leave your message in public.
Robyn- We share this podcast with you for free. All we ask is that you share the podcast with a friend and give us a rating on I-Tunes and Stitcher. We’re also available on Google Play Music and Spotify.
This podcast is part of the Self-defense radio network. Find the other shows at sdrn.us
Rob- I’m Rob Morse. We’ll be back in a few weeks with more Self-Defense Gun Stories.
