No: Guns often help ordinary citizens from winding up as crime statistics
By Robert A. Waters
Despite the shootings in a San Diego suburban school, legally obtained guns provide a vital first line of defense for many U.S. citizens. Here are a few recent cases from my files of more than 6,000 such incidents.
On Nov. 18, 2000, Colorado Springs resident Jean Zamarippa shot a serial rapist. At about midnight, Anthony Peralez ripped her back door from its hinges. As he entered the house, Zamarippa fired four shots, striking the intruder three times. DNA tests later revealed that Peralez had raped three other elderly women in the same neighborhood. Zamarippa, in a recent interview, insisted that she’s not a heroine. "I’m just a little grandmother," she said, "and I mind my own business. What would I have done if I hadn’t had my gun? I would have been just another statistic."
On Feb. 3, Cherese Belin returned to her Charleston, S.C., apartment to find jewelry and money missing. She called police, who searched the apartment but failed to find an intruder. After investigators left, Belin asked her neighbor, Shermaine D. Whitley, to search the house a second time.
Arming himself with a handgun, Whitley peered beneath the homeowner’s bed and found the burglar hiding there. He ordered the man to come out. Instead, the thief fired two shots at Whitley, striking him in the leg. The armed neighbor then returned fire, killing the burglar. Whitley was not charged.
Lisa Liev, owner of Johnny’s Cut Rate Liquor in Dallas, was working the afternoon shift on Feb. 9 of this year when a man entered the store, pulled a gun and demanded money. Liev dove to the floor and grabbed her own pistol from beneath the cash register. As the man jumped the counter, she shot and killed him. Still wearing a bandage on her head from a previous robbery attempt, Liev said, "I’m lucky to be alive. This is the second time they try and rob and hit me." Police ruled the shooting justifiable homicide.
On Dec. 11, 2000, in San Antonio, Tony Ayala, a world champion-class boxer, was shot by 18-year-old Nancy Gomez. At 3:45 a.m., Ayala, who had twice been convicted of rape and had served 16 years in prison, entered the woman’s home through an unlocked door. Gomez confronted the boxer and shot him when he attempted to take the gun from her. Ayala was charged with burglary with intent to commit assault. A police spokesman said Gomez was "right and justified in what she did."
On Feb. 14, 2001, three members of a Suffolk, N.Y., rock band fought back when when two armed invaders kicked in the front door of their home and attempted to rob them. Two of the band members grabbed shotguns. The first intruder had enough sense to flee when he saw the armed homeowners. Wesley Jones did not — he was killed by a shotgun blast as he held a gun to the head of the third resident. Investigators stated the shooting appeared to be justified.
About 2 a.m., Feb. 18, 2001, Jose Antonio Herrera and Rodrigo Castaneda burst through the door of an apartment near Three Points in Tucson, Ariz. The assailants used duct tape and "tie wraps" to bind the two female occupants. As the intruders looted the house, 18-year-old Amelia Gamboa broke free and retrieved a pistol from beneath her mattress. When Castaneda pointed a rifle at her, she shot and killed him. Herrera was arrested at the scene. Gamboa was not charged.
In Detroit, on April 27, 1999, a man and woman posing as magazine solicitors knocked on the door of Richard Harris’ northeast home. When he declined to open it, the two attempted to break down the door. Harris retrieved a shotgun and fired, striking David Epps. The homeowner wasn’t charged. A Detroit police investigator said, "This was just another scam criminals use to invade homes."
Unlike the San Diego school shootings, none of these cases made national headlines. But had they not owned guns, each of these victims may have been murdered. There are at least two sides to every issue, and in thousands of instances each year, guns save lives.
Robert A. Waters of Ocala, Fla. is author of "The Best Defense: True Stories of Intended Victims Who Defended Themselves with a Firearm," Cumberland House Publishing.
as I am.