As reported, an Oklahoma City man was catching up on some sleep in the afternoon when his burglar alarm went off. He awoke to find a criminal in his home, armed with a knife. The criminal order the man to turn off the burglar alarm, and to give him money. The homeowner said that there might be some money in a bedroom, and the criminal held the knife against the man as they walked to that bedroom. Acting as though he was looking for money in a drawer, the homeowner was able to grab his gun and fire at the robber. The robber turned and ran, and it was unclear from the news story whether the robber was hit. The homeowner was uninjured.
I think that there are a couple of lessons to be learned from this home invasion. Firstly, as we’ve seen before, criminals don’t always run when an alarm goes off, and it is therefore not wise to trust one’s safety to an alarm alone. I view my alarm system as a tool to notify me that a criminal has entered so that I can grab my gun, not as a means of actually stopping the criminal. Unfortunately, some elderly relatives of mine refuse to own a gun, and do depend upon their security system…
Secondly, those opposed to gun rights will often argue that a person who is attacked by a criminal will be unable to get their gun and defend themselves in time. There is plenty of statistical and anecdotal evidence that flatly disproves this unfounded idea, including this very case of self defense. If this man can manage to get his gun while being held at knifepoint by a criminal, I think that it bodes well for the many people who are in an even better position to quickly grab their gun.