The Armed Citizen® August 2010

*In February an NRA-supported federal law went into effect permitting people who may legally carry firearms to do so in many previously gun-free national parks. Three months later, a backpacker chose to exercise the new right while hiking in Alaska’s Denali National Park. His decision and the new law likely saved his life and that of the female hiker accompanying him. They discovered bear sign and went on high alert. The bear, a grizzly, quickly emerged and charged the female hiker. The man drew a .45 ACP pistol and fired about nine shots, killing the bear. (Daily News-Miner, Fairbanks, AK, 05/30/10)

*Police say four known gang members burst into an Arizona store that sells car alarms and stereos and announced the robbery. The gang members began ransacking the store and forced an employee into a back office at gunpoint. That’s when the store’s owner emerged onto the scene and opened fire with a shotgun. One gang member was killed and two were wounded. The store owner, whose forearm was slightly injured by return fire, held the three surviving suspects for the police. (Associated Press, 05/12/10)

The Armed Citizen Extra

(The following account did not appear in the print version of American Rifleman.)

A 74-year-old man was home alone when an intruder broke into his house. The homeowner and the intruder knew each other from the neighborhood, but were not friends. The intruder began beating the homeowner in the face and demanding money. Then the homeowner grabbed the .22-caliber rifle he kept next to his bed and fired two shots at the intruder, killing him. The homeowner sustained wounds to his eye and head, and was taken to the hospital but was later released. (The Herald Tribune, Sarasota, FL, 05/19/10)

From the Armed Citizen Archive

August 1959: Teddy Jett of Borger, Tex., was friendly to 2 young hitchhikers he had picked up until the one in the back seat struck him on the head with a steel rod. Jett slammed on the brakes, grabbed his pistol from under the seat, and disarmed his assailant. Then, with blood spilling down his face, he drove them at gunpoint into nearby Vega and turned them over to the sheriff. (The Amarillo Daily News)