An armed citizen in Bastrop County, Texas, knew he had to do something when he encountered a sheriff’s deputy grappling on the ground with a suspect. When the criminal went for the officer’s firearm, the bystander—who also happens to be a veteran of the Marines—drew his own gun and ordered the 32-year-old man to freeze. The intervention by the concealed carrier caused the attacker to stop pummeling the deputy and to flee, and he was immediately apprehended by other law enforcement officials responding to the scene. “I’m alive today because of him,” the deputy later said of the armed citizen. The suspect now faces charges of aggravated assault of a public servant, taking an officer’s weapon, evading arrest and driving while under the influence with a child under 15—the offense that instigated the initial traffic stop. (Austin American-Statesman, Austin, TX, 1/31/16)
The Armed Citizen® Archives
December 1964
When a Chicago, Ill., housewife, Mrs. Tommie S. Owen, heard someone tell her husband, who had just answered the door, “This is a stickup,” she retrieved a .25 ACP-chambered pistol and went to aid him. As the bandit started toward her with a raised gun, Mrs. Owen fired once. The bandit, clutching his midsection, tried to fire his gun, but it misfired. He then fled, but was found by the police a few doors away, mortally wounded. (Chicago Daily News, Chicago, IL)
