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Sunday, July 18, 2010
Only a firearm can protect you
I write briefly about a new case to emphasize a point I often make:
Whether you like guns or not -- whether you want guns or not -- whether you ever intend to use a gun or not -- if you don't have one when you really need one -- you, and perhaps your entire family will pay the price -- probably with your lives. So, the question comes down to:
Are you willing to sacrifice not only yourself, but also the beloved members of your family -- in order to prove the point on how much you personally abhor violence -- and thereby unwittingly help some low life scumbag successfully invade your home, steal your possessions, rape your children, torture your family -- and then, simply escape with impunity after leaving you, and those you love most cherished and dear -- dead or dying on the floor in growing pools of their own blood?
Well . . . Schoenwetter v. State, 35 Florida L. Weekly 409 (Fla. 2010), certainly illustrates the point. It also illustrates the importance of responding to a serious threat with a firearm in hand, rather than investigating without a means of substantial protection -- ie: a firearm.
In Schoenwetter case, Randy Schoenwetter was a family friend of the Friskey family. He had gone to karate school with their children. Slept over the home on occasion. And was good friends with their son. However, Schoenwetter wasn't all what he seemed. And at 3:00 a.m. on an early August morning, Schoenwetter decided it might be fun to rape one of the Friskey family daughters, ages 16 and 10, so he rode his bike over to the Friskey home. Cut open the screen enclosure to gain entrance to the patio, and then slid thru a narrow opening in a sliding glass door. Once inside, he went to the kitchen, and armed himself with a large kitchen knife. (something that happens very often in break-ins) He then proceeded to the room of the 16 year old, and tried to open her door -- it was locked. He then went to the room of the 10 year old instead -- as an alternate rape victim. However, when he entered the room and grabbed her, she screamed and continued to scream. At that point, her mother and father awoke. Both rushed into her room, unarmed, to find out what the problem was. When they saw Schoenwetter with their daughter, they immediately tried to grab him off their daughter, and managed to tackle him to the floor. In the process they were both stabbed, and Schoenwetter broke free. Instead of running from the home, he knew that the daughter had recognized him, and so he returned to her bed, and stabbed her in the chest repeatedly so she couldn't identify him (remember -- it's dark inside the home). The father, then tackled him again. Schoenwetter stabbed some more. It was a heroic try by the parents -- but they were unarmed. The kitchen knife was long and sharp. It was dark. And Schoenwetter was young and strong. You figure it.
Well . . . Schoenwetter finally flees the home. Dad is dead in a pool of blood, as is the ten year old daughter. Mom is barely alive, and somehow survives -- somehow. Even the doctors don't know how she made it -- they had over twenty full transfusions of blood trying to save her. The daughter who had locked her door -- survived. She was the one who called 911. The son -- was not home. He had enlisted in the Air Force only a few months before -- otherwise he'd be dead, too.
The moral: He who is armed survives. He who is unarmed perishes. Or, to put it another way: The only way the Friskey family could have survived was with a firearm. Nothing else would have been sufficient to defend themselves against this type of attack.
Of course . . . there are other things they could or should have done that might have stopped the home invasion before it began. Not leaving a gap in the sliding door. Having a large dog from a breed that instinctively protects and barks -- might have frightened Schoenwetter away, or given the family time to react. An alarm system. But in the end -- the one thing -- the only thing -- the very thing -- that was absolutely essential -- was missing. A firearm. For a firearm is nothing more or less than a last clear chance of survival in a life-or-death situation.
If that's all you ever use it for -- then whatever you paid for it -- it was worth it.
So, for any of you who may be shy about having a firearm. Who are concerned about how dangerous it can be. Who do not want to take another's life because life is sacred. I say to you:
If life is sacred, if children are dear, if your spouse is truly the love of your life, if your possessions are worth saving -- then you really don't have a choice. Buy it. Learn to use it. Then lock it in a digital safe with a back-up key close at hand-- loaded -- where you can get to it very, very quickly -- and pray to God that you never have to use it. But if that day comes remember: It's there for a purpose -- one purpose -- your survival, and the survival of your family.
Use it -- that's what it's there for. That's all that it's there for. And, when you look in the eyes of your family the next day, all alive, all well, all realizing how close it really came to the end of everything you know and hold dear -- that's the moment of truth when you'll know . . . beyond any reasonable doubt -- that you did the right thing.
Posted by Jon H. Gutmacher at 6:39 AM 0 comments
Labels: firearms, home invasion, homicide, self defense
Only a firearm can protect you
I write briefly about a new case to emphasize a point I often make:
Whether you like guns or not -- whether you want guns or not -- whether you ever intend to use a gun or not -- if you don't have one when you really need one -- you, and perhaps your entire family will pay the price -- probably with your lives. So, the question comes down to:
Are you willing to sacrifice not only yourself, but also the beloved members of your family -- in order to prove the point on how much you personally abhor violence -- and thereby unwittingly help some low life scumbag successfully invade your home, steal your possessions, rape your children, torture your family -- and then, simply escape with impunity after leaving you, and those you love most cherished and dear -- dead or dying on the floor in growing pools of their own blood?
Well . . . Schoenwetter v. State, 35 Florida L. Weekly 409 (Fla. 2010), certainly illustrates the point. It also illustrates the importance of responding to a serious threat with a firearm in hand, rather than investigating without a means of substantial protection -- ie: a firearm.
In Schoenwetter case, Randy Schoenwetter was a family friend of the Friskey family. He had gone to karate school with their children. Slept over the home on occasion. And was good friends with their son. However, Schoenwetter wasn't all what he seemed. And at 3:00 a.m. on an early August morning, Schoenwetter decided it might be fun to rape one of the Friskey family daughters, ages 16 and 10, so he rode his bike over to the Friskey home. Cut open the screen enclosure to gain entrance to the patio, and then slid thru a narrow opening in a sliding glass door. Once inside, he went to the kitchen, and armed himself with a large kitchen knife. (something that happens very often in break-ins) He then proceeded to the room of the 16 year old, and tried to open her door -- it was locked. He then went to the room of the 10 year old instead -- as an alternate rape victim. However, when he entered the room and grabbed her, she screamed and continued to scream. At that point, her mother and father awoke. Both rushed into her room, unarmed, to find out what the problem was. When they saw Schoenwetter with their daughter, they immediately tried to grab him off their daughter, and managed to tackle him to the floor. In the process they were both stabbed, and Schoenwetter broke free. Instead of running from the home, he knew that the daughter had recognized him, and so he returned to her bed, and stabbed her in the chest repeatedly so she couldn't identify him (remember -- it's dark inside the home). The father, then tackled him again. Schoenwetter stabbed some more. It was a heroic try by the parents -- but they were unarmed. The kitchen knife was long and sharp. It was dark. And Schoenwetter was young and strong. You figure it.
Well . . . Schoenwetter finally flees the home. Dad is dead in a pool of blood, as is the ten year old daughter. Mom is barely alive, and somehow survives -- somehow. Even the doctors don't know how she made it -- they had over twenty full transfusions of blood trying to save her. The daughter who had locked her door -- survived. She was the one who called 911. The son -- was not home. He had enlisted in the Air Force only a few months before -- otherwise he'd be dead, too.
The moral: He who is armed survives. He who is unarmed perishes. Or, to put it another way: The only way the Friskey family could have survived was with a firearm. Nothing else would have been sufficient to defend themselves against this type of attack.
Of course . . . there are other things they could or should have done that might have stopped the home invasion before it began. Not leaving a gap in the sliding door. Having a large dog from a breed that instinctively protects and barks -- might have frightened Schoenwetter away, or given the family time to react. An alarm system. But in the end -- the one thing -- the only thing -- the very thing -- that was absolutely essential -- was missing. A firearm. For a firearm is nothing more or less than a last clear chance of survival in a life-or-death situation.
If that's all you ever use it for -- then whatever you paid for it -- it was worth it.
So, for any of you who may be shy about having a firearm. Who are concerned about how dangerous it can be. Who do not want to take another's life because life is sacred. I say to you:
If life is sacred, if children are dear, if your spouse is truly the love of your life, if your possessions are worth saving -- then you really don't have a choice. Buy it. Learn to use it. Then lock it in a digital safe with a back-up key close at hand-- loaded -- where you can get to it very, very quickly -- and pray to God that you never have to use it. But if that day comes remember: It's there for a purpose -- one purpose -- your survival, and the survival of your family.
Use it -- that's what it's there for. That's all that it's there for. And, when you look in the eyes of your family the next day, all alive, all well, all realizing how close it really came to the end of everything you know and hold dear -- that's the moment of truth when you'll know . . . beyond any reasonable doubt -- that you did the right thing.
Posted by Jon H. Gutmacher at 6:39 AM 0 comments
Labels: firearms, home invasion, homicide, self defense
