How Many Mistakes Did This Homeowner Make?

[Kleanbore]

Am I missing the point (if any) of this story? It happened over 50 years ago and I'm not seeing a tremendous amount of relevance to today.

what, pray tell, would make the story less relevant today? The existence of cell phones?

Posts 7 and 17 should summarize the point rather succinctly.

 

[Deaf Smith]

Not all of them, but if the gun is within arm's reach of two people, there is a very significant risk of that happening--if they are "bad guys". Why would you think otherwise?

Not all of them? If one reads the NRA "Armed Citizen" I'd say very few are disarmed. If I google 'holds criminal at gunpoint' I'd also say dang few to. Thus I don't lose any sleep over this.

Deaf

 

[Kleanbore]

If one reads the NRA "Armed Citizen" I'd say very few are disarmed.

How many of the incidents reported in "The Armed Citizen" relate accounts of persons who go to a door an open it, produce a firearm, and hold it in arms reach of their visitors. Any?

Have ups noticed that that column collects stories of successful encounters?

Have you had any training at all on how to keep your gun from being taken in a close encounter?

Surely you are joking.

 

[JTHunter]

I don't recall ever using a rotary phone. Lol

Good grief!!

 

[old lady new shooter]

Just curious, how do we know he took his eyes off the guys to call police. I can dial numbers on my phone without looking really easy. And it's even easier to just dial 911, if it was even around in 61. Regardless though, pretty easy.

In 1961 we only had dial phones. And I don't remember there being 911 yet, I think in emergency we were supposed to call the operator. If that was indeed the case, certainly it would be easy to find the 0 without looking. But people didn't carry their phones around either, definitely not to answer the door.

 

[old lady new shooter]

I count seven.

Did not have the pistol to hand when he answered the door, stepped away to get it.

Opened the screen door removing a barrier for any sudden hostile bodily force, which he could see through and what was going on, identify any threat, and if needed could shoot through.

Pointed the gun at them.

Told them not to leave. This could be construed as an arrest, as at this point the two could definitely have believed they were not free to go.

Stepped away to get phone which he could have had with him, or closed and locked the door to get it and make the call.

Called with screen door open removing barrier again, and probably had phone in one hand gun in the other. Not a good position to be in arms reach to two possible hostiles.

Pointed gun at them again. They would again definitely believe they were not free to leave.

A regular screen door presents almost zero physical barrier. Psychological barrier for non-criminals, but he was treating them as if they were criminals, so...

 

[RPZ]

A regular screen door presents almost zero physical barrier. Psychological barrier for non-criminals, but he was treating them as if they were criminals, so...

That's true to a degree. All screen doors are not created equal. It depends on construction, whether they open inwards or outwards and have any form of inside only locking means. They might buy you a few seconds.

But having something in between at least would have required some other action before they could simply grab him, as opposed to later when he had it open. Some screen doors might be better than some of the pathetic door chain set ups I've seen in buying a second or three.

All in all it is obvious this guy has never thought out what to do, and not to do, in such circumstances.

 

[Kleanbore]

Remember: the fellow had opened the screen door.

And he held it open during most of the interchange.

 

[hdwhit]

Thank you, Kleanbore.

 

[strambo]

If someone trained in disarms (or just goes for it) is within 6-10ft of the person holding a gun, they can be on you before you can react.

Anyone who doesn't believe me, get an aisoft gun (and proper protection) and try it. Don't shoot until they move and see what happens. This is best case for you because you know they are going to try a disarm as opposed to a real situation.

If you have to hold someone at gun point make them get on the ground and stand in a position where they can't see you well, ideally with a barrier (table, chair etc).

Look how police do it, they don't just stand there within arms reach...

 

[RPZ]

Remember: the fellow had opened the screen door.

And he held it open during most of the interchange.

Yes, and I listed that as an error. The question was then raised whether or not a screen door would be of any significance.

 

[old lady new shooter]

That's true to a degree. All screen doors are not created equal. It depends on construction, whether they open inwards or outwards and have any form of inside only locking means. They might buy you a few seconds.

But having something in between at least would have required some other action before they could simply grab him, as opposed to later when he had it open. Some screen doors might be better than some of the pathetic door chain set ups I've seen in buying a second or three.

All in all it is obvious this guy has never thought out what to do, and not to do, in such circumstances.

Yes, at least having something between would be better than nothing.

And agree that he was generally clueless -- he was very lucky they weren't really BGs.

 

[RPZ]

... he was very lucky they weren't really BGs.

Very true!