JackBurtonJr
Member
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2008
- Messages
- 294
I knew there were people who could tell the story Ray Babecki tells, about how a loaded gun at the side of the bed can be a good thing — about how the Second Amendment people are on to something.
I hesitate to even repeat his story, fearing you might try this at home.
Born and raised in Woodbridge, the 46-year-old Babecki moved to Coosa County, Ala., in December 2007 and was married on May 3. Shortly after midnight on May 29, he heard the unmistakable noise of someone breaking into his mobile home. He reached for his loaded handgun next to his bed, and shouted to his wife Heather to grab her rifle.
The intruder entered their bedroom, and fired a shot into the floor. Babecki figures the bad guy wanted to intimidate them, not knowing they were armed. While Babecki fumbled with the fanny pack that contained his gun, his wife pointed her rifle at the intruder.
According to Babecki, his wife would have fired the rifle, except that she feared she might kill her pet birds in their cage right outside the bedroom.
"I didn't know his intention was, except when he saw two people pointing guns at him he left," said Babecki, who returned to Woodbridge this month to deal with matters involving the recent death of his father.
Ken Whitehead, the deputy chief of the Coosa County sheriff's department, said Babecki and his wife are doing the right thing by having guns, and the proper permits, in the home.
"I've got no problem with that. If somebody comes into my home like that, I do what I have to do to protect my family," said Whitehead.
An acquaintance of Babecki said he got wind of an initiation rite among gangs in rural Alabama — that in order to join the gang someone had to pull off an armed robbery.
Whitehead suspected it was just the work of a lone intruder. "You've got your little thugs, the wannabes I call them. They want to be bad, but there's nothing like the Bloods and the Crips here."
Whitehead described Coosa County as being "very small and very rural," with only about 16,000 residents. "If you don't like farms and woods, this is not for you."
Babecki, who lives on 9 acres, said he's getting used to rural Alabama, where he wore shorts all last winter because the weather was so mild compared to New Jersey.
"In some ways, I do lament being in the middle of nowhere," he said. "But that's a small tradeoff because I found my soulmate."
He explained that when they called 911 after the intruder fled, it took about 45 minutes for a sheriff's officer to arrive. "Here (in Woodbridge), the cops would be at the house in three minutes. There (in Coosa County) you're on your own."
Telling his story makes me skittish. It will be interpreted by some as another reason to have a loaded weapon on the bed stand. Babecki said his gun and his wife's rifle were very much loaded. "It's like having a car. You put gas in it, don't you?"
According to The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence — an organization begun by James Brady and his wife after Brady was paralyzed in 1981 during the failed assassination attempt on President Reagan — a gun in the home is far more likely to cause unintended harm than anything good.
Among the campaign's bullet points:
The risk of homicide in the home is three times greater in households with guns.
The risk of suicide is five times greater in households with guns.
A gun in the home increases the possibility of an unintentional shooting, particularly among children. The unintentional gun-related death rate for children under 14 is nines higher in the United States than the average of other Western industrial nations.
Babecki is familiar with the arguments.
"People don't know proper gun safety," he said. "Kids play with matches, they find poison under the sink. You have to understand safety in the house."
"My goal is not to kill someone — let me make that perfectly clear. Our having guns in the house is to deter someone, which is exactly what happened," he said.
"Had we not had guns, how would this situation have turned out? Probably much more badly than what happened."
[and the reporter still would prefer you "not to try this at home.
]
http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20081014/OPINION06/810140342/1069/newsfront
I hesitate to even repeat his story, fearing you might try this at home.
Born and raised in Woodbridge, the 46-year-old Babecki moved to Coosa County, Ala., in December 2007 and was married on May 3. Shortly after midnight on May 29, he heard the unmistakable noise of someone breaking into his mobile home. He reached for his loaded handgun next to his bed, and shouted to his wife Heather to grab her rifle.
The intruder entered their bedroom, and fired a shot into the floor. Babecki figures the bad guy wanted to intimidate them, not knowing they were armed. While Babecki fumbled with the fanny pack that contained his gun, his wife pointed her rifle at the intruder.
According to Babecki, his wife would have fired the rifle, except that she feared she might kill her pet birds in their cage right outside the bedroom.
"I didn't know his intention was, except when he saw two people pointing guns at him he left," said Babecki, who returned to Woodbridge this month to deal with matters involving the recent death of his father.
Ken Whitehead, the deputy chief of the Coosa County sheriff's department, said Babecki and his wife are doing the right thing by having guns, and the proper permits, in the home.
"I've got no problem with that. If somebody comes into my home like that, I do what I have to do to protect my family," said Whitehead.
An acquaintance of Babecki said he got wind of an initiation rite among gangs in rural Alabama — that in order to join the gang someone had to pull off an armed robbery.
Whitehead suspected it was just the work of a lone intruder. "You've got your little thugs, the wannabes I call them. They want to be bad, but there's nothing like the Bloods and the Crips here."
Whitehead described Coosa County as being "very small and very rural," with only about 16,000 residents. "If you don't like farms and woods, this is not for you."
Babecki, who lives on 9 acres, said he's getting used to rural Alabama, where he wore shorts all last winter because the weather was so mild compared to New Jersey.
"In some ways, I do lament being in the middle of nowhere," he said. "But that's a small tradeoff because I found my soulmate."
He explained that when they called 911 after the intruder fled, it took about 45 minutes for a sheriff's officer to arrive. "Here (in Woodbridge), the cops would be at the house in three minutes. There (in Coosa County) you're on your own."
Telling his story makes me skittish. It will be interpreted by some as another reason to have a loaded weapon on the bed stand. Babecki said his gun and his wife's rifle were very much loaded. "It's like having a car. You put gas in it, don't you?"
According to The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence — an organization begun by James Brady and his wife after Brady was paralyzed in 1981 during the failed assassination attempt on President Reagan — a gun in the home is far more likely to cause unintended harm than anything good.
Among the campaign's bullet points:
The risk of homicide in the home is three times greater in households with guns.
The risk of suicide is five times greater in households with guns.
A gun in the home increases the possibility of an unintentional shooting, particularly among children. The unintentional gun-related death rate for children under 14 is nines higher in the United States than the average of other Western industrial nations.
Babecki is familiar with the arguments.
"People don't know proper gun safety," he said. "Kids play with matches, they find poison under the sink. You have to understand safety in the house."
"My goal is not to kill someone — let me make that perfectly clear. Our having guns in the house is to deter someone, which is exactly what happened," he said.
"Had we not had guns, how would this situation have turned out? Probably much more badly than what happened."
[and the reporter still would prefer you "not to try this at home.
]http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20081014/OPINION06/810140342/1069/newsfront
