In Aurora, Colorado a home invasion was stopped by armed occupants of the targeted house.
Two armed men broke into a house where two other armed men were staying. The result? One armed invader arrested after checking into a hospital to have his wounds treated the other still on the run. No injuries to the occupants from what is reported & because of Colorado's laws concerning defense of home & self there probably won't be any charges pressed against the occupants.
Oh, the occupant that nicked the bad guy? He was a teenager. Remember that the next time anyone proposes or advocates a law that would require locked storage of firearms when an adult is not present. True, the other occupant may have been an adult but then again it could have been two teenagers in the house.
This occured while Denver is going through a bit of a crime wave. & what does Denver Police Chief Fisher complain about when the murder rate seems to be climbing?
"Look at the guns,' Fisher said. 'Look at the prevalence of guns in the hands of criminals in our society."
Newsflash - criminals, or rather those criminals with harmful intent, will always be able to find weapons suitable to their ends.
The above linked article claims that "dozens of guns" were used to achieve the 61 homicides we've had so far this year in Denver. In that "dozens" figure they also include three shootings by police while on duty, so I assume that cases of justifiable homicide such as the example at the beginning of this post would be included as well.
The main point of the article is that crime is on the increase while police numbers are proportionally at a low, hence we need more cops on the street. But the undoing of that conclusion is found in a quote from a man who lives near a crime scene:
"If there was more of a community, there'd be a lot less crime around here,' said Jorge Lopez, 21...'If they could only get the community a little more involved, bring it together, it would make it a safer place to be."
That's the real solution, as much as a solution can be offered. Nothing we do will totally eliminate crime. we can do things to make it less common. One of the most important things is to make the people in an area aware that they, not the police, the mayor, the National Guard or any other entity, are responsible for their own safety & the safety of their community. Teach people to not call the cops to take care of a problem, but to call the cops when they think they'll need help taking care of the problem. The solution involves not just being a good witnesses, but trying to stop crime where you think you can.
Is the position I'm advocating dangerous? Damn right. But not anymore than living in a place where crime is merely accepted. When people start taking responsibility for their own safety that provides a deterent to crime that can't be matched by a cop cruising by once or twice a day.
The good people in that home in Aurora realized that it was up to them to protect themselves. There simply wasn't time for Dial-A-Prayer 911. It's too bad that the people in Daytona Beach didn't grasp that simple lesson in time.