The Daily Caller News Foundation analyzed 195 cases where gun owners used their firearms to successfully defend themselves from criminals, and we found a surprising number of kids defended themselves by pulling the trigger.
In light of President Barack Obama’s executive action on gun control Tuesday, TheDCNF looked at incidents in a period between July 2014 and July 2015. From our analysis, we’ve compiled five of the most incredible times kids protected themselves and their families from criminals by pulling out a gun.
1: A 17-year-old girl was home with her mother in Vicksburg, Miss. when a gunman broke into their home around 5 a.m. The intruder held the women at gunpoint, tied them up, and robbed them. When the robber left the room, the women untied themselves and the 17-year-old ran for a gun they had in the house and shot at the intruder. The criminal exchanged gunfire with the girl. Finally, the intruder fled and no one was harmed.
“It will be a long time before we don’t think about it constantly,” the girl’s mother told MSNewsNow.
2: A 14-year-old boy in North Carolina protected himself and his grandmother when an intruder broke into their home in December 2014. The boy’s father had been killed in 2008 by a robbery homicide, but when a man tried to break into the house this time, the boy grabbed his grandparents’ shotgun and fatally shot the home invader three times.
“I said who is it and he wouldn’t stop,” the teen can be heard saying on the 9-1-1 call. ““He broke my grandma’s window so I shot three times.”
The house had been robbed twice in the previous month.
“What would have happened if he wasn’t there?” the boy’s grandmother told WBTV.
3: An 11-year-old girl in Lapeer County, Mich. was home alone in January of last year when two intruders broke into her home. The girl hid in the closet and took her shotgun with her, MLive reports. When the criminals opened the closet door, all she had to do was point the shotgun straight ahead. The suspects fled and the girl was unharmed. Police arrested a man and a woman later that day.
“I pointed it in his face and they ran off as soon as I did,” the girl told WEYI.
4: A 15-year-old boy in Butler County, Ohio used his firearm to help stop a criminal on the loose in October 2014. Police had arrested a burglar, but the criminal escaped and broke into the house of the 15-year-old boy, who was home alone. The boy noticed the intruder had a knife on him, but he grabbed a gun, pointed it at the criminal, and ordered him to leave. The man fled only to caught by police just outside the home.
“I feel pretty good about it that I could have saved other people’s houses and their property,” the teen told 14News.
5: In September 2014, an 11-year-old Oklahoma girl awoke around 4 a.m. to find that a man had broken into her home and stabbed her mother. The girl grabbed a handgun and shot the man twice, saving her mother’s life. The mother said she had just taught the daughter how to use the gun for self-defense the week before.
She “did the right thing, I don’t care what anybody says,” the girl’s neighbor told NewsOK. “She saved her mother and her brothers and sisters.”
These cases are just a few of many Americans using guns to save themselves. Other similar examples and an interactive graphic are available here.
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