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Links I Like
Book Review:
“The Man Who
Hated Work and Loved Labor — The Life and Times of Tony Mazzocchi”
This is a fascinating book about a labor leader who has had tremendous
influence on our lives, but whose name is not even known by millions of
Americans. Please read my review.
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From:
The American Rifleman
December, 1995
Studies indicate that firearms are used over two million times a year for personal
protection, and that the presence of a firearm, without a shot being fired, prevents crime
in many instances. Shooting usually can be justified only where crime constitutes an
immediate imminent threat to life limb or in some cases property. Anyone is free to quote
or reproduce these accounts. Send clippings to: "The Armed Citizen," 11250
Waples Mill Rd., Fairfax, VA 22030December, 1995
Police believe the man who abducted a Shasta County, California, woman at knife point
and forced her to drive her vehicle to a remote location may have been intending to
sexually assault her. Instead, when the scruffy would-be rapist stepped from the car for a
moment, the woman retrieved a pistol and shot at the man, who fled into the darkness. (The
Record Searchlight, Redding, CA, 7/28/95)
With police already on the lookout, Scott Fitzgerald decided to join in the search for
a would-be housebreaker who had attempted to break into his East Bridgewater,
Massachusetts, home where his wife and seven-week-old daughter had been. Fitzgerald
spotted the thug in a church yard, gathering his loot from a previous burglary, and
confronted him with his 9 mm semi-auto. Despite being told to "Freeze," the
criminal dashed into some nearby woods. Fitzgerald alerted the police, who arrested the
crook after he was sniffed out by a police dog. (The Herald, Boston, MA, 9/14/95)
One crook had already charged out of the Broomfield, Colorado, liquor store with a case
of beer tucked under his arm, when a second tried to follow, toting a bottle of rum and a
canister of pepper spray. The clerk put a quick end to the second thief's plans of escape,
however, by drawing down on the young crook with a .45 cal. semi-automatic pistol and
holding him for police. (The Enterprise, Broomfield, CO, 8/17/95)
Ninety-two-year-old Conrad Schwarzkopf had been sleeping in his Long Island, New York,
home when a punk four times his junior barged into his bedroom and began beating him up.
Schwarzkopf tried to fight back, but was just no match for the younger man, and wound up
being tossed into a closet. There, as the man ransacked the house searching for money,
Schwarzkopf found the semi-automatic pistol he kept in the closet and emerged from its
darkness firing, striking his assailant in the hand and chest. The injured criminal
immediately ran to a nearby pay phone where he called police and confessed to robbing a
house and being shot by the homeowner. (The Times, New York, NY, 9/7195)
A Hamden, Connecticut, man tried every way possible to force a pit bull to release his
Pekinese puppy from its jaws, including biting the huge, aggressive dog in the head
himself. Finally, after a 10-minute struggle, John Phillips drew his pistol and shot the
pit bull, killing it. (The Courant, Hartford, CT, 8/30/95)
Carla McCoy, a 19-year-old college student, was at her parents' Covington, Georgia,
home when she was alerted to a strange man attempting to enter the house through a window.
McCoy grabbed a .38, called 911, and then went downstairs to investigate. Reaching the
living room, she encountered the intruder, who, at the sight of the gun, begged her not to
shoot him and immediately exited the residence from the same window he had entered. McCoy
never even had to point the gun at the frightened invader. "I'm extremely thankful
that nothing happened here," said the student's father. "The fact that she was
armed had something to do with that." (The News, Covington, GA, 8/24/95)
When Maria Fernandez hesitated in opening the cash register for the armed robber before
her, he reached across the counter to open it himself. The momentary diversion gave
Fernandez's husband, Santiago, 76, the chance he needed to stride from the rear of the
small Elizabeth, New Jersey, grocery store and shoot the man with his .38. Injured, the
crook dropped his gun and ran from the store. He was later arrested at a hospital. (The
Star-Ledger, Elizabeth, NJ, 7/6/95)
The life of a gang member suspected of participating in as many as seven armed
robberies in Fort Wayne, Indiana, came to its inevitable end after an employee of a pawn
shop he was holding up fatally shot him. His two accomplices quickly fled the scene. Said
Det. Al Glock about the store employee: "That man knows what his rights are and he's
willing to go to the utmost degree to protect his rights. I respect him greatly for
standing up for what he knows is right. I think that (the shooting) not only is totally
justifiable, but it sends a good, clear, strong message that if you're going to play the
game, you're going to pay the price." (The News Sentinel, Fort Wayne, IN, 8/17/95)
At the sound of screams, 15-year-old Derek Lohman looked out the window of his Washoe
Valley, Nevada, home and saw his elderly neighbor being viciously mauled by the man's own
dog. Lohman instantly grabbed the pellet gun he had received as a birthday present and
charged to the rescue, shooting the dog more than 10 times before the wounded animal gave
up its relentless attack. Lohman then lifted his seriously wounded neighbor over a fence
and carried him to safety. (The Gazette-Journal, Reno, NV, 9/20/95)
An attack in a Big Coppit Key, Florida, apartment turned into a free-for-all after the
assailant's hammer broke as he struck a sleeping man in the head. The victim and his
girlfriend awoke and began struggling with the intruder, who then retreated to a bathroom
where he locked the door. A houseguest, who had been sleeping on the couch, was awakened
by the commotion, grabbed his host's firearm and kicked in the bathroom door. He held the
suspect for the police. (The Lower Keys Barometer, Big Pine Key, FL, 7/13/95)
Knocked to the floor of his Corinth, Mississippi, home by a knife-wielding attacker and
told that he was about to be killed, the 80-year-old man offered his money and car keys to
the thug in hopes of appeasing him. It was to no avail, however, as the assailant forced
the man to a bedroom and again informed him he was about to die. When his tormentor
momentarily left the room, the elderly man took his only chance for survival. Grabbing his
.38, he charged into the hall and loosed two rounds at his attacker, who immediately fled
the home. (The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo, MS, 9/26/95)
If you have had a firsthand “Armed Citizen” experience,
call NRA-ILA Grassroots at (800) 392-8683.
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