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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.

From:
The American Rifleman
July, 1999

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 22030

James Rowlan, 70, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, had just finished taking a shower one evening and his wife, Fannie, was following suit when someone rang the front doorbell and knocked loudly. Rowlan went to check and met a youth poking his head inside to survey the home and asking if “Mike” lived there. Before Rowlan had time to let his suspicions turn to warnings, the armed youth and an accomplice broke the storm door lock and barged inside. That’s when Rowlan instructed his wife to barricade herself in the bathroom and pretended to watch helplessly as the robbers ransacked the couple’s bedroom. Little did they know Rowlan had inched toward the nightstand where he kept a gun for protection. “Their gun was much smaller. So they were scared off by my husband’s gun,” said Fannie Rowlan after the ordeal. The two thugs “took off so fast they broke the chain on the storm door” said James Rowlan. (The Daily Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, OK, 3/26/99)

Placerville, California, market owner J.B. Smith had closed his store for the day one Saturday when he heard scraping at the back door. Smith watched as a man entered and grabbed a handful of money from the cash register. Surprising the robber, Smith, with his semi-automatic pistol in hand, told him to freeze. The incident would have been the sixth burglary at the store, but Smith had halted it by camping out for more than a week in an effort to catch the thief. (Mountain Democrat, Placerville, CA, 3/11/99)

Florida neighbors Art Terry and Donald Thweatt, both 53, knew they couldn’t beat the three suspected auto thieves in a foot race, but both had Glock pistols and were confident they could handle a violent confrontation. While talking outside their homes before midnight one Tuesday, they responded to the sound of an alarm at a nearby car lot. After giving chase, the pair confronted three boys who had hopped in a stolen van. When police arrived, the suspects were “laid out like dogs,” said Terry. The men planned to donate a $100 reward in the case to the NRA. (The Tampa Tribune, Tampa, FL, 4/27/99)

Three people armed with a handgun entered the rural, south central Kentucky home of Harold Clontz early one morning and proceeded to club the 55-year-old, duct-tape his hands and steal several hundred dollars from his wallet, according to authorities. What the trio hadn’t counted on was that another man who lived with Clontz was in a back bedroom at the time of the invasion, and was himself armed-with a 12-ga. shotgun. “He heard the commotion and came out and commenced firing,” said Laurel county Sheriff Gene Hollon. When the smoke cleared, one of the intruders was dead, another was in critical condition and the third fled only to be caught by police later the same day. (Lexington Herald-Leader, Lexington, KY, 4/20/99)

Lela Phillips, 66, was awakened by a noise in her Michigan home one evening and moments later was confronted by a 20-year-old man who informed her, “this [is] a stickup,” according to Benton Township Detective Delmar Lange. “[She] told him ‘damn right it’s a stickup’ and pointed [a handgun] at him,” said Lange. The man turned and fled immediately. It turns out that a man had come to Phillips’ home twice that same day and, on the second occasion, had asked to use her phone-a courtesy she denied him because of her suspicion. (The Herald Palladium, St. Joseph, MI, 4/21/99)

For reasons that may never be known, John Michael Levi turned on his White Post, Virginia, neighbors one day in a rampage that jeopardized the lives of a couple and their three children. The mother had already compiled for police a 19-page typed log chronicling Levi’s offenses, which included minor acts of vandalism. The situation instantly turned grave, however, one Sunday night when Levi entered the family’s home with a sawed-off shotgun and a pistol threatening to kill everyone. As the mother and two daughters ran upstairs to escape onto the roof, the 15-year-old son and his father scrambled to load the family gun. Levi pursued the father up the stairs, reportedly declaring, “It’s time to die.” The father finally ended the confrontation with a deadly shot of his own. (The Winchester Star, Winchester, VA, 3/2/99)

When a gun-wielding man entered a Phillips 66 store in South Bend, Indiana, intent on robbing the establishment, he became frustrated and fled empty-handed after failing to get the cash drawer open. Unfortunately, the clerk he assaulted in the process was unaware that the “gun" was a water pistol. A nearby armed citizen who saw the entire incident unfold grabbed his real, licensed handgun and gave chase down an alley, catching the perpetrator and holding him until police arrived. (South Bend Tribune, South Bend, IN, 3/3/99)

A disabled man and a legally blind woman were in their Kalama, Washington, home one Friday afternoon when a 31-year-old man who was visiting friends next door forced his way into their residence and jerked the man to the floor. About to punch his helpless victim, the invader was distracted by the woman who pulled on him from behind. As the suspect slammed the woman against a wall, the other resident managed to grab a gun and force his assailant out of the home. The perpetrator later reportedly admitted to the crime and could not give a reason for his actions other than to say he’d had a bad couple of days. (The Daily News, Longview, WA, 5/1/99)

If you have had a firsthand “Armed Citizen” experience,
call NRA-ILA Grassroots at (800) 392-8683.

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Last Updated — June 20, 2008