Woman's gun may have saved her life

The Oakland Press ^ | March 20, 2004 | Stephen Frye

[OldBlondBabe]

Four years ago, she was helpless as a man robbed her at gunpoint. On Friday, legally armed with a handgun, she may have saved her life. And Farmington Hills Police Chief William Dwyer, who dreaded a change in the law in 2001 to make it easier to receive a concealed weapons permit, admits that he's changing his mind about that law.

Dwyer said the woman could easily have been killed after she was targeted by a couple looking for an easy score. They were waiting at 6:30 a.m. outside an office building at the southeast corner of 12 Mile and Drake roads.

Angela, a married mother of two, was arriving at the office where she has worked for six years. She asked that her last name and hometown not be made public.

She saw a car in the lot that she did not recognize, with two people inside, putting her on her guard. When she left her car, a man got out of that car and walked toward her.

He passed the entrance to the building and continued toward her. The man came within 10 feet of her, and she knew she had to act.

"I didn't get a chance to get in the office," she said. "He had his hands in his pocket with his hood pulled up. I opened my purse and pulled my gun out.

"I felt my life was in trouble. The first instinct was to pull out my gun."

The man turned tail and walked away, and the car pulled up to him near the roadway. He jumped in and they drove off.

No shots were fired.

Dwyer said there was "no question" she was in trouble.

"She took the appropriate action," Dwyer said. "She probably saved her life. She is a very fortunate young lady. (Also) she did an excellent job as far as giving a description of the vehicle and the suspect. She's a very courageous young lady."

Her calm demeanor and quick thinking - she called police from her cell phone immediately after the suspect drove off - led police to the man and his female accomplice within a minute of the robbery attempt, Dwyer said.

He said the couple - a 21-year-old man and a 28-year-old woman from Detroit - would be charged with conspiracy to commit armed robbery.

Police confiscated a loaded 9 mm handgun from the couple's car. The man has several outstanding warrants and the woman was convicted for receiving stolen property.

Later Friday, Dwyer said a 28-year-old Southfield woman who knows Angela had been arrested for setting up her robbery.

Police are seeking a fourth suspect.

Dwyer, who as head of the state's police chief's association opposed the change in state law that made it easier for residents without criminal backgrounds to carry guns, acknowledges that the law has saved at least one person.

"I always said the CCW (Carrying a Concealed Weapon permit) legislation is somewhat controversial," he said. "I'm certainly rethinking it."

He credited her for taking the appropriate training and, equally important, using common sense.

"I'm just a woman," Angela said. "You hear about things like this. I didn't want to be a victim again."

[OldBlondBabe]

Another one for the good guys (gals).

(I don't post much, so I hope I did this right.)

[EdReform]

Bump

[meatloaf]

You did good!

[Samwise]

And Farmington Hills Police Chief William Dwyer, who dreaded a change in the law in 2001 to make it easier to receive a concealed weapons permit, admits that he's changing his mind about that law.

I don't understand why someone in law enforcement would even consider disarming the noncriminals. They see the bad guys. You'd think they'd want us to protect ourselves. I guess it's because they don't visit the millions of decent people sleeping quietly in their homes at night, they see only the perps on the street.

[coloradan]

Good news from Michigan.

[Batrachian]

"Woman's gun may have saved her life"

What a strange title. How about "Woman defends herself with gun"? This is like those stories about how an "SUV goes out of control and hits a tree", or something like that.

People use objects. The objects don't, in this sense, use themselves. Is there a subtle bit of thought control going on here?

[New Horizon]

And Farmington Hills Police Chief William Dwyer, who dreaded a change in the law in 2001 to make it easier to receive a concealed weapons permit, admits that he's changing his mind about that law.

Most excellent. These perps have learned a lesson...if this isn't proof-positive for the Second Amendment, I don't know what is.

I work at 12 Mile and Halsted, about a mile away. If I knew who she was I would go and congratulate her personally.

Well, maybe not...she's got a gun.

[Teacher317]

Well, maybe not...she's got a gun.

ROFL! Well, an armed society IS a polite society, after all!

[ExSoldier]

"You'd think they'd want us to protect ourselves."

First of all, the International Association of Chiefs of Police is a notorious anti-gun organization as are almost all administrator level cops. NOT the street cops usually, although that is changing. For the "Chiefs" it is indoctrination to the notion that a "police state" is the most crime free situation. Many fail to see beyond this to see the inherent evil of such a society.

Next, the reason that many MANY of the formerly pro-gun street cops are becoming anti-gun is that the old guard street cops who entered the force straight from the military are retiring and the new pups are increasingly products of recent public education and many have college degrees with even more anti-gun rhetoric inside their brainwashed noggins.

NOW, think of our military forces being products of public schools as well. I fear that the final barrier to preserve our freedom in case of a revolution is rapidly disappearing. We used to believe that in the event of a Clinton style usurption of the Constitution and a call to confiscate citizen guns by force (maybe even under color of law) that much of the military would split away from the tyrants and fight for freedom, for the Constitution. But when you intentionally fail to teach the Bill of Rights and the true meaning of the Constitution on a nationwide scale then you create a race of stupid automotons who will indeed kill citizens in the act of taking away their freedoms because they are only "following orders."

[Wilhelm Tell]

I just love the leftists who say that a 90 year old woman in a wheelchair just has to take karate classes in order to fend off a criminal, and that all women are too emotional and too likely to panic in an emergency to be trusted with a gun. I've even heard leftists say that a gun is a complicated mechanical thing that few women would be able to understand, so we need to ban guns in order to protect women from themselves. And don't forget that many (not all) leftists are rushing to defend societies that oppress women, as long as those socities are anti-American. It's amazing how the leftists sound like Archie Bunker when it suits their agenda.

[Poser]

Bump a pro-gun article.

[jocon307]

Ditto the other poster, good job, good find, excellent post!

[Feckless]

Bulldog bump.

[Shooter 2.5]

With the World Wide Web showing the news to so many people, it will help if the media would include the State and not just the city.

[dirtboy]

"I felt my life was in trouble. The first instinct was to pull out my gun."

The man turned tail and walked away, and the car pulled up to him near the roadway. He jumped in and they drove off.

No shots were fired.

But ... but ... but ... the VPC tells us that you can't use a gun to deter a crime without shooting someone! What gives?

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

People use objects. The objects don't, in this sense, use themselves.

I dunno. Here's one guy who may think otherwise.

Click here for the Gun-cam.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

If I were a criminal, I would DEMAND gun control legislation from my crooked DEMO(N)cRAT legislators.

[Wilhelm Tell]

What a strange title. How about "Woman defends herself with gun"?

It is so ingrained in people's thinking that I doubt it is intentional. There is a core belief that people are just random bits of matter that react when encountering other random bits of matter, whether these other random bits of matter be an SUV or a tropical forest or other people. According to this theory, people do not act with intention or intelligence, they are just mindless robots that react the way their environment forces them to. This leads to a superstitious way of thinking where people are the helpless "victims" of "bad" things like guns, SUVs, etc.

[coloradan]

I've even heard leftists say that a gun is a complicated mechanical thing that few women would be able to understand, so we need to ban guns in order to protect women from themselves.

... at the same time that they also say guns are so simple to operate that children need to be kept from getting at them, hence the need for lock-up-your-safety laws.

[NonValueAdded]

Great post of an important story. Quality is always better than quantity.

[Gritty]

"I always said the CCW (Carrying a Concealed Weapon permit) legislation is somewhat controversial," (Dwyer, head of the state's police chief's association) said. "I'm certainly rethinking it."

Good news on all fronts!

[Zack Nguyen]

Impossible. Guns only murder. The woman should have stopped and called the police. /sarcasm.

[steplock]

"Is there a subtle bit of thought control going on here?"

It's nice to see others beginning to see the undertone propaganda techiniques!

It places "blame" or "credit" on other than people. Otherwise it would show that Americans have responsibilities for themselves. Unless you are a "white male" - then it is ALWAYS your fault!

If a person is an "accepted minority" then the articles will give him/her/them "credit" - but NEVER "blame"

Non-politically-correct inanimate objects will be given "life" to seperate the object from the fact that it is people who control those same objects - We have to DEMONIZE them.

Many more subtle techniques at work

[New Horizon]

I love that gun. I am working to get one...not too expensive, either. Does it kick like a mule?

I have a Ruger .44 Mag rifle and I believe I can use that ammo in both.

[HighWheeler]

She should have called 911 instead. The guy also would have run when he saw her pull out her phone and start calling. We don't need CCW when we have cell phones and 911.

< /sarcasm>

[budwiesest]

Considering gun manufacturers have been targeted for lawsuits when one of their weapons is used in a crime, and the mental-leap one has to make to conclude that this makes any sense at all, I'd rather sue any and all legislators who sign any bill limiting law-abiding citizens from their choice of self defense weapon when they subsequently fall victim to crime.

Their complicity in every rape, robbery, assualt, and murder can be demonstrated in every case where the victim is unarmed and offers zero deterrence to criminals.

[Hat-Trick]

... But when you intentionally fail to teach the Bill of Rights and the true meaning of the Constitution on a nationwide scale then you create a race of stupid automotons who will indeed kill citizens in the act of taking away their freedoms because they are only "following orders."

Jeff Snyder, in his book "Nation of Cowards", makes the statement:

"If a people will renounce, and cede to their government the very responsibility to protect their own lives, and by extension, those of their loved ones, and the right to own and use the means necessary to fulfill that obligation, then there is nothing, nothing, that whey will not cede to the government."

This is what will happen when our Nation's true history isn't taught to our children.

[Feckless]

I have 2, an old blue original Charter Arms (the original Co) and the Stainless Sunday-go-to-meeting gun from the new company. You can shoot 44 SPL in a 44 Mag but 44 Mag will not chamber in 44 SPL. Just buy a hand grenade, instead :->
Recoil is pretty substantial, but not unmanageable. I shot 248 out of 250 on my CCW recert. Fully loaded it weighs almost twice what it does empty so the recoil is pretty hefty on the last shot.
It's in my night stand and I plan to sell or trade it cause I fell in love with my wife's Taurus Model 85 38SPL+P. I can shoot better at twice the range with it. Had to buy her one in SS Ultalite to get hers.

[cpdiii]

COLT the original point and click interface. :)

[Zack Nguyen]

According to this theory, people do not act with intention or intelligence, they are just mindless robots that react the way their environment forces them to.

That's a really good point. Not to get too philosophical here, but that naturalist worldview undergirds Communism. Not a coincidence!

[monocle]

What they ar tacitly saying is that most women are merely children.

[navygal]

Society is safer when people don't know who is armed.

[paul51]

Be careful. I think I saw it move.

[First_Salute]

Case strikes close to home.

I'm seeing more and more of these "confidence people" approaching people at highway fast-food stores, in the parking lot, they'll drive up to you and "innocently ask (maybe, "aks") you, "Excuse me ____ (Sir or Ma'am), could you tell me something?"

My response has been an immediate and definite, "No!"

Yet, after going into the store and coming back to my car, I can see that their car has wandered off to another fast-food store or truck stop, where they again approach people who have just gotten out of their car or truck.

So I've been making a pain in the ass out of myself (not news, here, I suppose) by alerting the fast-food store managers to such instances, in the hopes that, if anybody comes in and begins to tell the store manager(s) about some odd occurence in the parking lot, to IMMEDIATELY call the Highway Patrol and get them to grab that car and occupants and spill their beans!

These "confidence people" quite often use the scheme that they are such and such miles from home and need just a little money to get there; Could you ... ?

Don't give them anything; don't even begin to reach for any money.

Tell them that if they are having an emergency, to go into that store right there and ask the manager to call the police, who will know how to assist them.

Well, of course, these "confidence people" do not want that!

As a fellow who does not carry any gun and won't, because I do not want to shoot anybody, I must confess that lately, the last occasion of this, the guy of the guy - girl "confidence team" approached me so fast, that in about another half-second, I would have pulled out the tennis racket and nailed him.

But of course, then, his attorney would have been, David Boise, or Lanny Davis, or Sidney Bluementhal, or Al Sharpton and mine would be pro-bono, Martha Stewarts, so that, given my relative wealth (1990 Mercury badly in need of a paint job, apartment full of junk, pants in need of a seamstress, no, I'm not making this up), I'd be the one who was "unfair" and "exclusive" and "insensitive" and "meanspirited" and Oh Yes, I do carry a U.S. Flag inside the back window, so you can throw away the jailhouse keys, because it is like that I am a Republican, too.

Guilty.

Guilty.

Guilty.

I'm also not married, so I guess I'm "a loner."

Boo!

I'm your worst nightmare, because I tried to save you from the two "confidence people," be they Bill and Hillary or, well, probably their names really are Bill and Hillary.

I did not look close enough --- I did not want to get close enough!

[nickcarraway]

BUMP

[Lurker]

My wife has the Taurus in .44 Spl, the titanium model. She has no problem controlling it.

Now as far as your ammo question goes, you can use the .44 spl ammo in your Ruger .44 mag, but the reverse is definetely NOT true.

L

[Not now, Not ever!]

Unless, your cellphone has a dead battery or goes out of range/no service on you.

[NRA2BFree]

"I'm just a woman," Angela said. "You hear about things like this. I didn't want to be a victim again."

I admire the way she handled the whole situation. She's definitely a hero to all of us women. I sure hope I can act with the same cool head if I'm ever in the same situation. My guess is that criminals should stay away from me, just in case. lol.

[HighWheeler]

Then she could point her cell phone at him like a gun and make him run, or just go throught the motions of making the 911 call. Either way he would run, proving that CCW is not needed.

< /sarcasm>

[goldstategop]

Gary Gleck has pointed out in more than 99% of civilian confrontations with criminals in this country, shots were rarely fired. All it usually took was showing a gun to make the criminal desist. Now that's fact the gun banners don't want the public to be aware of. In real life, dramatic shootouts like one sees on TV shows are rare.

[Shooter 2.5]

Either way he would run, proving that CCW is not needed.

First, you need proof that he would run.

[longtermmemmory]

(s)the woman will now be sentecnce to sensitivity training to being ecconomically discriminatory to the plight of criminals.(/s)

[Paleo Conservative]

"I felt my life was in trouble. The first instinct was to pull out my gun."

The man turned tail and walked away, and the car pulled up to him near the roadway. He jumped in and they drove off.

Too bad she didn't shoot this vermin. He'll just move on to some easier prey.

[HighWheeler]

Ask a lib. They can tell you matter-of-fact that the perp would run like a banshee if he saw you even trying to call 911.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Be careful. I think I saw it move.

[El Gato]

As a fellow who does not carry any gun and won't, because I do not want to shoot anybody,

Very few people who do carry a gun "want" to shoot anybody,I certainly don't (unless you include Osama, him I want to shoot) anymore than they want to put out a fire. Still they might need to do either someday, and without the appropriate tools, they wouldn't be able to do so.

[coloradan]

No, they are beneath children because guns "are so easy to operate even for children (that therefore...)" while yet saying guns "are too complicated for women."

[El Gato]

Yet, after going into the store and coming back to my car, I can see that their car has wandered off to another fast-food store or truck stop, where they again approach people who have just gotten out of their car or truck. So I've been making a pain in the ass out of myself (not news, here, I suppose) by alerting the fast-food store managers to such instances, in the hopes that, if anybody comes in and begins to tell the store manager(s) about some odd occurence in the parking lot, to IMMEDIATELY call the Highway Patrol and get them to grab that car and occupants and spill their beans! These "confidence people" quite often use the scheme that they are such and such miles from home and need just a little money to get there; Could you ... ? Don't give them anything; don't even begin to reach for any money.

Happened to me just last Thursday. A punk kid claiming to want to sell me some cologne. (I don't look like the cologne type, and in any event it makes my wife sneeze :) ). He started coming toward my car as I was getting out of it. Then he saw the "Texas State Rifle Association" "Raging Bull" sticker on the back window and backed off, although keeping up his spiel. As I advanced toward him but also cowards the entrance to the "The Crazy Chicken", he retreated to an older car containing three more punk kids. They pulled right out after that. It probably doesn't hurt that I weigh around 300 pounds either, he probably was less than half of that, maybe 30 or 40 pounds less. I'm also told, by a Tejano friend of long standing, that I resemble Pancho Villa, even though I've not a drop of Latin American blood in me (I may have some Spanish ancestry, my grandfather's middle name was Carlos, and he was adopted out after his parents both died, and the last name he took was his stepfather's. Pancho Villa probably had some German ancestry considering his father's name, so I guess there could be some wider genetic convergence there.)

[Larry Lucido]

Dwyer, who as head of the state's police chief's association opposed the change in state law that made it easier for residents without criminal backgrounds to carry guns, acknowledges that the law has saved at least one person.

"I always said the CCW (Carrying a Concealed Weapon permit) legislation is somewhat controversial," he said. "I'm certainly rethinking it."

This is significant. Notwithstanding his (previous) opposition to concealed carry, Bill Dwyer has a reputation as an honorable man. A few members of the MACP (the chief's association) had dissented from the organization's stand. Not holding my breath, but over time we may see more converts.

[paul51]

She should have called 911 instead

Yeah, if you're lucky, the cops will show up before you bleed to death.