Thursday, December 13, 2007

A Woman With a Gun

From KNBC:

A female homeowner who shot a male intruder in her back yard in October 2006 spoke to KNBC's Laurel Erickson on Wednesday, one day after a jury found the man guilty of all charges.

Nadine Teter shot Michael Lugo twice in the stomach and once in the leg after he broke into her Canyon Country home

Lugo broke the lock on Teter's door and barged in. She fled to the back yard with her gun, according to police.

"He was coming at me. He was yelling. I shot him to stop him," Teter said. "He went down. He got back up. Came back at me. I shot him again. I shot him again, and he turned around and jumped back over the fence. (He) disappeared."

Teter testified against Lugo and his mother, Cynthia Brandon, who drove the getaway car during the Oct. 18, 2006, attack. Both were convicted Tuesday.

While Teter talked to law enforcement that night, Brandon flagged down a deputy heading to Teter. She told him her son was bleeding to death.

"It was terrifying, absolutely terrifying," Teter said.

"Did you have any second thoughts about testifying against him out of fear for yourself?" Erickson asked.

"A little bit, but I knew I had to do it. We needed to get him locked up, put away," Teter said.

Teter said she thinks that every woman should carry a gun.

"Never in a million years, did I think I would use (the gun) -- never. And whatever higher power, whatever gave me the strength to pull that trigger ... You're looking at him or me. My life or his life. I was not going to get raped. I was not going to get murdered. There was no way -- and I didn't," Teter said.

Teter said she was grateful to all the people who helped convict Lugo.

"You know, for something as horrible as this to happen, it could not have ended up any better," Teter said.

Lugo and his mother face sentencing on Feb. 29.
Not every woman or man should be able to own a gun. Former felons, people with histories of violent acting out because of mental illness and certain others ought not to have access to guns in most circumstances.

But average citizens properly licenced?

Sure. Let them have the same chance to defend themselves as Nadine Teter did.

But what about people opposed to gun ownership by responsible citizens?

Well, they don’t have to own a gun, do they?

And they can put big signs on their lawns or apartment doors: “NO GUNS HERE.”

Final word: My wife and I talked it over.

Based on the KNBC story we’d like Teter for a neighbor. And we’d want the bad guys to know she was.

Hat tip: Instapundit.com

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

I grew up in a household where guns were commonplace. We hunted, we plinked tin cans, we were prepared, if necessary, to defend our home. At no time did it ever occur to me or my brothers or any of our friends to use our guns to avenge wrongs or to intimidate other people. Today, it seems painfully commonplace for people to pick up a gun and start blowing people away for any minor reason--sometimes with NO reason. What's changed? Human life today is cheap; video games and movies are chock-full of blood and gore. Young children wear out their fingers mowing down armies of other humans on their video games. Where once we settled arguments with a playground tussle and a handshake after the loser says "uncle," now kids pick up an AK47 and clear out a mall. THAT's what's changed--it isn't about guns, it's about a fundamental lack of morality in today's youth.