December 11, 2007 6:10 AM
A brave woman thanks God
The Colorado Springs gunman who began firing in the New Life Church foyer Sunday morning killed only a few people because of the courage and preparedness of one woman. Amazing.
Hero guard: 'It was me, the gunman, and God'
Woman who ended carnage: 'I knew what I had to do'
December 10, 2007
by Bob Unruh
DENVER – The female security guard who shot and stopped a gunman at a Colorado Springs church yesterday is crediting God for helping her to resolve the threat by killing the assailant.Jeanne Assam, was hailed by Pastor Brady Boyd with saving many lives in her quick response to gunshots fired at the New Life Church.
"I give the credit to God and I mean that I say that very humbly, God was with me the whole time I was behind cover," she told reporters. "It seemed like it was me, the gunman, and God."
Read entire article here.
Tripp has taken me to the firing range before but it was not my cup of tea. I've been thinking lately that not only would I like to get over my fear of guns, but I'd like him to teach our daughters to shoot too. I wonder how many women have fended off attacks because they were prepared to meet them?
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Comments
Barbara - I have been thinking the same thing lately. On the one hand, I'm alone with my children sometimes and I need to be able to protect them. But it's very scary to me to have a gun around small children. As a matter of fact, when our first was born I begged my husband to get rid of his gun..now I'm not sure that was wise. My dad is an expert marksman and I know I could be well trained. I'm wrestling with a decision of which keeps my children safest. The recent shootings at a mall and a church are food for thought.
Posted by: Shannon Miller | December 11, 2007 8:15 AM
Shannon -
I had the same struggle about making peace with guns - which I chronicled at How Barbara Got Her Gun - but I feel so much safer with them in our house. We keep our guns in a safe and there are safety devices on them that have made me feel secure that they can't be misused.
Interestingly enough, I've heard that in countries where citizens are armed and trained in using firearms the crime rate is very low. To me it makes sense that in general the more restrictions you place on guns, the greater the imbalance witll be between honest citizens who abide by the laws and dishonest ones who will have guns anyway and less to worry about from their victims.
Posted by: barbara | December 11, 2007 8:22 AM
Brave woman indeed.
And I agree with the writer, we should not be unprepared just because of our faith. Church buildings should have some kind of security in place. Notice how the writer mentions how many times mass murder has occurred in "gun-free" environments.
Although I'm sure the mainstream media is going to try and twist this around for their own agenda. Has anyone seen anything like that yet?
Posted by: LadyLovas | December 11, 2007 9:06 AM
Barbara, thank you for posting this.
I've been resistant to wanting to know anything about guns, but with every turn I am convinced that we all need to be armed. My husband has many guns in the house -- we have 2 sons, ages 4 and 2. The key thing I've witnessed with safety is to not make the guns so mysterious. Each time my husband has one out, the boys are curious and he answers their questions, lets them touch it if they want, makes them repeat the safety rules, and they go off on their merry way to play.
As a society, we teach our kids about other dangerous things -- we can teach them about gun safety as well. And, we might just save their life with one.
Posted by: Shelley | December 11, 2007 11:28 AM
I can't agree with Barbara more, places where the citizens are armed have less crime. Ever wonder why these shootings always happen in "gun free zone" like schools and malls?
If I have to decide whether my children are safer with me armed versus unarmed, I will take armed every time. The media has drastically overblown the risk of children and guns. If you want to make your home safer for your kids, take out your bathtubs. Substantially more kids drown that are killed in firearm accidents.
Women, you don't have to be victims, you can be heroes as well.
Jeff
Posted by: Jeff | December 11, 2007 11:31 AM
The month after my husband and I were engaged he drove me out to the desert with a selection of weapons from his father's gun locker and taught me how to shoot them. What he said was, "Any wife of mine is going to know how to defend herself, and our children if she needs to."
We jokingly blame it on his white trash roots, but I could load, point and fire pretty much any kind of gun that's legal thanks to that.
I was raised in a family with anabaptist roots so I always wonder if, when push comes to shove I would take the violent route or the pacifist route. I think I'd be more toward violent if my family needs protecting, and pacifist if it was only me. But I don't know that for sure.
Posted by: carrien | December 12, 2007 12:42 AM
Shelley is absolutely right that a major key to gun safety is removing the mystery. My two brothers and I would never have played with my dad's guns or been unsafe with them. My dad, now an Army colonel, has always kept handguns and rifles in the house, and we were taught from a young age the rules of firearms safety, such as never look into the barrel of a gun, keep the safety on at all times till you're ready to fire, and never point a gun at anyone or anything unless you intend to shoot it. We were allowed to play with toy guns, but were expected to follow "real" gun safety rules even with toy guns.
He also familiarized us with guns and how they work by teaching us to disassemble and clean them. I remember being 15 and my brother 13 and with my dad timing us, racing to see who could disassemble and reassemble a pistol faster. (My brother, now he's an Army lieutenant, always won - he has better hand-eye coordination.)
We all took a hunters' safety course, which I would recommend for families whether they intend to hunt or not - it's a great way to get a firearms safety course.
We're familiar with using rifles because we've all gone hunting with my dad.
One other safety key when keeping firearms in your home is to store the guns and ammunition separately. Keep them close enough together that you could load your gun if necessary, but far enough apart that it's a deliberate action to load a clip into the gun.
Posted by: Becky Miller | December 13, 2007 1:09 PM
