22 saves young widow

[Jack O'Conner]

My brother-in-law's sister had this frightening experiance during the Detroit race riots over 30 years ago:

A large crowd had gathered in front of her home. Recently widowed, she was worried about being one of the few caucasian families in the neighborhood although no real problems had ocurred before the riots began.

She gathered both toddler boys into her bedroom and loaded her 22 Marlin. When she heard the door breaking in downstairs she called the Police. She locked the hall door. When her bedroom door was kicked in she fired her rifle at the head of the first guy and then another quick shot into the chest of the next guy. Rest of the bad guys ran out of the house.

One bad guy collapsed on the front sidewalk and died. The little bullet had clipped a main artery in his chest. The other bad guy made his way to the nearest Hospital. He had lost a couple teeth and big portion of his tongue. The bullet had bounced around in his mouth before exiting his cheek where it permanently damaged nerves which control facial muscles. He was arrested and sent back to Prison for parole violation.

While in Prison this bad guy was the brunt of much jokes. His face was paralyzed on one side and he could not talk right, the result of that 22 bullet. Eventually this bad guy got into a fight and was stabbed to death. So it goes.

REST OF THE STORY: The woman and her children were rescued by the Detroit Police. But the crowd burned her house to the ground shortly after the Police left. She rec'd insurance money and re-located to Chadron, Nebraska. She re-married and lives there to this day. She still has that 22 Marlin.

My point is that a 22 semi-auto rifle kept this woman and her children from harm.
Jack

[Javelin Man]

I was thinking the this story must be false. I've been reading these threads for a while and I KNOW you can't defend yourself with anything that doesn't start with a .4, much less a .22. Then I read where she fired twice which makes a .44.

Good for her. I would hope everyone could defend themselves as ably as she did. My first gun was a .22 magnum bolt action Marlin. Still have it 30 years later.

[PythonGuy]

While in Prison this bad guy was the brunt of much jokes. His face was paralyzed on one side and he could not talk right, the result of that 22 bullet. Eventually this bad guy got into a fight and was stabbed to death. So it goes.

Have a friend that's in the joint to keep you posted, do you? I'm always skeptical of stories that arein great detail from low or no post count people. Did you just decide to find a gun forum to post a tale and this seemed like a good one? Flame away all you want, but use common sense.

[Jack O'Conner]

Python guy:
I've never met you yet for some reason rudeness is your first communication to me. But I do not exchange in rude remarks, especially with a stranger.

Fact is, a lightning strike in mid July damaged our home's electrical panel and several circuits. I did not have access to the net for over a month.

I do not have any contacts behind bars. The "rest of the story" was relayed to this lady via the Detective that investigated the crimes. I simply told it like it is. If that is an obstacle to you, then your attitude is needing adjusting. I recommend a trip to the sparsely settled West where traffic jams do not exist and people are still friendly and helpful to each other.
Jack

[chris in va]

Hey Jack...welcome to TFL.

I can certainly believe a .22 could be used for self defense, especially considering how many people die from the little round yearly. Good for her defending her family.

[Avizpls]

These riots...were they blacks rioting against whites or whites against blacks?

Not something i know about. (born in 83)

[Crosshair]

The great thing is that she was able to collect insurance money because the crowd HELPED her by burning down the house. She was then to move away. Most of the black people I know moved away from their black neighborhood because there was no oportunity, everyone wanted a free handout or was in the drug trade in some way. No offence, but I think Dr. King would be ashamed at modern black culture.

/Just some white guy's oppinion.

[PythonGuy]

That's ok Jack O'Conner,

Maybe you are right. I'll be taking a little vacation to the Pocono mountains in a couple of weeks, maybe that'll help me.

[ebd10]

These riots...were they blacks rioting against whites or whites against blacks?

The '67 were riots of black people against, well, their own neighborhood. They burned down a whole buch of businesses, destroyed a bunch of property, and generally turned their neighborhood into a worse place than it already was. It all stemmed from the police trying to arrest someone at a speakeasy (that's an after hours bar for those of you that were born after 1970). The end result was that the businesses and homeowners that had their stuff destroyed took the insurance money and moved, followed soon after by everyone else that was able to move. The 3rd world city that occupies SE Michigan today is the direct result of those riots.

[CarbineCaleb]

Not trying to advocate .22LR as the ideal defense cartridge, but I think that this story highlights the value of a weapon which can be used calmly, quickly and accurately for multiple shots, as was obviously done here - it was placement, not foot-pounds, that did the job. She did extremely well in what must have been a terrifying situation, with her own two toddlers behind her and an ugly mob determinedly breaking their way in to them.

[pittbug]

So the best defense is an angry mother, it has nothing to do with a specific caliber

[Trip20]

Mr. O'Conner, take PythonGuy with a grain of salt.

He regularly patrols the Tactics and Training forum challenging the story & story-teller… and accusing people who use their firearms in self-defense, or in defense of another, as being Barney Phife or some sort of vigilante.

Welcome to TFL, you'll find the majority of the membership here quite friendly.

[tshadow6]

I have full confidence in my Ruger 1022 which I've owned for 23 years. There are a lot of pictures of storeowners armed with .22 semi autos during the Rodney King riots.

[Eghad]

point is the bad guys didn know what caliber it is...and when the guy died in the front of the house...and the other guy came running out bleeding the crowd moved on.

a small caliber weapon is better than a broomstick

good job......

I had a friend who was with the local police department who had seen a few deaths for a .22 and .25.

a Ruger 10/22 with those high capicity clips would work... most folks in a mob are shot they are not going to get out the calipers to measure the diameter of the bullet wound....

spray a mob with a couple of those clips and they are going to find easier prey.

[Jack O'Conner]

It's sad that this lady had to shoot two bad guys to protect herself. Even sadder that riots and burning took place over such a foolish thing as a speakeasy. Yet on the bright side, she ended up in a better teaching job in a small western town where she became part of our extended family.

Python Guy would not be unkind if he really knew me. I'm thinking he just needs a little time in the forest or on a quiet lake to shake off the big city blues. I'm NOT easily angered or offended.

Some guys collect stamps, other guys collect guns. I collect friends. Whoever has the most friends WINS!!
Jack

[PythonGuy]

Well Jack, perhaps you are the real deal, here's hoping you are. I'll be in the woods next week so maybe that'll mellow me out.

Hey Trip20, it Barney FIFE, and if the handle fits. By the way, I don't patrol anything, I'm just for the "intelligent" use of guns, not the mindless kill anything that you think is a bad, mindset seen so often on your local gun forums.

ASK YOURSELF, ARE YOU THIS MAN????

[Trip20]

PG - thank you for the correction on the spelling of Barney's name. You use the reference enough, that I am going to trust you on this one.

Anyway, you do patrol... click your name, and read your posts... you'll see a definite patter.

[PythonGuy]

Trip20,
I have almost 200 posts, 150 of them are just about guns, so once again don't let the facts stand in your way Tripper.
BTW, Do you mean pattern? I see a pattern here too, of looking for any excuse to shoot. I am for legal ownership and use of guns, use them to defend yourself or your family as the law allows. You don't like the way the law regulates it, vote for the people who agree with your views and change things. What makes me crazy is the constant search, BY SOME, for any reason to pull and use their gun. That will just give the anti-gunners more fuel and leverage to reduce all of our current gun rights. Its my opinion, its as valid as anyone else's, and I have the right to express it here, get over it. And if you believe most of the baloney that is posted on forums like this, its only because you want to.

[Crosshair]

Remember, what a 22LR lacks in energy, it makes up for in soft tissue penitration.

[migrantmigraine]

Yes... I hear all these stories about how a .22 round, if it gets into the skin, bounces like crazy... what makes it do that?

[Trip20]

PG, that all sounds great. Lets leave it at that.

And yes I meant pattern, thanks again.

[Crosshair]

Actualy, the 22LR doesn't "bounce" in the body, but if it hits a bone once it has slowed down a bit, it will ricochet off instaid of breaking through. So instaid of a bullet going straight through, it will change direction and (hopefully) create a worse wound. Lead bullets tend to flaten on impact and make bigger holes in the BG as well.

[X-RAY]

In the mid 60's my folks and I looked at a house in Gloversville, in upstate N.Y.
the old widow who was selling it was moving because the bears were scaring her. She showed us a newspaper article with her picture about her shooting and killing a black bear that was comming through her kitchen door. She had shot it in the head with a .22.