No gun registration in Philly or in PA as a whole. The reporter was apparently trying to convey that the gun owner had a carry permit, and that the gun was legally-owned. The headline writer took a shortcut.
As to the story itself...
It hits close to home for me, as I have sons the same ages as the young adults in this story.
From the limited details in the news reports (any or all of which could easily be 180 degrees from accurate, but going with what the story said), in order to protect her son, this woman needed to fire her carry gun
- at a distance of at least the length of a flight of stairs,
- possibly in poor lighting conditions,
- almost certainly while the target was moving, and
- while the target was in close proximity to the son she was trying to save.
This post is for the folks who think that they won't ever need any skill beyond bad-breath distance, or any reason to build both confidence and skill by taking a professional firearms training class. Ordinary citizens need these skills sometimes -- and moreso if they are the kind of people who would try to protect the people they love in a situation like this.
Would you act to intervene in a similar situation? If so, is your skill level up to it? (And does your confidence match your actual ability, cold and under high stress?)
pax