If any woman had a right to shoot a man, my Aunt Mal did.
When Aunt Mal was eighty-one, a nineteen year old young man broke into her home where she lived alone. When she heard someone trying to come in her kitchen door, she called the police and her neighbor, who also called the police.
While they were waiting for the police to arrive, the neighbor came out with his gun and fired a few warning shots at the young man in an attempt to scare him away. But he kept trying to break in the door. The neighbor was on the phone with the 911 dispatcher who told him to go back in his house which he did.
Meanwhile, my aunt got her gun. She fired a few warning shots over the young man's head, but she didn't shoot him. Instead she threw cans from her cabinets at him. He was not deterred and continued to break through the kitchen door.
After finally getting into my aunt's kitchen, the nineteen year old man attacked my 81 year old aunt. She fought with him and kicked him with her sharp heeled bedroom slippers. As she told me later, she "gave him tea for the sugar." I think that was the expression she used. (I still don't know what that means, but it sounded good when she said it.)
My aunt fought with this man until the police arrived and arrested him. Fortunately, Aunt Mal was not seriously injured. (The nineteen year old received quite a few years in prison for his efforts.)
Aunt Mal was a feisty lady. (She stabbed her second husband in the hand at the dinner table one night because he wouldn't stop talking when she told him to be quiet.) So knowing my aunt's reputation for not taking stuff from anyone, I asked her why she didn't shoot her attacker. She said that she didn't want it on her conscience if she had shot him and he had died.
So, when I read about a 72 year old Alzheimer's patient being killed in the yard after ringing a stranger's doorbell or a young lady being shot in the face through a locked screen door and killed after knocking on a stranger's door, I think about the night 81 year old Aunt Mal could have shot that young man who broke into her house and attacked her. She had every right to have shot him, but she did not.
When Aunt Mal was eighty-one, a nineteen year old young man broke into her home where she lived alone. When she heard someone trying to come in her kitchen door, she called the police and her neighbor, who also called the police.
While they were waiting for the police to arrive, the neighbor came out with his gun and fired a few warning shots at the young man in an attempt to scare him away. But he kept trying to break in the door. The neighbor was on the phone with the 911 dispatcher who told him to go back in his house which he did.
Meanwhile, my aunt got her gun. She fired a few warning shots over the young man's head, but she didn't shoot him. Instead she threw cans from her cabinets at him. He was not deterred and continued to break through the kitchen door.
After finally getting into my aunt's kitchen, the nineteen year old man attacked my 81 year old aunt. She fought with him and kicked him with her sharp heeled bedroom slippers. As she told me later, she "gave him tea for the sugar." I think that was the expression she used. (I still don't know what that means, but it sounded good when she said it.)
My aunt fought with this man until the police arrived and arrested him. Fortunately, Aunt Mal was not seriously injured. (The nineteen year old received quite a few years in prison for his efforts.)
Aunt Mal was a feisty lady. (She stabbed her second husband in the hand at the dinner table one night because he wouldn't stop talking when she told him to be quiet.) So knowing my aunt's reputation for not taking stuff from anyone, I asked her why she didn't shoot her attacker. She said that she didn't want it on her conscience if she had shot him and he had died.
So, when I read about a 72 year old Alzheimer's patient being killed in the yard after ringing a stranger's doorbell or a young lady being shot in the face through a locked screen door and killed after knocking on a stranger's door, I think about the night 81 year old Aunt Mal could have shot that young man who broke into her house and attacked her. She had every right to have shot him, but she did not.
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