Husband Defends Wife and 4-day-old Daughter

Yev Gerasimenko was taking his turn caring for his 4-day-old daughter while his wife rested. He was interrupted by loud knocks at the door and answered it to find two large men. One asked for someone Gerasimenko didn't know. "I said, 'There's nobody here by that name,' and I shut the door as soon as I could," he explained. That's when police say the biggest man took a running start and slammed into the door. Gerasimenko called for his wife to take their baby, and lock herself in the bathroom and phone police. He loaded his 9mm handgun and yelled for the man to leave, but he continued trying to breach the door. "I'm shouting, 'I have a gun! Why are you trying to break into my house? I'll shoot you if you don't go away,'" Gerasimenko recalled. But the suspect didn't heed the warning. Gerasimenko fired two shots, wounding the suspect and holding him for police. "... A gun in a good responsible citizen's hand is a blessing," Gerasimenko said. Statesman Journal - Salem, OR

Intruder Warned, Pretends To Surrender

A woman from retired preacher Bill Willis' church invited him to take a concealed carry class with her. Though Willis had never been particularly interested in firearms, he agreed, obtaining his permit, purchasing a .22-caliber pistol and practicing with it regularly. Not long after, Willis's wife, Judith, woke him in the middle of the night and announced there was an intruder. Willis spotted the man darting into the bathroom and quickly retrieved his Walther P22. Police say he warned the suspect three times, "Come out with your hands up. I have a gun and I will shoot." The man exited the bathroom and approached Willis, pretending to surrender, then pulled out a knife and viciously stabbed Willis' arm. Willis shot and killed the assailant. Deputies have temporarily seized Willis' pistol as evidence, but he purchased another. "It would be foolish not to be prepared," he said. The Greenville News - Greenville, SC

Pregnant Woman Stumbles Upon Armed Burglar

The screams of his pregnant wife - a horrible sound - woke Roger Gilchrist from a dead sleep. He grabbed his gun and ran to the garage, where he discovered that his wife had driven in and stumbled upon a gun-wielding burglar. "Under the circumstances, with him having a gun and standing next to my pregnant wife, I'm not going to wait and see what happens - I'm going to fire," Gilchrist said. Police say the burglar shot first and Gilchrist returned fire, injuring the intruder. The suspect fled, but was apprehended shortly thereafter. "If [my husband] didn't have that gun, we would've both been dead," said Gilchrists's wife. Daily Press - Victorville, CA

Prowler Caught Hiding in Bushes

Alana Holbrook awoke to a startling discovery: a man was standing just outside her master bedroom doorway. Police say that when the suspect saw her stir, he bolted out of sight. Holbrook woke her husband, David, who quickly armed himself with a .45-caliber pistol. David searched the residence, finding no sign of the burglar but noting several missing items. When he stepped onto his front porch, he found the prowler hiding in the bushes and held him at gunpoint for police. St. Tammany News - Covington, LA

Student Attacked By Pit Bull

College student John Erickson parked his scooter and was walking toward his house when a pit bull charged him in an unprovoked attack. "All of a sudden the dog grabbed my leg from behind," he recalls. He swung his helmet at the dog, temporarily halting the assault but the dog recommenced the onslaught. Erickson, a concealed-carry permit holder, was forced to draw his 9mm pistol and shoot the delinquent animal. His mother, Lyn, used to oppose her son's firearm ownership, but after the incident she noted, "Now I'm saying, 'I'm just so thankful he had a gun.' I'm just so thankful because what would you do?'" Daily Herald - Provo, UT

New Life Church Shooting

It's a story not even anti-gunn media outlets could ignore. Matthew Murray allegedly wrote online, "All I want to do is kill and injure as many [Christians] ... as I can." Police say he made good on his word, first by killing two young students at a missionary training center outside Denver. His next target was a gathering of 7,000 people in and around the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, CO. With a rifle and a backpack full of ammunition, Murray entered the church and opened fire. Sadly, two sisters were killed. One man yelled to distract the gunman and was shot in the arm. That's when volunteer security guard Jeanne Assam, who has a concealed-carry permit and once worked in law enforcement, yelled, "Surrender!" Armed with a handgun, she walked toward Murray and shot him several times. "It seemed like it was me, the gunman and God," Assam recalls. His twisted plan foiled, the immobilized gunman killed himself. Associated Press

Intruder Held At Gunpoint, Arrested Without Incident

Tim Welby was putting tools away when he noticed his back door was suspiciously ajar. According to authorities, he found several signs of burglary and was missing a firearm. "As far as I know, there's an armed person inside my house, so I go and grab my .357 out of my nightstand," Welby explained. That's when he heard noises coming from the garage apartment where his stepson, Tristan Pierce, resides. In the apartment, he encountered a man wearing a motorcycle helmet. Thinking it might be his stepson, he called out, "Tristan?" SIlence followed, until the helmeted man said, "Please, sir." When Welby knew the man wasn't Tristan, he pointed the gun at him and said, "You move, I've got a biohazard on my hands." Hearing the commotion, several neighbors came out of their homes with guns ready to help. One of them called 9-1-1 and the intruder was arrested without incident. The Gabber - Gulfport, FL

NBC Rejects Ad From Conservative Group

NOTE: Although this isn't a story about America's Armed Citizens, we should think carefully about which network we support. NBC's actions are nothing but biased, given some of the left-leaning spots they've aired in the past.

WASHINGTON (AP) - NBC has rejected a TV ad by Freedom's Watch, a conservative group that supports administration policy in Iraq, that asks viewers to remember and thank U.S. troops during the holiday season.

NBC said it declined to air the ad because it refers to the group's Web site, which the network said was too political, not because of the ad's message.

"Anybody in the world who would look at this ad would come away with nothing other than we should be thankful for their service," Freedom's Watch president Brad Blakeman said.

The spot was to be part of a seven-figure campaign that includes newspaper ads and television commercials. The ads are to run on CNN and Fox News Channel and are running in various newspapers. The New York Times ran a full-page Freedom's Watch ad Friday that said "Thank You!" and depicted a soldier reading a letter. The newspaper ad also contained the Web site address.

[full story]

Two Women Defend Against Armed Intruders

Responding to a knock at the door, 22-year-old Carri Humphrey thought she saw another resident of the apartment building through the peephole. Police say that when she opened the door, however, two strangers forced their way in, one of them toting a .22-caliber rifle. Humphrey's roommate, 24-year-old Michelle Reeder, heard Humphrey's screams and ran to the bedroom where she retrieved a handgun. Reeder returned to the front room, where she found Humphrey being held at gunpoint. The intruder then trained the rifle on Reeder and threatened to kill her. In response, she fired several shots, striking her assailant once. The other suspect fled, but the injured intruder continued to struggle, forcing Reeder to stab him. He succumbed to his wounds at the scene as the young women fled to safety. The Record Herald - Waynesboro, PA

Man Saves Wife From Grocery Store Robbery

A man was sitting in his vehicle while his wife shopped for groceries. To his horror, three men burst into the store with a gun, appeared to fire and began robbing customers. The man called 911, then received a call from his wife. "I just heard her saying, 'There is nothing in my purse,'", he recollects. "And there was a 'pow'. The phone went dead." The man, a concealer-handgun license holder, sprang from his vehicle and entered the store with his .45-caliber pistol. He hoped to avoid confronting the bandits, but police say that was not to be. One of the robbers pointed a gun at the man, and he responded by firing two shots at the suspect, injuring him as his accomplices fled. Neither the man's wife nor any others were harmed. "I was just worried about my wife," the man said, noting he took no satisfaction in shooting the suspect. "I just wanted to get her out of there." The Dallas Morning News - Dallas, TX