One of the common assumptions that anti-2A zealots, whether in the media, politics, or your next door neighbor, make is thinking that guns are always used for violent purposes and that someone always gets hurt when one is pulled out. But is that really the case?
Now, logically, you already know that just drawing a gun doesn’t mean that you will be shooting it at anyone (or, as Joe Biden suggested, firing “two blasts” of a shotgun). In fact, we recently discussed how one of the most common defensive uses of a firearm is simply how it can often scare away an attacker without ever having to pull the trigger.
But what if you don’t have an actual firearm on your person, is there a way for you to make defensive use of a gun anyway?
As it turns out, yes, there is a type of defensive gun use that doesn’t use an actual firearm. City News Service gives us the details of a story from Los Angeles, California:
A man from the Tarzana neighborhood with an elaborate security camera system foiled an attempted burglary at a neighbor’s home overnight, scaring off the suspects with bright lights and a paintball gun, authorities said July 31.
The article continues:
Harper-Smith said he saw the suspects jump over a wall onto his neighbor’s property, and he flashed bright lights at them and fired at them with a paintball gun.
Surveillance footage from the scene shows the suspects running back to their car and driving away as Harper-Smith fired paintball rounds at the vehicle.
So, this guy was able to scare off the would-be thieves without killing or seriously injuring anyone. In this case, though, it was a non-lethal paintball used for the deterrent, and it worked.
Now, I’m not going to start suggesting that people only use paintball guns for self-defense. Unfortunately, there are times when only something that can seriously injure a person is enough to stop the attack.
I do think that it is a great thing that this man, in spite of California’s draconian gun laws, was able to find a way to deter criminals, and I applaud him for that.