Boy, 11, uses 22LR to protect mom against home invaders

[ArfinGreebly]

Successful Defense

There is always something that can be learned from a successful defense of the homestead.

My normal inclination would be to move this over to S&T for some analysis and commentary there.

She got up to check and she saw two Hispanic males men wearing masks and armed with handguns walking towards her.

She quickly closed the bedroom door but one of the men allegedly tried to force it open.

The masked man kept telling her to open the door and she would not open the door.

I don't see any way she could have improved on that, given the lack of time to prepare a response.

The woman told deputies that the home invaders shot through the door and hit her son on the left hip area.

Her son had a 22 cal. Rifle and shot back at the alleged robbers.

Score one for the home team. The kid has some real sand. May be time to look into something in a .410 or 28 ga for the young man. All the same, I'm not gonna knock his .22 rifle; he mounted an effective defense with it, and that'll certainly do.

The woman waited, opened the door, saw that the suspects were gone and called 911.

Now that could be a problem. Unless there was some reason the 911 call couldn't be made from the bedroom, I would swap the order of actions and make the 911 call before looking around. In fact, I'd be seriously reluctant to go looking around at all. Easy for me to second guess her; I wasn't there, don't know the layout.


Kid's gonna have a cool war story when he gets back to school.

Way to go, kid.

 

[Geno]

A lowly .22LR can kill-ya-plum-dead! It matters little that a criminal dies of, be it a 12 gauge or a .22LR. Ya go ta gittin' yurself neck-shot, with whate'er the caliber, ya jus' might meet Jesus.

Good on that kid! I hope Momma buys the boy a 30-round magazine, or two, for his new 10/22 that she should buy him as a reward. Perhaps a few cases of CCI Stinger rounds would be in order too.

Don' cha jus' love it when the good-guys win?!

Edit to add: Ya know, Arf...they could have opened the door via creating a new opening through it, in order to assure that whatever (whomever) would be on the other side would be no more inclined to attack. But then, I have exterior brick walls, and have no worries about neighbors being in danger.

The only redirect I would give the mother is go to the door with a firearm. There won't be time to get one after the break-in goes down.

Geno

 

[sharpshooter74]

As much as this was a good ending, I still feel that the kid and his mom got very lucky.

I'm guessing that this was out in the country or else if there were neighbors close by, they would've called 911 immediately if they heard their neighbor's house broken into. Or they would've called 911 following the gunshot noise from the intruders.

What would really scare me is if the kid had only a bold action single shot 22. That is not enough to put down intruders with semi-automatic handguns. I feel that the kid got lucky that the little 22 was able to go through the door, hit one of the intruder in the neck, and spook them all off.

If they got really angry and busted the door open, it would've been really bad for the kid and his mom.

And also where is mom's gun at? If all they had was a 22LR single shot bolt action rifle in the house... then serious mom needs to do some upgrading.

 

[sheepdog]

...I didn't see the description of the .22 rifle...

 

[devildog32713]

Has to be fake. Just has to.

I have read repeatedly that

a) kids with guns only get themselves hurt
b) home invasions don't actually happen in real life and
c) the borders are secure

A: Not true,
B: Yes, they do.
C: **** NO!

Buy the kid a Mossberg SPX, 1911 Para-Ordance .45, brave kid

 

[shootistpd27]

Sharpshooter, you are missing the point. These types of guys whether they be illegals or what, it doesnt matter because these guys are not going to get mad at the sound of a gun shot, they are going to get scared. These types of guys are hyenas, they dont go hunting for the strong and verile that hang together in large packs, they go for the small and weak that have straggled away from the herd. The sound of a gunshot, be it from a 22 or a 30-06, is going to change the badguys belief that he has found a weak target. My wifes car gun is a Walthers P22, I have no doubt that the 22 will do the job since her objective is to hit the bad guy in the process of getting the heck out of there. If the bad guys would have gotten through the door, Im sure that the little 22 toting tyke would have gladly shot them again. My hats off to the little guy. Oh yeah, if he would have had an AR, do you really think that after more than one rapid shot that he could have actually kept the gun on target or would he be wrestling the mighty recoil up the wall and into the cieling. The 22 was the perfect gun for this kids size and he did a great job. Nuff said!!

 

[jmortimer]

God Bless that boy and he needs our prayers. There was a sad story a couple years ago here is dumb a$$ California which requires guns to be locked up and usless (around 11 year old boys) where a nut job with a pitch fork killed three children and the young girl who was a crack shot was unable to retreive her .22 as it was locked up and the parents were not home. Should have had a happy ending like this story.

 

[kayak-man]

I can't help but notice that a lot of people seem to feel that the kid should get an AR style rifle chambered in .223. I'm sorry but I think that is just a little ridiculous. I mean, come on, the price of ammo alone is a little spendy ...





I think the boy should be given a 12 gauge. probably a pump gun. Maybe one of the older winchester trench guns ... with a matching 1911 in .45 ACP.

 

[Isher]

All in all, probably

Cheaper and less complicated than

Figuring out and paying for how

To carry a LEO IWB.

isher

 

[MarkDozier]

I don't even know where the place is but if I even remotely knew the kid his welcome home present would be a Mosssburg 20 gauge with a box of sabot loads.

 

[flrfh213]

when the boy recovers i am sure someone will put him down for shooting a man and his mother for letting him have access to the rifle in the first place.

that being said i would like to buy that boy a round... .223 perhaps

 

[Manco]

I love stories with a happy ending.

Well, the perp is apparently still alive at the moment, so for now it's kind of bittersweet.

God Bless that boy and he needs our prayers.

I pray that he has the proper perspective on what he did, which was protect himself and his family from predators who clearly do not value human life. There's no contradiction on my part, as once somebody decides to kill somebody else just to steal a few baubles (I assume in this case), they're no longer a human being to me but some thing that must be stopped.

There was a sad story a couple years ago here is dumb a$$ California which requires guns to be locked up and usless (around 11 year old boys) where a nut job with a pitch fork killed three children and the young girl who was a crack shot was unable to retreive her .22 as it was locked up and the parents were not home. Should have had a happy ending like this story.

While I detest California's gun laws as much as anybody, where does it say that firearms have to be inaccessible to children? That's what many lawyers will tell you, I suppose, as well as government officials and websites, but that's not what the actual Penal Code says. Read sections 12035-12036 at the following link:

http://ag.ca.gov/firearms/dwcl/12020.php

You can only get in trouble if your children grab your unsecured firearms and hurt themselves or somebody else, or take them outside to some public place on their own. If your children never do these things, then there is no crime or penalty for leaving loaded weapons lying around the house, per se. Locking up your firearms or disabling them is for your own legal protection from the actions of your children--so even if they break into the gun safe or steal the keys to the trigger lock and accidentally kill somebody, you won't go to jail because at least you took precautions. But the law does not say that you have to take such precautions at all (whether you should for safety is another matter and depends on your personal situation).

Now, I'm not advocating unsafe practices here--I'm just trying to clarify what the California Penal Code says about locking up firearms. If your children are mature and trustworthy enough that they won't do anything foolish, unsafe, or illegal with your firearms (which could get you some jail time), then you can give them access to your firearms for self-defense. And yes, self-defense using firearms is permissible for children just like it is for adults in California, and is subject to the same standards and limitations (there is sort of a Castle Doctrine here, except that it still allows civil lawsuits to be filed even for justified shootings, which usually fail unless you did something unusual that a lawyer could nail you on).

 

[kingmt]

I didn't get offended. I was just trying to improve on his knowledge of a .22. If it was a joke then Ha Ha he got me.

I fell bad for the kid because this kind of thing changes you.

 

[hacksaw]

Great job on the kids part!

I dont know many 11 year olds who have the guts to do what the kid has. If I had the means I would buy the kid a nice m-4 clone and a mess of Hornady TAP for HD. Hope he has a good mentor in his life, although it sounds like he is doing fine as is.

 

[jnyork]

Children's Protective Services will likely now investigate the mom for endangering her child by allowing him access to a loaded firearm. Kid will probably end up in foster care.

 

[joe_security]

Im just glad the mother and son survived. Who knows what would have been done to them without that .22 rifle. It sounds like he used a gun that he could control well enough to get the job done without being deafened by muzzle blast. Maybe a pistol grip .410 would be the next step for him ?

 

[Carl Levitian]

Wasn't there a case in Texas several years ago, where a 11 or 12 year with a .22 rifle, old shot and killed a man who was assaulting his mother?


Heck if the .22 worked for the kid, let him have at it. Maybe buy him a 10/22 if he doen't already have one, and some extra mags to go with it. It worked for him pretty good.

 

[TexasRifleman]

Just as an FYI, the child's access to the firearm would be legal in this case. PC 46.13

It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this section that the child's access to the firearm:
(1) was supervised by a person older than 18 years of age and was for hunting, sporting, or other lawful purposes;
(2) consisted of lawful defense by the child of people or property;

 

[bad_aim_billy]

These types of guys whether they be illegals or what, it doesnt matter because these guys are not going to get mad at the sound of a gun shot, they are going to get scared. These types of guys are hyenas, they dont go hunting for the strong and verile that hang together in large packs, they go for the small and weak that have straggled away from the herd. The sound of a gunshot, be it from a 22 or a 30-06, is going to change the badguys belief that he has found a weak target.

Yes.

 

[Cromlech]

I want to post the 'Applause GIF' taken from Citizen Kane, but it feels a bit spammy and I don't want to slow down the thread, so I will just say:

Well done that lad!

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Sounds like a fine kid who has what it takes to become a fine man. Like others have mentioned, I hope he is able to keep it in perspective. I've never had to pull the trigger on another human being and can only imagine what it's like. I just hope he realizes that it was necessary later in life.

As for the perps, it's a pity the other two didn't get theirs as well.

 

[Werewolf]

Kid's gonna have a cool war story when he gets back to school.

If the kid tries telling the story in school:

1. He'll be expelled under some stupid zero tolerance policy regarding firearms
2. He'll be sent to some school shrink to make sure he's not some psycho gun nut
3. Any thing else the liberals can think of to make the kid and the mom's life miserable and wish they'd just rolled over and taken it by the home invaders will be done

 

[Marlin 45 carbine]

yeah as #42 says the kid ought'a get a new 10/22 and some hi-cap mags as a welcome home present.

 

[wishin]

Yet another good story for the American Rifleman!

 

[CZ223]

Lets take up a collection

and buy him a shotgun. A Remington 870 or a Mossberg 500. Yes I am serious. If someone that lives near him wants to take charge I will send them $10. I'll bet it won't take long til we have enough pledges to buy him the shotgun and a case of ammo.