As reported, Charles ‘Johnny’ Johnson is 91 years old. He has been married to Berlie Mae Johnson, who is 90 years old, for the last 72 years. At around 4pm, two home invaders broke in to their Ocoee, Florida home. One of the home invaders placed a gun to the head of Berlie Mae Johnson, who was sitting in her wheelchair. The criminals also ripped the phone from the wall, so that the police could not be called. Mr. Johnson, however, was prepared for this type of situation, and and grabbed his decades-old .38 caliber revolver. One home invader immediately ran, and Mr. Johnson fired a shot at the remaining home invader (who was holding a gun to his wife’s head.) Mr. Johnson is unsure whether he hit that home invader, who also took off running, leaving the elderly couple uninjured. The police are searching for the criminals, and have notified emergency rooms to be on the lookout for a person with an unexplained gunshot wound, in case Mr. Johnson’s bullet did in fact hit the criminal.
Once again, this type of situation is why I support gun ownership. Guns are the great equalizer that allowed this 91 year old man to defend his 90 year old wife against armed home invaders. Without a gun, it is unlikely that an elderly man would be able to defend himself, or his wife who was in a wheelchair, against armed criminals. Also note that even if both the criminals and the elderly couple had had no guns, it is almost certain that the younger and stronger criminals would have been able to stab or beat this elderly couple into submission (or to death).
Instead, this elderly man had a gun, and was able to single handedly eject two home invaders from his home, saving himself and his wife. This is no isolated incident, either. This 84 year old man was able to use his handgun to defend himself and his elderly wife, just as this 85 year old woman was able to hold a home invader at gunpoint and make him call the police on himself. Time and time again, guns allow the elderly to defend themselves against young criminals who see them as easy targets.
“Leave it to the professional”
“Call 911”
“That’s what the police is for”
“Just run away”
“No thinking, feeling human being should have a gun”
“Nobody really needs a gun”
…Paul Helmke… Are you reading this?
How would you have handled the situation?
How would you feel if it was your parents?
When the [unnecessary profanity redacted] hits the fan, who is going to be there for you?
My hat of to the gentleman, who might just have saved his wife’s life.