As reported, a Lakeland, FL man used his handgun to fend off two robbers, one of whom was pointing a shotgun at his face. Police say that Johnny Preston was in his front yard, readying his cargo van for work, when he noticed two men staring at him from a slow moving car. Preston reportedly grabbed his handgun from inside the van and wrote down the license plate number of the car, before going back to loading his van. When Preston looked up again, two robbers were standing nearby with their t-shirts pulled over their faces, and one of the robbers was pointing a shotgun at Preston’s face, according to police. Preston reportedly used one hand to push the shotgun barrel away, while firing his handgun with the other, striking the shotgun wielding robber in the torso and saving himself from the violent attack. The robbers then fled on foot and in a car. A suspect suffering from a gunshot wound, who was identified as Michael Darnell Richardson, was arrested at a local hospital where he was reportedly seeking treatment for his injury. The other suspect, Mario Ford, was reportedly found hiding underneath a parked car and arrested.
This self defense case really highlights the value of gun ownership. Here we have a man who was preparing to go work an honest day’s labor, when a pair of violent criminals decided that threatening his life and robbing him was easier than working for a living themselves. Had this man lived in an area that denied citizens the right to gun ownership for self defense, he could have been seriously harmed by these robbers. Instead, this man lived in an area that allows a citizen to have a gun for self defense, and was able to save himself from two violent attackers.