Jackson, Mississippi

From the Jackson Clarion-Ledger of March 3, 2005

Residents use guns to protect themselves

Edward Blair was in bed watching television with his young children when he heard a series of thumps. He rose from bed, realizing someone was trying to kick down the front door to his Shady Oak Drive home in Jackson.

Blair, a security officer with Wright's Security Service, grabbed his .38-caliber revolver and stood patiently near the front door. The door cracked from the impact of the kicks and a man stuck his head through.

"His eyes got mighty big when he saw what was waiting on him," Blair said.

Blair fired three shots at the man, striking the would-be burglar in a finger as he ran away — leaving behind the still-running Cadillac Deville he had parked moments earlier in Blair's carport.

That attempted burglary in June was the third time in the past year a Jackson homeowner used a gun to thwart a break-in. Three previous situations ended in the death of the burglar. Another burglar was shot and killed by two Jackson police officers in April. On Halloween day, a man on Decelle Street shot and killed a man trying to rob him inside his home.

"It's a shame any of us are having to take the situation into our own hands," Blair said. "But I guess that's what we've got to do."
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Tommy Christian, a Floral Drive resident, doesn't carry a concealed weapon but used the hunting rifle he normally uses to kill rabbits and squirrels to fend off a man on Oct. 20, 2003. Christopher Stiff used a tire tool to pry open Christian's back door about 3:30 a.m. that day. Christian shot Stiff once in the abdomen and once in the leg while Stiff was standing in the door.

"If somebody tries that stuff on me again, I'm going to do the same thing and unload on them even more, probably," Christian said.
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People always will feel the need to protect themselves and their family, McDonald said.

"I sold a gun to an elderly woman a few years ago and she came in about a year later, saying she needed to buy one bullet," McDonald said. "I thought that was curious and asked why she needed one bullet. She said someone broke into her house and she shot them. She said it didn't take but one bullet to shoot him, so she figured she would only need one bullet for the next time."