One day after the New York Times editorialized against the idea of armed private citizens acting in self-defense, an armed Tennessee homeowner is being credited with apprehending a pair of dangerous Georgia prison escapees, with the help of an armed neighbor.
Fox News headlined its report by calling the homeowner a hero. Other news agencies are also reporting that the unidentified homeowner held the pair “at gunpoint” until police arrived to take them into custody. That homeowner caught Donnie Rowe and Ricky Dubose attempting to steal his vehicle, according to NBC29. The homeowner grabbed his gun, summoned a neighbor who was also armed, and called the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department.
But did the New York Times report it that way? Well, sort of. The newspaper quoted a Georgia sheriff who said his agency was told the pair came out of the woods about 20 minutes later with their hands up. An updated version said, “They tried to steal another car…but were confronted in the woods by another man and his neighbor.”
CNN reported that the fugitives lost their guns in a car crash and were confronted by the armed citizens when they tried to steal the homeowner’s car. The two armed citizens held the criminals at gunpoint until lawmen arrived and took them into custody, CNN and other news agencies reported.
The capture ended a multi-state manhunt for the escaped convicts who disarmed two corrections officers Tuesday morning on a transport bus and allegedly killed them with their own guns. Dead are Sergeants Christopher Monica and Curtis Billue.
The pair were on foot following a wild high-speed chase during which they fired shots at pursuing officers. They had stolen a car from a couple they had held captive for a couple of hours, according to published reports.
When they crashed that vehicle in southeast Tennessee near the community of Christiana, they fled into the woods and next turned up next at the home of the armed owner.
The New York Times editorial was a response to those calling for a provision to allow members of Congress to carry firearms when they’re on the job in Washington, D.C., if they are licensed in their home states. The newspaper, which has long had an anti-Second Amendment tilt, disdained the idea of armed citizens defending themselves.
“That is the society the gun lobby is working toward,” the editorial asserted. “Is it the one Americans want?”
Evidently, it’s the scenario that citizens in “fly over” America want, and already enjoy, no thanks to the New York Times or its pro-gun control editorial philosophy.
The newspaper alleged that “when an attack came and (armed citizens) returned fire, they would probably kill or wound not the assailant but another innocent bystander, as studies have repeatedly shown.” The newspaper did not identify which studies.
CNN quoted Rutherford County Sheriff Mike Fitzhugh, who observed, “I can’t say enough about the bravery of the homeowner, and what they took on, the wherewithal to call us and give us the information so we could get over there and apprehend these two subjects.”
There was a reward posted for information leading to the arrest of the fugitives. Presumably, a call to the sheriff’s department from an armed citizen holding two guys at gunpoint constitutes information leading to their arrest.
