11 Examples of Bloomberg’s Folly on Defensive Gun Use
Amy Swearer /
Earlier this month, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was asked how he justified his push for more stringent gun control when he is guarded by an armed security detail.
Bloomberg’s response? He is a wealthy businessman and politician who faces threats that normal Americans do not, so it’s just fine for him to pay others to protect him with guns that he’d put the rest of us in prison for possessing.
The reality is that Bloomberg, as a wealthy white man living in upper-class neighborhoods, is statistically far less likely to be a victim of violent crime than most other Americans.
But you’d never know it from the way he spends hundreds of millions of dollars advocating gun laws that reserve armed protection for the special few.
Every day, many Americans without Bloomberg’s wealth and power rely on the Second Amendment—not private security—to defend themselves against threats to their lives and livelihoods. In fact, almost every major study on defensive gun use has found that Americans use their firearms defensively between 500,000 and 3 million times each year.
Last year, The Daily Signal began a monthly series highlighting just some of the countless times that the right to keep and bear arms made all the difference for ordinary Americans whom Michael Bloomberg wants to disarm. (You can read the stories from January 2020 here.)
February similarly provided ample evidence in favor of an armed citizenry and against Bloomberg’s claim that only the select few can be trusted with guns.
- Feb. 2, Arlington, Texas: An armed neighbor came to the rescue of an elderly woman who was being attacked by pit bulls, pulling the dogs off her and shooting one of them when it continued its attack, police said. The woman survived, but suffered serious bite injuries to her head and neck. Other neighbors, alerted by the gunshot, soon arrived to help tend to the woman’s injuries and stop the bleeding.
- Feb. 4, Spotsylvania County, Virginia: When a neighbor called for help after discovering a man in the process of burglarizing her car, a good Samaritan and his wife jumped into action, pulling their vehicle in front of the fleeing thief and yelling at him to stop. Police said the thief drew a firearm, but the good Samaritan also was armed and shot him once in the leg. Police charged the man with several offenses, including brandishing a firearm and petit larceny.
- Feb. 8, St. Mary’s, Ohio: A woman shot and killed her husband during a domestic dispute in which he physically assaulted her and threatened to stab her with a knife, police said. The woman immediately called 911 and told a dispatcher: “He was beating me. He was going to kill me. He had a knife.” Although police initially took the woman into custody, her arrest photo shows clear injuries to her face and neck consistent with self-defense. A grand jury declined to indict the woman.
- Feb. 8, West Salem, Ohio: When a pitchfork-wielding man tried to kick in his door, a homeowner grabbed his handgun and held the man at gunpoint until police arrived. Police discovered that, in addition to the pitchfork, the man had a loaded firearm, drugs, and a wallet belonging to another homeowner in the neighborhood. Police charged the intruder with burglary and said he is a suspect in several other armed offenses in the area.
- Feb. 12, Yellow Springs, California: A well-known Hollywood stuntwoman and her husband attempted to ambush the stuntwoman’s ex-husband and his new wife outside the ex-husband’s home, police said. The ex-husband got out of his car to get his mail when the stuntwoman and her husband opened fire on the couple with multiple guns. The ex-husband, however, was a concealed carry permit holder and armed. He returned fire, ultimately killing both attackers
- Feb. 14, Palm Bay, Florida: A man used his firearm to defend himself and his girlfriend from the woman’s armed ex-boyfriend, who attacked them in their home on Valentine’s Day. Police said the ex-boyfriend stole a handgun from a friend’s mother, shattered the couple’s glass door, and threatened them with the handgun. The woman hid with her young son in a bedroom as her boyfriend retrieved his own gun and got into a shootout with the ex-boyfriend. Both men were wounded, and the ex-boyfriend fled, police said. They arrested him when he checked himself into a hospital; he faces several felony charges, including attempted murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
- Feb. 18, Spencer County, Kentucky: A man returned home in the early afternoon to discover an intruder inside. He confronted the intruder, ultimately shooting and killing him in self-defense.
- Feb. 22, Allouez, Wisconsin: A concealed carry permit holder used his firearm to defend himself from a robber without firing a single round, police said. The permit holder was plowing snow when a man approached, held a large knife to his chest, and demanded money. The permit holder said he would get his wallet from his truck. He retrieved his firearm from the door frame, and the would-be robber fled when he saw it.
- Feb. 24, Elmore County, Alabama: A homeowner used his handgun to defend his wife and young child during a confrontation with an irate neighbor. The neighbor—who had previous confrontations with others in the neighborhood—began banging on the homeowner’s door at 4:55 a.m. When the homeowner answered, police said, the neighbor shouted expletives and tried to rob him. The homeowner, fearing his neighbor was reaching for a gun, shot him several times in self-defense, wounding him.
- Feb. 27, Chicago: A concealed carry permit holder defended herself from a robber who pulled a gun on her and demanded her property. The woman retrieved her own handgun and exchanged fire with the robber as he fled.
- Feb. 29, Greensboro, North Carolina: A customer with a concealed firearm thwarted an armed robbery at a convenience store, potentially saving the lives of several customers and employees. Police said he robber forced all of those in the store to huddle behind the register and held them at gunpoint. About 30 seconds later, an unsuspecting elderly woman entered. The robber grabbed her by the neck and forced her back to the register area with the other customers. Amid the distraction, the armed customer drew his firearm and shot the robber several times, killing him.
Michael Bloomberg is more than wealthy enough to afford to pay armed men to protect him. Most Americans are not so fortunate.
We don’t have former law enforcement officers on hand when the convenience store we’re in gets robbed. We can’t rely on an armed detail to jump to our defense when we’re assaulted. We don’t live in gated communities with 24/7 security.
We have only our Second Amendment rights. And they are worth insisting upon.