A U.S. military veteran who served in Afghanistan used his Second Amendment rights to protect himself and his family from armed attackers in Clayton County, Georgia.
According to WAGA-TV in Atlanta, Whitfield Smith saw a group of men outside his house through his Ring doorbell camera on July 11.
“I’m noticing a young man running from my neighbor’s yard across my front lawn into the middle of the street to meet up with two other gentlemen,” said Smith, who served in the Navy, according to Inside Edition.
Smith recalled one of the men began to run toward his garage with a gun, escalating the situation.
“He sprints up my driveway,” he told WAGA. “I can see on camera that he’s hunched down wearing a gray hoodie, and he’s got some kind of firearm in his hand.
“He reaches to try to get into my BMW that’s in the driveway. The door’s locked.”
At that point, Smith said, he grabbed his Diamondback Firearms AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle and went outside.
With his wife still inside the house, he knew he had to protect her, but his goal was not to start a gunfight.
“My first thought was to protect my house and protect my property,” Smith said. “I just wanted to get the intruders away.”
Armed with his trusty firearm, he made his way outside wearing only pajama pants and flip-flops. He said he did not have time to worry about anything other than deterring the intruders.
Soon after they saw him, the intruders began what Smith called a “coordinated attack.”
“There was one gentleman on the other side of the trees, and the main protagonist was right here using my truck as a shield,” he explained.
Contrary to his original intentions, Smith was forced to engage in a gunfight with the men. Security footage showed Smith running up to fire at the intruders before kicking off his flip-flops as he retreated for cover.
He ran inside to put on clothes and proper shoes before coming back outside, WAGA reported.
Eventually, the intruders fled the scene.
While no people were injured, Smith’s BMW was riddled with bullet holes from the standoff.
“I don’t want to die at home,” he said. “I survived Afghanistan and everything else. To die at home? In my own yard?”
Should law-abiding Americans be able to own AR-15 rifles?
The intruders got away with a stolen gun from Smith’s car, but he was able to successfully defend himself and his wife without getting injured.
If left-wing gun control activists had their way, Smith likely not be allowed to own the weapon he used to do so.
As Democratic politicians continue their push to ban AR-15s and strictly regulate who can and cannot control other firearms, this story is another reminder of the importance of gun ownership for law-abiding citizens seeking to defend themselves.
