Of the famous and infamous firearms in American history, such as the Thompson submachine gun of the early 20th century, the Colt Peacemaker of the Old West or the “Brown Bess” musket of the Revolutionary War era, none have been so maligned by the mainstream media and anti-Second Amendment politicians as the Armalite Rifle model 15, or AR-15.
But for one boy and his young sister in a 2010 story long since buried by the mainstream media, that rifle meant everything — just as 10 years later an AR-15 would be critical in safeguarding the life of Kyle Rittenhouse.
Criticism of the weapon comes from all sides. In 2018, Patrick Mondaca, a military veteran of Iraq, civilian police officer and college instructor wrote a piece in 2018 for U.S. News & World Report headlined, “You don’t need an AR-15.” It argued that the rifle has no place in civilian hands.
In 2016, a writer at the website Bustle named Sabieanna Bownman — whose areas of expertise included “everything from the newest TV shows to baby names and inspirational quote roundups” — wrote nonsensically that, “If you are attempting to use this gun for self-defense if someone is attacking you and your family, it’s not the best move; bullets are going to be flying everywhere, and the potential to hit a family member, a neighbor, a pet, or even yourself seems dangerously high.”
It’s not discussed much on the “newest TV shows,” but AR-15 are objectively easier to shoot accurately than pistols.
Democrats in Congress often repeat such refrains while simultaneously mischaracterizing the rifle as a “machine gun” or making the claim that the weapon fires “.50 caliber bullets” as Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas did in a now-viral video.
According to weapons expert @JacksonLeeTX18 the AR 15 is as heavy as 10 moving boxes and fires a 50 cal. pic.twitter.com/Oxud4HwVmu
— Pleasedontinfringe (@noinfringing) August 1, 2022
Republican Rep. Guy Reschenthaler of Pennsylvania pointed out their ignorance brilliantly,
Democrats don’t even know basic information about the firearms they’re trying to ban.
An AR-15 isn’t a “weapon of war.”
Watch⬇️ pic.twitter.com/jgBi06w5Wd
— Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (@GReschenthaler) August 7, 2022
But this isn’t Jackson Lee’s story or Reschenthaler’s. This story is about the then-15-year-old son of a Harris County, Texas, deputy who was home alone with his 12-year-old sister in northwest Harris County at about 2:30 p.m. on June 29, 2010.
Two burglars smashed their way through a window after trying the front and back doors according to KHOU-TV.
The young man knew exactly where to find his father’s AR-15 style rifle and he knew exactly how to use it as well. Armed with that weapon and his father’s instruction, the 15-year-old with adrenaline coursing through his veins was able to fire the shots that protected both children that day.
Is the AR-15 a good home-defense weapon?
“We don’t try to hide things from our children in law enforcement,” Lt. Jeffrey Stauber told KHOU after the incident. “That young boy was protecting his sister. He was in fear for his life and her life.”
The two suspects fled from the home and later turned up at an area hospital. One, a 17-year-old, according to the Houston Chronicle, was struck three times and required emergency trauma care. His alleged accomplice was 16, the Chronicle reported.
The second suspect was brought back to the crime scene by police and later placed under arrest. According to KHOU, other residents in the area had also reported recent burglaries, including two houses next door to where the shooting took place.
“They stole everything — what they have inside. They already did it one time,” neighbor Rafael Cortez told KHOU.
Self-defense stories like these crop up frequently and as skyrocketing violent crimes continue to proliferate throughout the nation under the Biden administration, causing gun purchases even in blue states to soar, heroic stories like these will appear more and more often.
