Candy Mitchell of Waterford, Calif., started losing sleep after she learned that her ex-boyfriend was released from jail. He had served only two months of a six-month sentence for physically abusing her, so it did not seem like a coincidence when, night after night, she heard strange noises in her backyard and banging on her bedroom walls. Despite repeated calls to the police, no prowler was ever found. But the night Mitchell heard someone enter her home, she grabbed the gun she kept next to her bed and, when she saw a man heading for her daughter's room, fired several times. Her ex-boyfriend, John "Bud" Russell, stumbled outside. When police arrived, they found Russell dead in his truck. Mitchell later said, "I couldn't imagine any reason he'd be in my house but to kill me." (The Modesto Bee, Modesto, CA, 08/07/04)

They would go in, shoot the owner, grab some guns and cash and get out. That was the plan that went awry when four men attempted to rob a Muncie, Ind., pawnshop. Instead, when they entered the store and attempted to shoot the owner, he drew his own gun and fired, hitting Dustin Fredericksen in the stomach. More shots were fired before the four men ran out of the store, leaving pawnshop owner Adam Kennedy unharmed. The men drove around for 90 minutes before leaving Fredericksen with another friend who finally took him to an emergency room. Fredericksen, along with Kevin Banach and Justin Corsey, were taken into custody and charged initially with attempted armed robbery. At press time, the fourth accomplice was still being sought by police. (The Star Press, Muncie, IN, 08/27/04)

"I feel like I protected my own life," said Judy Foster regarding an attempted robbery she stopped at the Haines City, Fla., Mister Money USA store. Foster, the proprietor, had been through a robbery before, so when two men came into the store carrying guns, she did not hesitate to pullout her pistol and fire. One man fell to the ground, managed to get up, and the two robbers fled the store. Thomas Wiley, who was fatally wounded by Foster's bullet, was later found dead in a stolen car. Bernard Geddis, the driver in the incident, was arrested on charges of second- degree murder and attempted armed robbery. At press time, Taurean Brown was being sought as the suspected second gunman. (Orlando Sentinel, Orlando, FL, 08/11/04)

Early one morning, a Sunset Hills, Mo., man heard a knock at his back door. Deciding to err on the side of caution, he retrieved his handgun and carefully opened his door to a stranger who asked for gasoline. Before the homeowner could respond, the stranger forced his way into the house, where a struggle ensued. When the intruder shocked the homeowner with an electric stun gun, the home- owner responded by firing one shot at the intruder who ran out of the house and made it about 200 yds. before falling dead. At press time, police were trying to identify the man who appeared to be in his 20s, but who had no ID. In addition, no car was found in the area. The homeowner, whose name was not released, was not seriously hurt in the incident. (The St. Louis Post- Dispatch, St. Louis, MO, 08/04/04)

Cody Light of Arab, Ala., claimed that all he wanted was some cigarettes, but he got more than he bargained for when he broke into his neighbor's car. The owner, hearing strange noises, stepped outside her house to investigate. Upon seeing a man rummaging through her car, the woman ran back into her house and retrieved a handgun which she brought outside. Light ran away, but was apprehended shortly thereafter, following a brief struggle with police. The man was charged with burglary and resisting arrest. (The Arab Tribune, Arab, AL, 08/04/04)

Robert Cole, a former sheriff's deputy and current NRA member, knew that senior citizens are a prime target for theft, so he was always prepared for the worst. He and his wife, Pamela, had just pulled into a parking spot at the local grocery store one day when an unknown man approached them. As Cole walked to the passenger side of the truck to open the door for his wife, the man came closer and demanded his wallet. "It looked like he had a sawed-off shotgun underneath a towel," said Cole. "I reached in my back pocket to make it seem like I was getting my wallet, but I pulled out a handgun and threatened to shoot him." At that point, said Cole, the suspect pulled the towel off, revealing not a sawed-off shotgun, but two locking pliers positioned to look like a shotgun. The suspect then claimed he was a police officer, but he and his driver eventually fled the scene. Cole said that this was not the first time he and his wife were almost robbed and that they "wanted to warn senior citizens" of what can happen. (The Sentinel, Houston, TX, 07/22/04)

"This bill, we are told, has the paternalistic purpose of allowing the poor, ignorant, elected officials and people of the District of Columbia to protect themselves... presumably because we are lesser beings who do not even have enough sense to figure out the most basic of principles concerning their [sic] own public safety." -D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton

Those sarcastic words-used during the recent Congressional debate that led to a remarkable 250 to 171 gun-rights victory to liberate peaceable citizens of the national capital from America's most oppressive "gun control" law-unintentionally hit the nail on the head.

Ms. Norton-who led the failed opposition to U.S. Rep. Mark Souder's (R-Ind.) "District of Columbia Personal Protection Act" on Sept. 29, 2004, in the U.S. House of Representatives-couldn't have been more patronizing.

Ms. Norton's radicalism would assure that residents of the nation's capital are indeed "lesser beings"-third- class Americans denied the most basic protection of the Second Amendment, the right to use personal, private arms in defense of themselves, their families and their property. House passage of the Souder bill was the first step toward restoring those rights.

In Washington, D.C., where handguns are banned and where all long guns and ammunition must be registered, it is a crime for a law-abiding resident to keep a firearm in his or her home unless is it either disassembled or otherwise rendered totally inoperable for use in self-defense. And it is a crime to keep ammunition in the proximity of a firearm. All this in a city headlined as the "murder capital of the nation" in 14 of the past 15 years.

Ms. Norton would have Americans believe that where decent citizens are prohibited from protecting themselves with firearms, the police will do that job. But in D.C.-specifically by city court edict-the government owes no obligation whatsoever to protect ordinary individual citizens.

In the mid 1970s-about the time the D.C. City Council was disarming its citizens-a gruesome 14-hour nightmare in which three women were savagely raped, sodomized and beaten in their home, unabated by police despite repeated telephone calls, resulted in a lawsuit against the police by the victims (Warren v. District of Columbia). But the D.C. Superior Court ruled in 1978 that"... a government and its agents are under no general duty to provide public services such as police protection to any particular individual."

Ironically, as a Delegate to Congress, Ms. Norton is afforded all manner of personal police protection. How can the privileged Ms. Norton use the word "paternalistic" with a straight face?

Paternalism. That is the evil core of "gun control," whether it is forced on decent people by local or state or national government, or by global bodies such as the U.N.

Recently, at historic Kings College in London, I confronted Rebecca Peters, the leader of the internationally funded global civil disarmament movement-the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) , a massive organization that would violate American sovereignty and impose a world-order gun ban on Americans.

Ms. Peters takes credit for the forced disarmament of Australian gun owners and the destruction of their 640,000 semi-auto rifles and shotguns. During our debate, Ms. Peters, who is heavily financed by globalist billionaire George Soros, defined her philosophy on our Second Amendment, saying, "American citizens should not be exempt from the rules that apply to the rest of the world."

Under the guise of world-government-approved "legitimate sporting purposes," she said, "I think Americans who ... prove that they can hunt should have single-shot rifles suitable for hunting ... ."

Single-shot rifles? She believes Americans should be disarmed of all our repeating long guns-semi-autos, pumps, bolt-actions, lever-actions and multi-barrel firearms.

As for her demand for a worldwide ban on privately owned handguns, she told a British questioner (prohibited from owning any handguns) at the debate, "I am sad for you. I suppose you will miss your sport. Take up another sport."

And on self-defense by peaceable individuals, Ms. Peters said, "People need democracy to protect them. They do not need guns." Like D.C. Delegate Norton, Ms. Peters believes armed self-defense is unacceptable under any circumstance.

And this brings me full circle. In response to an example I used-a woman using a firearm to defend herself against rape, assault and murder-Ms. Peters said, I "Women need to live in societies that respect their human rights. Women need to be protected by police forces, by judiciaries... ."

Right. Like in Rwanda. Or Bosnia. Or Sudan. Or the District of Columbia.