Billy Franks awoke from a deep sleep to find two armed men demanding cash and threatening to beat his 67-year-old wife, Sherry, with a baseball bat. The intruders then made good on their threat, bruising Sherry's arm and breaking Billy's arm in two places. That's when Sherry remembered the -22-cal. revolver her 70-year-old husband kept tucked under his pillow. "When she picked up the gun and pointed it [at the would-be robbers], they panicked and started running," Billy said. Sheriff's Department Captain Joe Young lauded the couple's handling of the situation. "People try to prey on senior citizens because they think they're easier to mess with, but this couple showed that's not always true," he said, adding, "I think it's a good idea for people to keep a handgun in their homes, just in case something like this happens." (The Commerical Dispatch, Columbus, MS, 07/18/05))

A 66-year-old contract carrier for a Kansas City newspaper still doesn't know what his attackers wanted, but he does know that he's lucky to have been armed. His shift was just beginning at about 3 a.m., when four assailants sprinted toward him, forcing him back to the safety of his van. But before the carrier could get away, the biggest attacker, along with his three accomplices, began pummeling the man through the driver-side window. During the ordeal, the van drifted forward and slammed into a store, at which point the carrier retrieved a .380-cal. handgun and fired three shots out his window, causing the attackers to flee. Authorities were unsure if any of the thugs were wounded. The carrier was left bruised and bleeding, but he considered himself fortunate to be alive. "I thought these guys just weren't going to let up," he said. "He intended to knock me out, maybe leave me for dead. At that time, he'd get whatever he wanted." (The Kansas City Star, Kansas City, MO, 08/02/05))

Cecil and Jerry Reynolds were fed up with the repeated robberies of their tire store. So, during the most recent attempt, Jerry "did what the law allows him to do," Sheriff Al Cannon, Jr., said. The Reynolds, who live about 50 yds, from their business, were able to install an intercom similar to a baby monitor at their store. At about 4 a.m., they were awakened by the sound of breaking glass. Jerry investigated, but found nothing and returned home. Minutes later, the two again heard what sounded like a break-in. Jerry grabbed his 12-ga. shotgun and returned to the store, where he saw someone enter a black car. According to sheriff's officials, Jerry ordered the suspect to get out of the car, but he refused and instead gunned the engine and hit Jerry, who fired buckshot into the front windshield. The suspect, upon being struck, swerved and crashed. The driver was taken to a hospital where he was listed in critical condition. (The Post and Courier, North Charleston, SC, 08/26/05))

It was about 4 a.m., and Chuck Estes was on his way to work when he noticed that someone had stolen his wife's car stereo and speakers. As he headed down the street, he saw two suspicious males climbing into a car loaded with electronics. While he investigated, one suspect bolted from the scene. Estes pointed a flashlight and a .44 Magnum handgun at the second suspect, who was seated in the front passenger seat, and ordered him to put his hands on the dashboard. "I made it very clear [to him] to stay in the car," said Estes, who has a concealed-carry permit. He called 9-1-1 and bolstered his firearm after determining that the suspect didn't pose a threat. "Hopefully that's the last time I'll have to pull [my gun] out of the holster," Estes said. "I want to be very clear that I choose to carry a pistol for personal protection and not to go out and stop thugs and not to be a vigilante." Authorities tracked a driver's license found on the scene to the suspect who fled, and both alleged thieves have been arrested. "In all honesty, if [Estes] hadn't taken some action, we'd probably be sitting here today with several thousands of dollars in stolen property," Chief Criminal Deputy Dan Kimball said. (The Olympian, Olympia, WA,08/10/05))

A Wal-Mart customer with a concealed-carry permit came to a female employee's rescue when violence erupted in a crowded store early one evening. Police say an employee was working in the deli when her ex-husband leapt across the counter and began stabbing her multiple times. That's when 72-year-old Due Moore intervened, shooting and killing the ex-husband. The woman was taken to the hospital where she was expected to recover from her wounds. (Albuquerque Journal, Albuquerque, NM, 08/27/05)

Of any news story since New Orleans became the first venue in America to disarm its peaceable citizens house by house at gun point nothing brought home the sheer terror of it all more than two broadcast video segments: one on ABC News and another on Fox News Channel.

Opening with scenes of police and Oklahoma National Guardsmen entering homes on a block-by-block search, you cannot watch the ABC piece without fear and anger. Everybody I've spoken with who has seen it had the same reaction the Constitution has been trashed. This was supposed to be a humanitarian effort, not a shoot-to-kill military operation.

If friends might think shoot-to-kill is overblown, tell them to imagine having a locked and loaded Ml 6 or M4 carbine leveled at them by a youthful guardsman with fear in his eyes. Then imagine someone shouting, "He has a gun!"

This is the worst case for honest gun owners come true. But I promise you, when all is said and done by NEA, these scenes will become a nightmare for the gun-ban crowd, because they give lie to their false promises that forced gun confiscation would never happen in America.

With images of police and guardsmen clearing rooms, shouldered M16s at the ready, the ABC reporter explained that they enter homes "with guns drawn with instructions to disarm anyone inside." Then the New Orleans police chief says, "No one will be able to be armed. We're going to take all weapons." Remember, this has always been the endgame of New Orleans politicians who were first in line to take a crack at suing the firearm industry out of existence.

In the ABC broadcast, young men are sitting on a curb with arms handcuffed behind their backs, surrounded by heavily armed police. They could be any of our college- age kids. Their crime as explained by the ABC reporter: "[H]omeowners had armed themselves to protect their mansions. Residents were handcuffed on the ground, and in the end, police took their weapons but let them stay in their homes."

In the close of the ABC footage, a very young guardsman says, "Walking up and down these streets you don't want to have to think about the stuff you are going to have to do. If somebody pops around the corner ...." Off camera, the reporter interrupts and says, "You mean shoot an American."

The Americans this young man might shoot are not looters; they are not criminals. They are brave people who simply refused to obey an order by the same local authorities who indefensibly failed to protect them.

Keep in mind, those officials who ordered every decent citizen of their city to be forcibly disarmed also sent tens of thousands of residents whose homes were destroyed to endure the living hell of the Superdome and the Convention Center; where people died or were murdered; where bodies rotted; where medical practitioners were frightened away; where gang members killed, robbed and raped at will. All of this with virtually no police presence for a week.

For citizens in neighborhoods spared the flooding and wind damage from the hurricane, the evacuation order made no sense. And arming themselves to protect their persons, families, homes and communities from roving criminal predators made perfect sense. Self-protection is the most basic human right of all.

To see the National Guard troops in this ABC segment is to see them on a war footing. They are edgy. Fearful. But this isn't war. This is a natural disaster involving innocent Americans whom are victims of nature. These are Americans who chose to be armed so that they would not further become victims of criminal violence.

Many of these people who stayed in their relatively unscathed neighborhoods couldn't bring themselves to abandon their pets, their possessions. They feared leaving more than staying. Think of being disarmed at gunpoint by the very people who you thought had come to help.

For any level of government state, local or federal to disarm these good people in their own homes using the threat of imminent deadly force is unthinkable.

The Fox broadcast brought that message home with incredible force. Seeing a burly police officer body slam a frail, elderly woman who was showing officers her home protection gun a little Colt Police Positive is beyond imagination. (See Marshall Lewin's powerful story on p. 72). Her gun was taken, and she was hauled out of her home.

Law enforcement? No. Tyranny. Clear and simple. And it is a tyranny that must be stopped never to happen again.

NRA is committed to ensuring that innocent Americans always have the means to defend themselves in their homes and neighborhoods. We will do so by enacting laws to prohibit state and federal authorities from seizing firearms from innocent citizens under a state of emergency due to a natural disaster or terrorist attack.

Self-defense is and must remain the bedrock principle of the Second Amendment.