It was a terrifying night that refused to end. Edith and William Stevens, both in their 80s, had already scared away an intruder. According to the sheriff's department, deputies completed an investigation and left; but two hours later the couple heard gunshots outside their home and glass breaking. William got his handgun and investigated. Finding an intruder in the hallway, he opened fire and the intruder returned it. "Had Mr. Stevens not had that handgun, I don't know what could have happened," said Maury County, Tenn., Chief Deputy Ashley Brown. The couple locked themselves in the bedroom and tried to phone police, but the lines were cut. The intruder, who police believe was after money for drugs, fired once more through a window. After discovering the intruder had fled, the couple phoned police from a neighbor's house. (The Daily Herald, Columbia, TN, 02/10/08)

Suddenly awakened by the sound of someone rapping on a window, Matthew Kovschak called 9-1-1 and grabbed his .357 caliber handgun. According to police, Kovschak warned the prowler that he had a gun and police were on the way. The noise stopped, but only momentarily. Kovschak heard a commotion and then he saw a hand reaching through a broken window pane trying to unlock the back door. After one more warning, Kovschak fired four shots, twice striking the female intruder. Police believe a second suspect fled the scene. (The Ledger, Lakeland, FL, 01/22/08)

When Eric MacFarlane saw three teenagers kick in his neighbor's door, he got his pistol and told a neighbor to call police. Fearing his neighbor's small children were endangered, he ran to the scene. Police say two of the teens immediately fled, but MacFarlane found one in the doorway. "I told him to step back and lay down if he wanted to live," MacFarlane recalls. "Then I talked to him about what direction his life was going in. "The teen said he broke in for money. MacFarlane told him he's lucky the decision didn't get him shot. "I just hope this young man has learned a lesson," MacFarlane explained, adding that he doesn't believe in violence. "[MacFarlane] did a really great job," said Midwest City, Okla., police Capt. Sid Porter. "We're probably going to issue him a commendation." (The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, OK, 02/21/08)

Upon witnessing a man yelling at a woman and pushing her into a van, a passerby tried to be a Good Samaritan. Police say he asked the woman if she was okay and told her she didn't have to get into the man's vehicle. While stopped at a traffic light moments later, the van's driver confronted the man. Both men exited their vehicles, and the van's driver knocked the Good Samaritan to the ground. Two women, including the woman the victim tried to help, exited the van and began stomping on him. A passing motorist witnessed the scene and quickly stopped. He drew a firearm and ordered the three suspects to halt the beating. Police received reports of a man holding people at gunpoint, but quickly determined he had a concealed· carry permit and arrested the three suspects. (Ann Arbor News, Ann Arbor, MI, 02/14/08)

Elwood Pickett just wanted to be a good neighbor, so when two young men asked to use the phone, he handed it out the door. Then he grew suspicious. "They used the phone and left, but when they came back the second time, I was ready for them in case there was trouble," the 80-year-old Pickett explained. He handed the phone out a second time, but he says one of the men "pushed through like an elephant and pounded me with a knife. He ... stabbed me half to death, and I thought it was time." But it wasn't. Police say Pickett, a World War II vet and lifelong hunter, drew his .38 caliber pistol and fired three shots, striking one of the men and causing both to flee. One suspect went to the hospital; the other to Jail. Pickett was badly injured but is recuperating. (Hood County News, Granbury, TX, 02/13/08)

Barack Obama's Slippery Oratory

To understand Barack Obama on the Second Amendment, you have to know about the clash of character between the then-Chicago state senator and an ordinary citizen who exercised his right to armed self-defense in violation of a local gun ban.

That citizen was a 52-year-old resident of Wilmette, Illinois who, on December 28, 2003 woke to find that during the night his home had been invaded by a career criminal; a thief who stole household items, keys and the homeowner's car.

The victim, Hale DeMar, described his fear in a letter to the Chicago Sun Times: "For me, the seconds until I found my children still safely tucked in their' beds were horrifying ... The police were called and in routine fashion they came, took the report and with little concern left, promising to increase surveillance. Little comfort, since the invader now had keys to our home and our automobiles. The police informed me that this was not an uncommon event in east Wilmette and offered their condolences ... "

Not 24 hours after the first burglary, the thief returned. Using DeMar's house keys, the man entered the home, this time setting off the alarm system, automatically notifying the security company. Given the previous night's lackluster response by police, DeMar was prepared, armed with a handgun-legally purchased years before and kept in a safe. But under Wilmette's gun ban, that firearm in the home was illegal.

DeMar confronted the criminal, and believing his children were in danger, shot the burglar who then fled the home.

"Until you are shocked by a piercing alarm in the middle of the night and met in your kitchen by a masked invader as your children shudder in their beds, until you confront that very real nightmare, please don't suggest that some village trustee knows better .. ."

"If my actions have spared only one family from the distress and trauma that this habitual criminal has caused hundreds of others, then I have served my civic duty and taken one evil creature off of our streets, something that our impotent criminal justice system had failed to do, despite' some thirty odd arrests, plea bargains and suspended sentences."

The burglar, who was arrested after driving DeMar's stolen SUV to a hospital, had an extensive criminal record.

Cook County prosecutors ultimately declared DeMar's use of a firearm to be justified. But Wilmette village officials pressed nonetheless to prosecute him for illegal possession of his handgun-a charge punishable by a huge fine and jail time. A town official was quoted in Reason magazine saying, "We need to set the example that we're trying to protect our citizens." And he said, DeMar-by possessing a legally purchased handgun-"is endangering innocent civilians."

The outcry of the Illinois public was heard all the way to the state capitol. As a result, the Illinois House and Senate passed legislation in May 2004 to protect citizens who use handguns in self-defense in their homes or businesses despite local handgun baris. The House accepted the DeMar self defense bill by a vote of 86-25 and the Senate moved the legislation on a 38-20 vote.

And here lies the seminal moment for State Senator Barack Obama. When Obama turned thumbs down on the bill, he voted against the most basic element of the Second Amendment-the right of defense of self and family-the reason that millions of Americans own firearms.

When the governor vetoed the bill, Obama once again voted against a citizen's right to self-defense. Despite his vote, the veto override passed the Senate and the House by overwhelming majorities, thereby enacting this bill into law.

Now, fast forward to today's slippery oratory of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama just three years from being an unknown state senator-now morphed by the media into a spellbinding U.S. Senator seeking to be President of the United States.

Using words like "protecting sportsmen, "Obama is now saying that he believes in the Second Amendment ... but with almost universal exceptions, all of which he lists under the heading of "common sense gun safety laws."

"Common sense gun safety" and the Second Amendment? Like endorsing the D.C. gun ban, which outlaws armed self-defense in the home - now being challenged before the U.S. Supreme Court. Obama, who as President would be in the position to nominate justices to that high court, has declared that the D.C. ban doesn't violate the Second Amendment.

"Common sense gun safety" and the Second Amendment? In a "1998 National Political Awareness Test," he pledged to support a "Ban [on] the sale or transfer of all forms of semi-automatic weapons" meaning most handguns and many rifles and shotguns that you and I own.

"Common sense gun safety" and the Second Amendment? Like demanding that the federal government preempt the 40 hard-won state laws creating Right-to-Carry. Here's how the Chicago Tribune put it: "Obama said he opposed allowing ordinary citizens to carry concealed weapons and that a federal law banning concealed carried weapons except for law enforcement is needed."

"Common sense gun safety" and the Second Amendment? Like the draconian proposals funded to the tune of $18,000,000 by the rabidly anti-gun Joyce Foundation while Obama was an activist member of its board of directors.