Mike Maloney understands carburetors, spark plugs and the complicated electronic systems that make automobiles move. He knows the joy of piecing together metal parts and rubber gaskets, clamps and pumps, relays and wiring harnesses. In addition to a car guy, Maloney is a dirttrack, countrified stock car racer.
He’ll be back…probably somebody else’s problem next time. From my perspective, there are no heroes in this story.
I think this man put himself at risk. I don’t agree with how it was handled. Glad everything turned out OK.
Guess it was kind of a tough call. Apparently the home owner didn’t feel imminently threatened even though he was in clear danger. Now there is a criminal in the streets that knows where he can find some unlocked guns.
I would have felt very threatened if someone kept coming at me closing the distance to where they could easily take my firearm. I would have given very clear commands for the home invader to back off and I would not have fired warning shots.
that are illegal in most, if not all states.
I don’t think any responsibly armed American wants to be a “hero”.
I do think that Maloney was incredibly lucky and that we can all learn a lot from this situation. Knowing where your guns are is great, but only if you can get to them. A security system can be a lifesaver if you know how to use it. Having a phone with you at all times is as important as having a defensive tool with you.
I give him a lot of credit for staying calm. While he could have probably legally shot in self-defense, he made the decision not to shoot the intruder numerous times during the situation (we won’t go into warning shots as we know they are illegal in most states and ill-advised).
He was able to walk away from that situation without the possible death of another person on his conscience and without much legal aftermath.
He made the right call for himself and his family. If his wife was home, maybe the situation would have ended differently.
And while we realize there’s a chance of the intruder coming back, we cannot make our decisions based on the possibility of what might happen in the future.
He’s safe and unhurt, which is the best outcome if we’re ever in a self-defense incident.
And he was open enough to share his experience so we can all learn from it - I definitely give him credit for that.
My use of the word “hero” was primarily in the literary sense: a protagonist. The meaning of “hero” you refer to was only a minor sub-text. You want to know what I really think about that? Heroes are very rare. Mostly, there are survivors and victims.