Wheelchair-Bound Woman Blasts Would-Be Mugger

From AM New York:
Deron Johnson picked the wrong person to rob - an ailing Harlem woman on a motorized scooter who pulled out a .357 caliber handgun and shot him in front of stunned passersby in broad daylight Friday, police said.

Margaret Johnson, a 57-year-old licensed gun owner, was looking to fire her weapon, but it was supposed to be at a firing range, police said.

She left her Lenox Avenue home shortly before 3 p.m. with plans to go to the range. Instead, she was confronted from behind by the suspect, Deron Johnson, no relation, police said.

The 45-year-old ex-con grabbed at the chain around the victim's neck, and snatched it from her, police said.

But Margaret Johnson put up quite a struggle, police said, and was able to fire once from her handgun, striking the suspect in the left elbow.

The suspect ran off, but was grabbed nearby by police and arrested. He was taken to Harlem Hospital Center in stable condition. Charges were pending.

Margaret Johnson was questioned by detectives but will not be charged.

"She was defending herself," a police source said.

The suspect has nine previous arrests, police said. State records show he served 8 years in prison for a drug conviction and was released in February 2003.

If the lady really did have a .357, I’m surprised the thug had an arm left. Perhaps she was using .38 ammo, which is a lot less expensive than .357 Magnum.

I know there are many Christians who don’t care much for handguns. I’m from Texas, however, and I find this to be a simple matter of justice. I don’t question the motives of my more pacifistic friends, but I do question their judgment, and the consequences thereof. Here is a perfect example of someone – an invalid woman who can’t walk, in Harlem, a (relatively) crime-ridden are of New York – who, without an “equalizer” would otherwise be doomed to victimhood. Not only is self-defense among the most basic of human rights; self-defense is common defense. Someone who prevents the success of a criminal has not only benefited himself, but the entire community of which he is a member. It is one thing to pray for the conversion and salvation of the criminal; it is another thing entirely to facilitate his existence.

You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. If you do afflict them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry; and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless. (Exo 22:22-24, RSV)

learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. (Isa 1:17, RSV)

Failure to defend is not virtue, it is complicity with evil.