(Leonard Boswell, D)Iowa congressman and his family retell how they fought off a gun-wielding robber

[alp227]

Lamoni, Iowa — Congressman Leonard Boswell had kenneled his two Rottweilers for the night. Just before bedtime, the 77-year-old Democrat put on his blue-striped robe and removed his hearing aid, turning down the volume on what had been a loud mid-July week of debt-ceiling drama on Capitol Hill.

He was getting a glass of water in the kitchen, and even without his earpiece, he could sense some commotion on the main floor of his farmhouse. He rushed to the nearby bedroom to check on his wife of 56 years, Dody. She was in bed — nothing wrong.

He bounded down the hallway toward the front door. He had lost weight recently, after stomach surgery; the silver-haired combat veteran was less hulking, but swifter. As he moved forward, he could see his 22-year-old grandson, Mitchell Brown, standing frozen in the living room, staring toward the front door. Then Boswell saw what Mitchell saw: a man in a neoprene ski mask, brandishing a pistol, pinning Boswell’s daughter — Mitchell’s mother — against a wall.

“He was saying, ‘Get the money or I’ll shoot her,’ ” Boswell recalled. He could see how glad his daughter Cindy Brown was to see her dad. “My instinct was: ‘If you’re going to shoot, shoot me. And I’m comin’ after you.’ I wanted to get my hands on him.”

full: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/iowa-congressman-and-his-family-retell-how-they-fought-off-a-gun-wielding-robber/2011/08/18/gIQAdb2klJ_singlePage.html

[rl6214]

1. With the assistance of a shotgun

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. Lucky he was in in the country...

In Los Angles or other urban center there likely would have been bloodshed

[Tuesday Afternoon]

3. Drawn weapons usually do their job without ever being fired.

wishing Congressman Leonard Boswell and his family healing vibes and peaceful energy as he continues to heal.

[iverglas]

4. how it's done in Canada

I know you're all dying to hear.

24 Sussex is the official residence of the Prime Minister. (The PM's Office is in the Langevin Building downtown, and the Governor General lives not far from the PM at Rideau Hall.) The Prime Minister in question was Jean Chrétien. Of course, in this post-9/11 world, the rest of us have got on the terrorism bandwagon too, and this will never be able to happen again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Dallaire

At 02:10 UTC−5 on November 5, <1995,> Dallaire arrived outside 24 Sussex Drive and spent the next 20 minutes throwing stones onto the grounds and waving at security cameras while carrying a Pocket knife alternately described as three or five inches in length.

He then climbed the fence and strode over to the house, where he smashed a glass door and entered, wandering around the basement and ground floor for 30 minutes before heading to the Chrétiens' bedroom where he was confronted by Chrétien's wife, Aline as he was pulling on his gloves.

Aline hurried back into the bedroom and locked the door, rousing Chrétien who initially dismissed her story as "just a dream", while she dialed the RCMP officers stationed outside the house.

Stories diverged whether Jean or Aline Chrétien brandished an Inuit stone sculpture of a loon in case Dallaire broke through the door.

Dallaire did not attempt to break down the door, and waited for the police to arrive. Controversially, it took seven minutes for the police to respond to Aline's desperate call about an intruder trying to kill the Prime Minister, in part because the first officer to respond had forgotten his key to the residence, because the officers had decided to surround the house to prevent escape before entering it to ensure the Prime Minister's safety, and because the officer who answered the frantic telephone call first called his supervisor at the nearby Rideau Hall to ask what he should do.

Just a day in the life where deranged burglars don't have guns ... and neither do politicians.

[PavePusher]

5. "where deranged burglars don't have guns"

?!?!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/rsrch/briefs/b10/b10e-eng.shtml

[iverglas]

10. I imagine you had a point somewhere in that 1995 document

based on even older research, which itself was based on offenders already incarcerated:

In 1987, a University of Montreal task force on armed robbery developed a typology of armed robbers by breaking down a sample or robbery offenders (from the Canadian correctional system) into four groups: chronic, professional, intensive and occasional. Although the sample size was modest, the diversity of motivations and behavioral patterns among armed robbery offenders was striking.

Other than that, I see nothing of interest on that page.

Read much? I've cited this report more than once in the last few days:

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/100325/dq100325b-eng.htm

In 2008, about half of all robberies <total: "about 32,000 incidents of robbery in 2008, accounting for 7% of all violent crimes"> were committed on the street or in another outdoor public location such as a parking lot or public transit facility. Another 39% took place in a commercial establishment such as a convenience store or bank. The remaining 10% were residential robberies.

... Between 1977 and 2002, the rate of robberies committed with a firearm declined steadily. Since then, the rate has remained stable.

A firearm was involved in 14% of all robberies in 2008, compared with 20% a decade earlier. Robberies committed with other weapons, most commonly knives, accounted for 29% of all incidents. No weapon was involved in the remaining 57%.

That's about 450 firearms robberies in Canada in 2008. At the same rate, the US wouldhave had about 4,000. Haha.

Now ... since

Home invasions are committed by strangers less often than other types of robberies. In 2008, 63% of home invasions were committed by a stranger compared with 90% of other types of robbery.

Just over one-quarter of home invasions were committed by acquaintances, which include criminal relationships.

... we can be fairly confident that acquaintance / criminal-relationship "home invasion" robberies are the ones most likely to involve firearms. Commercial robberies would be right up there in the firearms sweepstakes too. (I actually read the papers here, and can tell you of the one or two stranger-firearm-home-invasion incidents I've heard of, the several firearm-commercial-robberies, and oh yeah, the terrifying home inbasion in a Toronto suburb quite recently where one person was shot to death and another severely injured, a community was left in fear ... and it turned out it was the householders' daughter who had engineered it.)

Anyhow, I guess you had a point. If you want to tell us something actually factual about deranged burglars with firearms in Canada, I'm sure you will.



Just clearing out the many stray open tabs before shutting down the computer to update some stuff, ran across this unposted post ...

[Remmah2]

6. If dangerous burglars do not have guns in Canada.

How come there is crime that occurs with guns then?

How is it that Canada then blames the US for guns in Canada?

[iverglas]

13. if the sky is blue, how come dogs have four legs?

If dangerous burglars do not have guns in Canada.
How come there is crime that occurs with guns then?

(The subject was "deranged burglars", let us recall.)

There is gun crime in Canada because some people have guns who shouldn't have them.

Those people just don't include many who waste their time on burglary. You see. Guns in criminal hands, here, being relatively scarce, tend to get used for more lucrative/productive purposes.

Clearer?

[Spoonman]

7. Meanwhile, in the REAL world.........

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2011/08/27/montreal-police-wanted-suspect-attempted-murder.html

"Police said the woman, 34, was shot inside an apartment at 4710 Linton Avenue in Côte-des-Neiges."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2011/08/10/ns-petro-canada-robbery.html

"Halifax Regional Police are investigating an armed robbery at a gas station on Bayers Road"

http://westdeptford.patch.com/articles/auto-assaults-forgery-top-gloucester-county-indictments

"Mickey J. McDonald, 21, of Williamstown, for burglary, two counts of unlawful possession of a handgun and three counts of theft by unlawful taking on May 19 in Monroe Township."
"Thomas S. Dunlap, 23, of Williamstown, for burglary, two counts of unlawful possession of a handgun and three counts of theft by unlawful taking on May 19 in Monroe Township."


I know, it's the United States fault......:sarcasm:

[iverglas]

11. indeed

"Halifax Regional Police are investigating an armed robbery at a gas station on Bayers Road"

... and this has to do with burglars ... how?


"Mickey J. McDonald, 21, of Williamstown, for burglary, two counts of unlawful possession of a handgun and three counts of theft by unlawful taking on May 19 in Monroe Township."
"Thomas S. Dunlap, 23, of Williamstown, for burglary, two counts of unlawful possession of a handgun and three counts of theft by unlawful taking on May 19 in Monroe Township."

... and these have to do with CANADA ... how?

http://www.westdeptford.com/

"
West Deptford is a great place to live, work, or operate a business. Strategically located along the Interstate- 295 corridor almost halfway between New York and Washington D.C., West Deptford is approximately 20 minutes by car to both downtown Philadelphia and the airport."


"Police said the woman, 34, was shot inside an apartment at 4710 Linton Avenue in Côte-des-Neiges."
(Montreal)

Read the story, did you?

"On two occasions he showed up at his ex-wife's apartment, and he tried to strangle her, and threatened her with a firearm," said Const. Daniel Lacoursière.

... Mills is also an "important witness" in a August 23 shooting that left a woman in hospital with serious upper body injuries.

Police said the woman, 34, was shot inside an apartment at 4710 Linton Avenue in Côte-des-Neiges.

Authorities describe Mills as a violent, armed and dangerous drug user.

Not thinking he was a burglar, myself ...


Batting about zero, folks, sorry to say.

[petronius]

8. Twenty minutes trying to get the guards' notice, thirty minutes exploring the house,

and then seven minutes after the emergency call? Geez, if I ever decide to be a burglar, I'm definitely moving to Canada! (Do you think that loon sculpture would be valuable?) :rofl:

[iverglas]

12. it was a subject of some hilarity at the time, indeed

Then there was the other incident when poor PM Jean Chrétien suffered indignity at the hands of a member of the public ...



... and his later reaction to a member of the public who he seems to have decided presented a threat ...




http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/970499--how-politicians-deal-with-confrontation

Confrontation: On Feb. 15, 1996, prime minister Jean Chrétien attends Flag Day ceremonies in a park in Gatineau, Que., which are disrupted by protesters angry about cuts to the employment-insurance program.

Response: Chrétien, wearing sunglasses, wades into the crowd and comes face-to-face with a hat-clad Bill Clennett. He grabs Clennett in a choke-hold, which would later be dubbed the “Shawinigan handshake.”

Confrontation: In 1982, prime minister Pierre Trudeau is travelling in Salmon Arm, B.C., when he is beset by three placard-carrying demonstrators.

Response: Trudeau gives the finger to the protesters in what would come to be known as the “Salmon Arm salute.”

[gravity556]

14. Ah yes, the old "fewer guns, less crime" canard.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2011/02/07/family-suffered-every-householder-s-worst-nightmare-after-gun-gang-broke-into-their-everton-home-100252-28124250/

AN INNOCENT family suffered “every householder’s worst nightmare” when an eight-strong gun-wielding gang broke into their home in the middle of the night and attacked them.

During their ordeal, the couple were threatened with the imitation firearm, assaulted and robbed.

The woman’s two terrified young kids, aged about four or five, were also present throughout the late-night attack.



Read More http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2011/02/07/family-suffered-every-householder-s-worst-nightmare-after-gun-gang-broke-into-their-everton-home-100252-28124250/#ixzz1YRpBzqEU

The crooks over there are brazen enough to use prop guns to terrorize people. Think a toy gun wielding robber would last long kicking in the door of a gun owner?

[iverglas]

15. it's YOUR canard

-- do what you like with it. If you need suggestions, I'll be happy to oblige.

Lordy, reduced to offering tales of FAKE-gun-wielding robbers in other countries. Does it hurt?

Apparently the householder was punched in the course of the break-in.

Quite the evidence of ... well I don't know what, but I'm sure you thought you'd found evidence of something.

[Atypical Liberal]

9. Looks like one Pro-gun Democratic Congressman, anyway. n/t