And now, over two centuries later, the wisdom of spelling out in no uncertain terms the hard-won liberties to be enshrined has never been so apparent. Time and time again we see how acts of violence are thwarted by legal firearms owners who are prepared to defend what they hold dear.
A Texas homeowner late Saturday morning faced a dire threat after a man allegedly forced entry into this home. The incident unfolded in Tyler, roughly 200 miles north of Houston, when 50-year-old Mark Anthony Correro allegedly entered the residence at about 11;30 a.m. on Treasure Cove near Bullard.
Correro, an attorney, reportedly confronted the occupants while insisting that the homeowner’s truck belonged to him.
Deputies say the homeowner was able to forcefully remove the suspect from his home and then locked the door. Law enforcement was called to the scene shortly thereafter, and the homeowner retrieved his shotgun and went outside to check on his truck.
That’s when Correro reportedly returned to the property. The homeowner told deputies that he informed the suspect that officers were on the way and ordered him to sit.
The suspect had what was described as a mental episode, yelling an unknown woman’s name to the homeowner. When his fiancé came outside, this reportedly seemed to agitate the suspect. When Correro allegedly approached the couple, he was warned that the homeowner would fire his weapon if he did not stop making death threats. He did not stop.
Instead, Correro allegedly charged the couple and one shot was fired into his chest, according to investigators.
When the deputies from the Smith County Sheriff’s Department arrived, they found Correro unconscious in the front yard of the residence. They administered CPR, but EMS paramedics a short time later pronounced Correro dead on the scene.
The investigation into the incident is ongoing, and an autopsy was ordered by the Justice of the Peace.
No loss of life is celebrated, and in this case there apparently were mental issues at play.
However, the fact that one person has psychological problems does not mean that others must be their victims. It is the right and indeed duty of every individual to protect their lives and property from those who would cause them harm, regardless of their motivation.
There are precious few liberties that are as sacred as the natural right to self-defense. No one should be a helpless victim simply because misguided and self-serving politicians want to fire up their voting base by opposing gun rights.
Too many times we now see political leaders at the federal and state levels blame the inanimate object for violent criminal acts. This is illogical and flies in the face of common sense.
It is the individual who commits the act, not the firearm, and in many cases it is a firearm that saves an innocent person from becoming a victim.
The U.S. has a long and storied history of standing up for the personal liberties of those who choose not to be victims. There is a time-honored tradition of rugged individualism and the ability to be armed and ready for whatever danger may present itself.
In this case, the homeowner apparently did all the right things. He was prepared, he stood his ground, and he protected what was being threatened. The presence of a firearm likely prevented injury or even loss of life, and a possible tragedy was averted.
There is a lesson to be learned from this incident and countless others like it. Victimhood often comes down to a choice, and in this case, the choice was clearly to not become another statistic.
The Second Amendment worked exactly as it was intended, and the homeowner and his fiancé are alive and well today.
