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Would you shoot the *?

Josey1Josey1 Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
edited June 2002 in General Discussion
Would you shoot the *?
By NICKI FELLENZER


NICKI FELLENZER
What would you do to protect your family from a habitual abuser who won't take "No!" for an answer? What would you do if, despite a restraining order taken out against him, the abuser continued trying to infiltrate your home and your life?

Would you acquiesce and allow him in your home?

Would you rely on the police to protect you?

Would you allow him to hurt you? Your children?

Or would you shoot the * dead?

I know this is easier said than done. Taking a human life should never be a light matter, but when your life and the lives of your children are at stake, the choice becomes clear. That's the choice Angela Dodson of Frederick County, Virginia faced last night. As far as I'm concerned - in this situation in which no person should ever find themselves - she made the right choice.

Being a writer and a Second Amendment rights activist, I hear stories of guns being used in self-defense every day. But this one hit close to home.

I don't know Angela Dodson. She lives in Frederick County, just a few minutes' drive from my home. I've never met her, but we live in the same small, rural Virginia community. So when I read a newspaper account of her ordeal, it resonated deeply enough for me to sit down at my keyboard.

According to the newspaper report, Angela was home with her two children - ages 2 and 7 - yesterday evening, when her estranged husband, one Thomas Dodson attempted to break into her house. Angela had taken a restraining order out against her husband in April due to spousal abuse, but apparently that didn't stop him. Thomas Dodson drove to his wife's home, ripped out the telephone lines and tried to break down the back door in order to gain access to his estranged family. When this course of action failed, Dodson grabbed a rock, broke a window and climbed inside the house. Angela was forced to hide in her bedroom with her children, and as her estranged husband repeatedly attempted to break down the bedroom door, she allegedly defended herself with a .38 caliber revolver. According to the report, she aimed the revolver, shot through the door and wounded Dodson in the leg.

But her ordeal wasn't over yet.

After an apparent retreat, Dodson re-entered his wife's home and proceeded to pummel the locked bedroom door until he punched through one panel and attempted to gain access. That's when Angela allegedly shot him once again in the leg and another time in the head.

What was Angela Dodson to do? A man who had shown his propensity for violence before - enough to cause her to use legal channels to ensure he didn't abuse her again - was in her house. While we don't presume to know his intentions, they couldn't have possibly been good, as witnessed by his disabling the telephone in the house.

What would have happened if Angela didn't have that gun?

I don't want to speculate, since the visuals of the possibilities coming to mind are too horrific to imagine. However, just consider that whatever horrors are coming to mind, they would have happened in front of two young boys.

I can't possibly begin to imagine what Angela Dodson must have felt as she cowered inside her locked bedroom with a violent intruder pounding repeatedly at the door. I can't begin to envision the terror she must have experienced as she looked at her children and realized what she had to do. I can't imagine what was going through her mind as she pulled the trigger and killed the man she married.

I can only imagine what I would have felt in her place as a mother. When a violent intruder threatens your children, everything else becomes secondary. When you realize that their innocent lives are in your hands, and the only thing standing between them and bloodshed is you, there's nothing you wouldn't do. When you look into those trusting, innocent faces and you see how much they depend on you for their very survival, you realize that there's nothing more important in the world than their safety and well-being.

There's nothing you wouldn't do. NOTHING.

And so Angela Dodson did what I imagine any mother would do when her children's lives are at stake. She shot their father in front of them. What other choice did she have?

If it wasn't for that .38-caliber revolver, would Angela Dodson's children have a mommy today? Would they even be alive today?

So far charges have not been filed against Angela Dodson. I hope Frederick County officials realize that Angela Dodson had a right to defend her life and the lives of her children. I hope the Commonwealth's Attorney will choose not to punish Angela Dodson for the manner in which she defended those precious lives.
http://www.armedfemalesofamerica.com/archive.php?aid=500


"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878

Comments

  • boogerbooger Member Posts: 1,463 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    She showed amazing restraint, retreating to her bedroom etc. I would have been shooting earlier!

    Them ducks is wary.
  • mousemouse Member Posts: 3,624
    edited November -1
    I''m glad she was armed. Sorry the kids had to endure the wacknut.

    Some questions come to mind. Where were this womans neighbors? This
    guy had to be making a lot of rackett. It's amazing to me the cowardice of some people to not get involved.

    It is apparent she only wanted to injure him enough to let him go away.
    Sometimes a bullet to the head is the only way to stop a man who is
    enraged. The guy was obviously going to do major * harm or
    he wouldn't have kept coming.
    The cell phone company should give her a phone just to use for 911.
  • woodsrunnerwoodsrunner Member Posts: 5,378 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    What gets me in the area I live it's not uncommon for the cops to arrest both parties in a domestic dispute. Under current law in that case she would have been denied the protection of that .38 . There is not a doubt in my mind she did the right thing. She followed her motherly instinct, just like a momma bear would feed you to her cubs for breakfast.

    Woods

    How big a boy are ya?
  • Gordian BladeGordian Blade Member Posts: 1,202 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Answer to question: Hell yes. As they say, "He needed killin'."
  • 4GodandCountry4GodandCountry Member Posts: 3,968
    edited November -1
    She is lucky she was armed or she probably would be the one in the body bag and possibly her children as well. Just recently I read about a similar incident but the woman was unarmed. She phoned the police but the police never responded for over twenty minutes. When they finally arrived the woman lay dead along with her children and the man shot himself committing suicide. The point is this, it is every individuals right to defend themselves and their [responsibility] to defend and protect their families. I wander if the gun bashers will dispute the woman did the right thing?

    When Clinton left office they gave him a 21 gun salute. Its a damn shame they all missed....
  • JustCJustC Member Posts: 16,056 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I second that "hell yes".

    A great rifle with a junk scope,....is junk.
  • daddodaddo Member Posts: 3,408
    edited November -1
    If the police were in her home at that time, what would they have done?
    The same thing! Guns would have been drawn, and the outcome would have been similer. The man was violent and the man could have had a weapon.(knife, gun, ect,) She could have not stopped him physicly, therefore, had to use a force greater to STOP HIM. His intent was not to be nice, but to harm or kill or cause serious * harm. It is sad she had to do this, but she did what she deemed proper to protect her family. Glad the guy is gone! He was EVIL! Good for her!
  • The LawThe Law Member Posts: 2,287 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Josey1......thanks for your reply...........keep up the good work......

    "What we have here... is Failure to Communicate"
  • offerorofferor Member Posts: 8,625 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Hell, yes. I wish more of these stories would turn out this way. Too often the * manages to succeed in hurting the woman -- where do these guys get the insane idea of ownership rights? I wish these types would off themselves first and leave the women, who they no longer have any business worrying about, in peace.


    - Life NRA Member
    "If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
  • n4thethrilln4thethrill Member Posts: 366 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    i'm like booger i would have shot alot sooner We are blessed here in LA with laws that stand for homeowner's rights when it comes to trespassing

    you can be king or street sweeper but everyone is going to dance with the reaper
  • Evil ATFEvil ATF Member Posts: 1,195 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    "Some questions come to mind. Where were this womans neighbors? This guy had to be making a lot of rackett. It's amazing to me the cowardice of some people to not get involved."

    It is sad, but certainly not amazing. Keep in mind that the majority of sheeple nowadays do not care a lick beyond making sure that they get theirs.

    Sick and sad, but not amazing...



    Stand And Be Counted
  • Big Sky RedneckBig Sky Redneck Member Posts: 19,752 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I don't know where you live but around here if you intervene on any problem that is not yours, you go to jail. I have no legal rights to try and protect anyone out side my home. Don't blame all the people for not caring, most of that attitude come from the lovely lawmakers. if somebody breaks into my nieghbors home and starts shooting the place up, I can do nothing more than call 911, if I go over and try to stop it, I become the criminal and the real bad guys become victims.
  • alledanalledan Member Posts: 19,541
    edited November -1
    F#@king right! !BOOM!

    Never ask why but only the value of.
  • RugerNinerRugerNiner Member Posts: 12,636 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Isn't this really a No-Brainer?

    Remember...Terrorist are attacking Civilians; Not the Government. Protect Yourself!
    Keep your Powder dry and your Musket well oiled.
    NRA Lifetime Benefactor Member.
  • AlpineAlpine Member Posts: 15,092 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    7mm: If you are armed you have the right to protect anyone's life that is in jeopardy. Not just your family. If this was your neighbor you would have prior knowlege of violent past. Responding to repeated calls for help, and believing your neighbor's life was in jeopardy, you would be justified.

    "If you ain't got pictures, I wasn't there."
    ?The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.?
    Margaret Thatcher

    "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
    Mark Twain
  • hunter280manhunter280man Member Posts: 705
    edited November -1
    I myself would have shot also.

    As far as helping my neighbors, I have ran a intruder off with a .44 and chased him almost a mile before I figured he wouldn't come back! But when I got back to the house to talk to the officer I convienently hid the handgun. I believe that one officer saw me hideing it and just gave me a knowing nodd. Less paperwork that way.

    Now as for shooting someone in my neighbors house, It would have to be them, me, or him! Prefferably him, Remember, If you shoot, you will have to go through alot to justify it.

    Though I was born to royalty, I was snatched at birth, so treat me as the noble I am!!!
  • gunphreakgunphreak Member Posts: 1,791 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I guess if it were me, no one I know would be dumb enough to try to force their way into my house to begin with. For any who are not so intelligent, death awaits inside these doors.

    The only thing I feel as I pull the trigger is the recoil.

    Death to Tyrants!!!

    -Gunphreak
  • rscoleman88rscoleman88 Member Posts: 4,250
    edited November -1
    She and those children both need a prayer I think

    Respect those who protect us now just as you would those who died for us in the past.
  • beantolebeantole Member Posts: 1,086 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Joesy1: Thanks for a good article. rscoleman88 is correct, this woman and her kids need our prayers. Even tho she was totally justified in killing this man the kids saw their mom kill their dad and will never forget it. But she did what she had to do and I commend her actions.
  • azzeaterazzeater Member Posts: 187 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The only reason a man beats his wife is because he has small genitalia. All guy know that You only need to slap her around when she don't do the dishes. Just kidding ladies!!!!!!!! I think that she didn't shoot him enough.

    hey all!
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