Home invasion survivor: I was against guns, now I carry

[lostinblue 1,989]

Home invasion survivor: I was against guns, now I carry

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Nearly eighteen years ago, Mike and Susan Gonzalez had a life changing experience.

"August will be 18 years and I still live with it everyday," said Susan.

Her home now has burglar bars and there are no trespassing signs posted on her North Jacksonville property.

It was around 12:40 a.m. when she heard a rustling sound at the front door. Gonzalez said she left the couch to unlock the front door for her son when someone kicked the door in.

"It came off the hinges and I took off running and screaming," she recalled. "My husband was asleep in the bedroom."

Two masked men had invaded her home. Susan was shot.

"I kind of knew I was dying, so I was making my peace with God," she said.

Her husband was shot as he struggled with one of the attackers. Gonzalez said she saw an opportunity to reach for her husband's pistol and she went for it. She said she pointed the gun at one of the suspects and squeezed the trigger.

"I just opened fire in his back," she said.

The wounded suspect died in the couple's front yard. The other suspect took the keys to their truck and got away, but he was later captured.

Susan, 56, said what happened that hot August night has changed her views completely on guns.

"A lot of people are against guns because they say guns kill, " said Gonzalez. "Guns saved my life and I was against guns. I now carry."

She has a concealed weapons permit and said she practices on a regular basis.

"What happened to us, I would never in a million years would have dreamed it would happen to us,' she said.

Gonzalez turned the tables on her attacker and lived to talk about it.

On July 6, her story is being featured in the Discovery Channel's "OVER MY DEAD BODY" series.

She hopes it will encourage others to protect themselves.

"I can only hope that another woman or even man will take a look and realize there's a reason to have guns for safety," she said.

She said many have criticized her for shooting the suspect, but she said what she did was to save her family.

"Anyone that is a victim never expects to be a victim," said Gonzalez. "You should be prepared."

News report in the link .

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/story/news/local/2015/07/02/home-invasion-victim-changes-mind-about-guns/29640775/

[X Factor 1,110]

Bullets kill not guns .... lol

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Wait, I thought that guns never protected a home and anyone who keeps a gun in the house will end up having it used against them. Or at least that's what I keep reading here.

[spookyturtle 9,465]

If guns kill people, do pencils misspell words?

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Wait, I thought that guns never protected a home and anyone who keeps a gun in the house will end up having it used against them. Or at least that's what I keep reading here.

You keep misreading that here. But I think the OP has a few problems for the guns always make you safer crowd:

1) She says that she was against guns but her husband had one. Curious that.

2) Said hubby got himself shot despite having said gun.

3) In point of fact the gun failed to keep both husband and gun disliking wife from being shot.

Perhaps there's a better story somewhere on the internet to demonstrate how guns make everyone safer?

[Ban Hammer 12,835]

You keep misreading that here. But I think the OP has a few problems for the guns always make you safer crowd:

1) She says that she was against guns but her husband had one. Curious that.

2) Said hubby got himself shot despite having said gun.

3) In point of fact the gun failed to keep both husband and gun disliking wife from being shot.

Perhaps there's a better story somewhere on the internet to demonstrate how guns make everyone safer?

from what i read in the story, she was shot by the invaders first. while her husband was also shot later, the gun he had leveled the field and they survived. if they didn't have a gun to defend themselves with, they most likely would have become toe tags at the local morgue.

Edited July 5, 2015 by charles!

[spookyturtle 9,465]

You keep misreading that here. But I think the OP has a few problems for the guns always make you safer crowd:

1) She says that she was against guns but her husband had one. Curious that.

2) Said hubby got himself shot despite having said gun.

3) In point of fact the gun failed to keep both husband and gun disliking wife from being shot.

Perhaps there's a better story somewhere on the internet to demonstrate how guns make everyone safer?

2. Perhaps hubby got shot before he got to his gun? Or have forgotten that a gun is an inanimate object and requires human interaction in order to function? A gun sitting in a drawer won't jump out and start shooting intruders on it's own.

3. I guess if you get shot before you get your gun you're shot unarmed. So then you are suggesting that people who have a gun for protection should carry it at all times, that would make one better prepared in case of a home invasion, etc.

I think this is a fine story to show how a gun in the house saved the day. Of course some of you would prefer to be shot and killed rather than the bad guys. To each his own.

from what i read in the story, she was shot by the invaders first. while her husband was also shot later, the gun he had leveled the field and they survived. if they didn't have a gun to defend themselves with, they most likely would have become toe tags at the local morgue.

Try not bring facts or logic into the discussion.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Have we even determined that the break in itself wasn't an effort to steal the gun? I'm sure that you guys can find a much better story that purports to demonstrate how guns make everyone safer? This one has holes you can drive a truck through.

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Have we even determined that the break in itself wasn't an effort to steal the gun? I'm sure that you guys can find a much better story that purports to demonstrate how guns make everyone safer? This one has holes you can drive a truck through.

Yea, they probably broke in to steal the gun, even though they had guns of their own and shot both people in the house. I mean, it has to be the homeowners fault for owning the gun, right?

[Robby999 1,024]

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Yea, they probably broke in to steal the gun, even though they had guns of their own and shot both people in the house. I mean, it has to be the homeowners fault for owning the gun, right?

Not saying that at all. If it's a possibility it's a possibility though. Bad guys with guns never have enough guns either. And since at least 3 out of 4 in the OP were shot I simply cannot find this story a good example of how guns make everyone safer.

Come on guys, find a better exception to prove your rule.

[Ban Hammer 12,835]

Not saying that at all. If it's a possibility it's a possibility though. Bad guys with guns never have enough guns either. And since at least 3 out of 4 in the OP were shot I simply cannot find this story a good example of how guns make everyone safer.

Come on guys, find a better exception to prove your rule.

don't need to find a better story

homeowners alive = 2/2

robbers alive = 1/2

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Not saying that at all. If it's a possibility it's a possibility though. Bad guys with guns never have enough guns either. And since at least 3 out of 4 in the OP were shot I simply cannot find this story a good example of how guns make everyone safer.

Come on guys, find a better exception to prove your rule.

Two innocent victims shot by bad guys and they lived. Legally owned firearm ended the altercation with one bad guy dead and the other one in jail. If the homeowner didn't have a gun, it may have been two dead good guys and two bad guys getting away.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

We can't even say for sure from the OP that the shooting didn't start when the bad guys spotted the husband with his gun. But the assumptions about the guns making the homeowners safe do appear to be offset by what we do know, 3 out of 4 people in the OP were shot. I'm not convinced that this is the best story you can find based on that to show how guns make everyone safer.

[spookyturtle 9,465]

We can't even say for sure from the OP that the shooting didn't start when the bad guys spotted the husband with his gun. But the assumptions about the guns making the homeowners safe do appear to be offset by what we do know, 3 out of 4 people in the OP were shot. I'm not convinced that this is the best story you can find based on that to show how guns make everyone safer.

Serious question. If it was you and your wife in this situation, would you prefer not to have a gun and just the intruders would be armed? If you watched your wife get shot how would you feel? What if you then got shot? If you could grab your gun or the intruders, would you shoot or want your wife to shoot or would you wait to see what happened from there?