Here’s a horrible story with a (reasonably) happy ending: two men break into a family home in the early-morning hours. Downstairs, the father is dozing on the couch. Upstairs, his wife and daughter are just beginning their day when the intruders enter. The father wakes up to find one intruder pointing a gun at his face, while the other intruder runs upstairs with zip ties to “secure” the wife and daughter.

Fortunately, the homeowner is also a gun owner. Unfortunately, both of the revolvers he has hidden in his living room are across the room from him when the bad guys break in. “So I’m thinking what am I gonna do. I got a .357 Magnum over here and I got a .38 over here and I can’t get to my .357…”

Upstairs, the second intruder quickly zip-ties the daughter’s hands together. He tells her to stay in her room, stay right there, and then he runs out to tie up the girl’s mother. The girl immediately grabs her cell phone and dials 9-1-1.

The father, meanwhile, manages to fall over on top of the recliner where his second gun was hidden. “…I fall back in the chair like this and when I do I go down like this and I come out with my .38.” He fires one shot, which misses the attacker and lands in the ceiling. The upstairs attacker rushes downstairs saying that the family called the cops, and both attackers leave in a hurry.

End of story.

Assuming the news account is substantially correct (sometimes they are not), there are several lessons we can learn from this story.

1 – Guns save lives. The presence of the gun inside the home undoubtedly saved this family a lot of grief and heartbreak.

2 – Guns don’t save lives by themselves. When violence strikes, a determined person must act quickly and decisively to save himself and his loved ones.

3 – “Tied up” does not mean you have to give up! Although the daughter’s hands were zip-tied together, she still managed to do something toward saving her own life.

4 – Phones save lives, too. The daughter’s 9-1-1 call helped the attackers make the right choice, and encouraged them to run away rather than staying to fight.

5 – A gun across the room from you might not be available when you need it. A gun attached to your body certainly will. Plan accordingly.

H/T to 357 Magnum.

Edit: Added missing link to the original news story. Sorry for the oversight.