ARMED CITIZEN

When a woman knocked on the door, Donald Kaighn—an NRA member, World War II veteran and gun collector—opened it. Her car had broken down so Kaighn allowed the woman inside to use the phone, a favor she returned by spraying the 84-year-old's face with lighter fluid and hitting him in the head with the can. Kaighn grabbed a Colt .32-cal. pistol while his assailant ran upstairs. He confronted her. "She said something like 'Stop or I'll shoot,'" Kaighn explained. "I immediately fired the gun." The woman briefly returned fire before leaping from the second story window with some of Kaighn's possessions. "I'm a member of the NRA and I subscribe to its policy of not being a victim," Kaighn said. "I don't want to hurt anybody." (WPVI-ABC6, Philadelphia, PA, 12/01/09)

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Police say 91-year-old Robert Thompson and his Rottweiler mix, Rett, were alarmed when they saw a prowler on the back porch trying to get into their home. "I started to let [Rett] out the door, and he was so anxious he got caught in the door," said Thompson, a Purple Heart World War II veteran. Rett pounced on the suspect and held him down. Thompson ran inside to call 9-1-1 and get his gun. Upon his return, Rett released the suspect, who tried to get up and charge Thompson. The suspect changed his tune when the veteran fired a shot, narrowly missing him. "I think the guy was scared to death. He was screaming," said Thompson, who held the suspect for police. "If anyone violates my home they better be careful, that's all I got to say," he said. (News-Herald, Panama City, FL, 11/19/09)

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Four days after the Deadmon family experienced a home invasion, the robbers returned. Police say two of the suspects confronted the son, John-Ross, in the garage. They told him they were after his father and dragged him inside the home. John-Ross broke free as his father, Randy, arrived with a gun. "They told my husband they had come back to kill him because we had reported [the robbery]," Sherry Deadmon said. John-Ross grabbed a shotgun the family kept ready since the first invasion. Father and son fired several shots, wounding one of the suspects. The intruders fled the home and were arrested by police. "This time they were ready for them," said Detective Chad Moose of the local sheriff's office. (Salisbury Post, Salisbury, NC, 10/31/09)

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It was just after 5 a.m. when Graham Ricks awoke to loud noises and realized someone was breaking the back door. "I always wondered, 'Was I going to be able to do what I needed to do if someone came in the house?'" Ricks recalls. He was about to find out. Police say he called 9-1-1, obtained a firearm and crouched behind a wall as the intruder jostled the door open. "He turned towards me and I saw he had a gun and I fired," Ricks said. The suspect fled the home, possibly injuring himself as he jumped from the porch. (WKYT-CBS27, Lexington, KY, 11/01/09)

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Dave Strickland arrived home to find his belongings in dis-array and an unknown vehicle in his garage. He quickly retrieved his handgun and shouted for anyone in the house to identify themselves. What happened next is truly bizarre. According to police, a man came around the corner wearing only Strickland's boxer shorts. Strickland told the intruder he was going to call police and the "guy started ranting about him being the owner of the home and how he was going to come down here and kick me out of the house." The suspect made an aggressive move toward Strickland, who fired a shot and held the suspect for police. (KCNC-CBS4, Denver, CO, 11/17/09)

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Nathan Brown remembers, "I heard three distinct bangs like someone was kicking in my door. It wasn't like a knock, it was emotionally charged. It scared me." Brown was especially frightened for his 2-year-old daughter, who was sleeping in a back room. Police say Brown got his gun and ordered whoever was on the other side of the door to go away. Two men shouted back and one of them broke the door's lock and charged inside. "I said, 'Stop, I'll shoot you!" Brown recalls, but the men pressed on. "That's when I shot." Both intruders fled. Police found one of them nearby suffering from a gunshot wound. A full-time student and single father, Brown recently bought his first firearm out of security concerns. "I don't feel safe here, which is why I bought the guns in the first place," he said. (KPTV-FOX12, Portland, OR, 11/27/09)