Oh look

Filed in National by on July 18, 2008

she didn’t need a gun….shocking

A gang of would-be robbers armed with hammers was sent packing by a grandmother wielding a broom. Anne Withers, 55, attacked three hooded men with her 4ft brush when they raided the convenience store where she works.

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hiding in the open

Comments (18)

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  1. delawaredem says:

    Well, it is England.

    I am reminded of a Robin Williams’ skit:

    British Police without guns yelling after a criminal: “Stop! Or I shall yell Stop again!”

  2. jason330 says:

    Someone please lend me a gun so I can shoot Donviti in the kneecaps.

  3. cassandra m says:

    No need to lend you one. I’m at his house now waiting to shoot him when he comes home.

  4. RAH says:

    She defended the storekeeper with the tools at hand. Good for her. England has had problems with the defenders being sued for assault and arrested. One old lady got charged with assault when she defended herself with a knitting needle.
    I hope that that does not happen in this case.

  5. Disbelief says:

    DD brought up a good point about British police and the gun subject. The British police are not as found of using guns as their American counterparts. When gun use by the police is anticipated, I’ve noted from reading the news stories that they bring in a guy who is evidently VERY good with a gun; one shot to the head, bad guy’s dead. This approach differs from the American theory of bring in 30 cops, give them two guns each, and shoot the shit out of everything. I think I prefer the British version.

  6. mike w. says:

    She’s lucky a broom scared them off. She could very easily be dead right now.

    And look, they were committing a violent crime with HAMMERS, yet you guys still think guns are the problem.

  7. cling baby, cling…hang on for dear life lawdy, lawdy

  8. mike w. says:

    “British Police without guns yelling after a criminal: “Stop! Or I shall yell Stop again!””

    Remember how well that worked out in “Judge Dredd?”

  9. mike w. says:

    “cling baby, cling…hang on for dear life lawdy, lawdy”

    Sorry DTB, I use Bounce. It stops the cling dead in its tracks. 🙂

  10. Linoge says:

    Right. Because if those would-be robbers in question were larger, or better-armed, or more numerous, they would have been scared off by a piddling little broom wielded by an infirm old lady too. Really!

    Are you all honestly trying to indicate that one will always be capable of defending one’s self without the use of a firearm? Kudos to her for managing to do so, but if that is what you are trying to imply… that would just be massively stupid.

  11. mike w. says:

    If brooms were the most effective self-defense tool cops would carry them instead of guns.

  12. mike w. says:

    Hey DV, what were those kids doing with hammers? I thought they were only INTENDED to y’know… hammer things?

  13. mike w. says:

    “Are you all honestly trying to indicate that one will always be capable of defending one’s self without the use of a firearm? Kudos to her for managing to do so, but if that is what you are trying to imply… that would just be massively stupid.”

    Linoge -That’s exactly what DTB’s saying. He’s saying “SEE, no one needs a gun to defend themselves, a broom worked just fine.”

    We’ve also heard him say that you can just use superior martial arts ability to defend yourself, but if there’s a large size / force disparity between you and your attacker hand-to-hand combat is a bad idea. Everyone, especially the women here should read this story.

    http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/03/22/hilton_0323.html

  14. mike w. says:

    I suppose DTB and others here would agree with the self-defense recommendations of the Illinois State Police. Note that such “recommendations” are stupid, ineffective, and dangerous compared to carrying a firearm for self-defense. Ironically, only criminals and a select few politicians carry firearms in Illinois (then again that’s redundant)

    http://www.isp.state.il.us/crime/saconfronted.cfm

  15. mike w. says:

    Oh look, another instance of successful self-defense with a firearm.

    The homeowner is outnumbered 3 to 1 by armed home invaders and still manages to successfully defend himself…. in LA of all places.

    http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-woodland2-2008aug02%2C0%2C6507606.story

  16. mike w. says:

    DTB – should the LA homeowner have used a broom instead?

  17. mike w. says:

    Maybe he should have used his superior martial arts skills to fend of 3 armed men? After all you’ve made that recommendation in the past on this site.