It’s the kind of story the legacy media goes out of its way to ignore, particularly since it happened in Texas:  

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One of two alleged intruders in Galena Park, Texas, was shot multiple times during a gunfight with a homeowner Tuesday around 1:20 a.m.

KHOU reported that the homeowner was shot in the exchange of gunfire as well, but was able to drive himself to a nearby fire station for help.

As for the alleged intruders, one was shot multiple times and located by police after knocking on the door of another home seeking help. He was apprehended by police and taken for medical treatment.

Police believe the second alleged intruder was able to flee the scene in a vehicle.

The media ignores such stories because they obliterate its favored anti-liberty/gun narratives: guns in the home are far more likely to kill the family than criminals. Guns are virtually never used for self-defense. Guns are the number one cause of the deaths of children. Citizens are far too incompetent to use guns safely, and the list goes on and on.

Reality, as the Texas homeowner discovered, is the opposite of media narratives.

The truth is credible, falsifiable research has consistently revealed citizens use guns in lawful self-defense against criminals as many as 3.6 million times a year. Seldom do they shoot an attacker, only about 8% of the time.  As many as 200,000 women every year use a gun to protect themselves against sexual abuse.

I write “as many as” because many self-defense uses are not reported to the police, and they’re surely not reported by the legacy media. In blue states and cities, even local media is loath to report on such incidents. Using sound methodology, it’s possible to estimate the total number with reasonable accuracy.

During the Clinton Administration, the DOJ undertook a study, secure in the knowledge they’d find more than enough rhetorical ammunition for their anti-liberty/gun plans. To their horror, it didn’t work out the way they expected:

Even anti-gun Clinton researchers concede that guns are used 1.5 million times annually for self-defense. According to the Clinton Justice Department, there are as many as 1.5 million cases of self-defense every year. The National Institute of Justice published this figure in 1997 as part of “Guns in America” — a study which was authored by noted anti-gun criminologists Philip Cook and Jens Ludwig.

Dr. John R. Lott of the Crime Prevention Resource Center is a noted and honest researcher, who has long studied and traced these issues:  

“Nobody who has done their homework on defensive gun use could possibly believe reading news articles accurately captures anything but an infinitesimal share of defensive gun uses,” Tomislav Kovandzic, an associate professor of criminology at the University of Texas at Dallas, told RealClearInvestigations. “The only way to measure defensive gun uses is with surveys. While there is no such thing as a perfect measure of anything, the fact that they consistently show large numbers of defensive gun uses can’t be ignored.”

The U.S. Department of Justice’s National Crime Victimization Survey indicates that around 100,000 defensive gun uses occur each year -- an estimate that, though it may seem like a lot, is actually much lower than 17 other surveys. They find between 760,000 defensive handgun uses and 3.6 million defensive uses of any type of gun per year, with an average of about 2 million.

The difference between these surveys arises from the screening questions. The National Crime Victimization Survey first asks a person if they have been a victim of a crime. Only respondents who answer “yes” are asked if they have ever used a gun defensively.

In contrast, the other surveys screen respondents by asking if they have been threatened with violence. That produces more self-acknowledged defensive gun users, since someone who successfully brandished a gun is less likely to self-characterize as a crime victim.

Survey data indicate that in 95% of cases when people use guns defensively, they merely show the gun to make the criminal back off. Such defensive gun uses rarely make the news, though a few do.

As always, facts are deadly to the media’s cherished narratives, which is why, according to Gallup, American’s trust in the media is at a five-decade low: only 31: say they trust the media “a fair amount” or “a great deal.” Not trusting the media “at all” are 36% of the public, while the rest said they don’t have “much trust.”

One might reasonably believe Americans also have comparatively little trust in government which is why they so appreciate and defend the Second Amendment.

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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.