Woman Shoots/kills knife-wielding intruder.

[Audley Strange]

I've got to side with CES here. Our media here in the U.K. loves to laud "have a go heroes" as well, the more idiotic the better, in this case the only difference here was someone was in actual danger of their life and killed an intruder.

If anything our news can be outrageously alarmist and fever pitched both on T.V. and paper. In fact if Bella's headline was in my Local paper it would probably have been titled "Citizen in Bird Flu Robbery obesity horror!!!!"

If anything is shocking its the length of the response time which led to it. Still that's also a problem in most urban areas these days.

[Coito ergo sum]

The British are all about sensationalist headlines! Look at this!!:

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

That happened to She Who Must Be Obeyed the first time we went to the beach together. She broad along a small bag of CHIPS as a snack (crisps to Limey). I calmly said to her, "Maybe you better not open those on the beach. The seagulls will come around, and they might try to grab one." She gave me a metaphorical "pshaww!" and I left it alone. I watched with sardonic schadenfreude, as she gently opened the bag. She reached in, and munched one chip, and then another. By the time the third chip was nearing her teeth, a seagull made a precision strike for the chip, grabbed it out of her hand and flew away. Scared the shit out of SWMBO'd. I literally could hardly breathe, I was laughing so hard. One of the funniest things I have ever seen. She now refuses to bring food of any kind to the beach.

[Bella Fortuna]

The British are all about sensationalist headlines! Look at this!!:

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

That happened to She Who Must Be Obeyed the first time we went to the beach together. She broad along a small bag of CHIPS as a snack (crisps to Limey). I calmly said to her, "Maybe you better not open those on the beach. The seagulls will come around, and they might try to grab one." She gave me a metaphorical "pshaww!" and I left it alone. I watched with sardonic schadenfreude, as she gently opened the bag. She reached in, and munched one chip, and then another. By the time the third chip was nearing her teeth, a seagull made a precision strike for the chip, grabbed it out of her hand and flew away. Scared the shit out of SWMBO'd. I literally could hardly breathe, I was laughing so hard. One of the funniest things I have ever seen. She now refuses to bring food of any kind to the beach.

Wily buggers!

[PsychoSerenity]

Coito, I'm talking about the videos. The first one was at top the page linked in the OP and both of them were at the bottom of mail online article. They have a completely different tone. And again, getting her to pose with the shotgun after what she's been through just seems horribly insensitive. If someone ended killing someone in self defence in the UK, I'm fairly sure the news reporters wouldn't be getting them to recreate the scene - and if they did, I'd feel equally uncomfortable with it.

[Coito ergo sum]

When you grow up "down the shore," you are given the following warning:

[Coito ergo sum]

Coito, I'm talking about the videos. The first one was at top the page linked in the OP and both of them were at the bottom of mail online article. They have a completely different tone. And again, getting her to pose with the shotgun after what she's been through just seems horribly insensitive. If someone ended killing someone in self defence in the UK, I'm fairly sure the news reporters wouldn't be getting them to recreate the scene - and if they did, I'd feel equally uncomfortable with it.

Number 1, I'll point out that the mail online is British news. So, obviously, you folks aren't above "this sort of thing."

You don't see it do you?

If it happened in the UK, you'd be sure that the Brits, who are far more sensitive and above any baser motives and actions, wouldn't do what the Americans do? Right?

I just watched the videos -

The first video has two persons doing the story, the female anchorwoman and a male reporter covering the story. The anchor woman and the reporter both report the news story very clinically. There is no enthusiasm. There is no characterization or bias shown. They just reported the facts. What was said that you think is so wrong? The male reporter actually sounds kind of sad.

The second video is of George Stephanopoulos, who reports the story flatly, and states that the woman shot a man who broke into her home, after the 911 operator told her she could not shoot until her home was broken into. He then said the "stunning" moment was all caught on tape. Well, it is a stunning moment. It's a dramatic story.

Both videos were sober reports, just the facts, and quoted the authorities as well as the woman involved.

The "Pistol Packin Mama" thing is just a sensational headline, and something that the cultured and ever-so-sensitive Brits are not unaccustomed to.

There doesn't appear to be any reticence on the part of the woman to be filmed with the gun that was used. You assume they "made" her do things. I think that's an unwarranted assumption. Did they "ask" her if she minded posing with the gun? That would seem to me to be quite typical.

I can't see what you find so alarming here. But, that's probably because I'm an American, and you Brits would "never" do something so crass as to report this kind of news. Not on TV anyway...

[maiforpeace]

Coito, I'm talking about the videos. The first one was at top the page linked in the OP and both of them were at the bottom of mail online article. They have a completely different tone. And again, getting her to pose with the shotgun after what she's been through just seems horribly insensitive. If someone ended killing someone in self defence in the UK, I'm fairly sure the news reporters wouldn't be getting them to recreate the scene - and if they did, I'd feel equally uncomfortable with it.

Here we have several main stations...PBS, CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX. With the exception of PBS, they are all privately owned, so depending on what station you saw, and where it was broadcast from will determine the quality (or lack thereof) of the report.

The only news I trust comes from PBS (Public Broadcasting) and some National (vs local) broadcasts. but I'm sure a few folks here would say otherwise and claim FOX to be the only trustworthy news source. Remember, we are a big country compared to the UK, life, and the reporting of it varies state to state as much as it varies country to country in Europe.

[MrJonno]

I disagree. Being "around" guns is not inherently dangerous, just like being "extremely uncomfortable" around knives or baseball bats would be a tad unreasonable.

Have to disagree with that, I generally try to minimise the time I spend around sharp knives. I certainly do use them but the second the need for it is over I generally do put them away and out of sight if possible. I also will never go within stabbing (or slipping distance) of someone who has such a knife either. Thats just common sense to me, you minimise your exposure to something that has no use and is potentially fatal ( A meat cleaver with no meat around has no use).

I would also never go within swinging distance of a baseball/cricket bat either if someone is holding one, beyond that distance they are harmless

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I disagree. Being "around" guns is not inherently dangerous, just like being "extremely uncomfortable" around knives or baseball bats would be a tad unreasonable.

Have to disagree with that, I generally try to minimise the time I spend around sharp knives. I certainly do use them but the second the need for it is over I generally do put them away and out of sight if possible. I also will never go within stabbing (or slipping distance) of someone who has such a knife either. Thats just common sense to me, you minimise your exposure to something that has no use and is potentially fatal ( A meat cleaver with no meat around has no use).

I would also never go within swinging distance of a baseball/cricket bat either if someone is holding one, beyond that distance they are harmless

MrJonno, I'm a gun owner. You're welcome to move in next door if you wish.

[maiforpeace]

Someone with a gun or a baton holstered on their hip isn't as worrisome to me as someone with their hand on the gun or baton holstered on their hip.

[Hermit]

Its perfectly reasonable to be extremely uncomfortable around any guns including those holstered by the police. The fact that someone can draw a gun and shoot you dead in the blink of an eye is for most people one of the few times someone will be that close to death. Sticking your head out of a window and looking down 10 stories is also a completely sensible reason to be afraid and something people will generally avoid if they can.

There are 200 million privately owned firearms in the USA. There were 31,224 firearm-related deaths in 2007, of which 17,352 were due to suicide and 12,632 due to homicide. In the same year 41,059 people died in road accidents, (down from 54,589 in 1972) when there were about 234 million vehicles on the road.

Statistically speaking, you should be more scared of getting killed in a road accident than of getting shot dead. Or, to put it in your words, its perfectly reasonable to be extremely uncomfortable around any vehicles including those driven by the police. The fact that someone can drive a car and kill you dead in the blink of an eye makes it pretty obvious that it is utter bullshit to say that being close to guns is for most people one of the few times someone will be that close to death.

[Coito ergo sum]

I disagree. Being "around" guns is not inherently dangerous, just like being "extremely uncomfortable" around knives or baseball bats would be a tad unreasonable.

Have to disagree with that, I generally try to minimise the time I spend around sharp knives. I certainly do use them but the second the need for it is over I generally do put them away and out of sight if possible. I also will never go within stabbing (or slipping distance) of someone who has such a knife either. Thats just common sense to me, you minimise your exposure to something that has no use and is potentially fatal ( A meat cleaver with no meat around has no use).

I would also never go within swinging distance of a baseball/cricket bat either if someone is holding one, beyond that distance they are harmless

Sounds obsessive and paranoid, to me, but then again, I'm pretty laid back.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

A certain lady around here wants a handgun. She has started a six-month minimum training course before she gets one.

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

I disagree. Being "around" guns is not inherently dangerous, just like being "extremely uncomfortable" around knives or baseball bats would be a tad unreasonable.

Have to disagree with that, I generally try to minimise the time I spend around sharp knives. I certainly do use them but the second the need for it is over I generally do put them away and out of sight if possible. I also will never go within stabbing (or slipping distance) of someone who has such a knife either. Thats just common sense to me, you minimise your exposure to something that has no use and is potentially fatal ( A meat cleaver with no meat around has no use).

I would also never go within swinging distance of a baseball/cricket bat either if someone is holding one, beyond that distance they are harmless

Sounds obsessive and paranoid, to me, but then again, I'm pretty laid back.

Same here...

[maiforpeace]

A certain lady around here wants a handgun. She has started a six-month minimum training course before she gets one.

Interesting. They opened a gun shop here in town, and I went in to look at them...I was thinking of doing the same thing. A long time ago I had a boyfriend who was really into guns and he took me to target practice which is pretty fun. We have a shooting range here in the Mountains that's pretty extensive and not too expensive.

Mishandling guns can lead to disaster, like the murder of wall heaters and such.