The Lady with the Pink Pistol
by Robert A. Waters
In the early morning of March 12, Meghan Brown, 25, heard a knock on the front door of her Tierra Verde, Florida home. But when the former beauty queen cracked open the door, a stranger barged into the room. He grabbed her by her neck and placed his hand over her mouth and nose, then began dragging her toward the master bedroom.
Hearing the struggle, her fiancé, Robert Planthaber, rushed into the living room and confronted the assailant. “I attacked him,” Planthaber said, “and took a severe beating to the head. But I got him off of her long enough for her to scramble to the room where she keeps her pink .38 Special.”
Planthaber, who came out of the fight with two black eyes, made out better than the home invader. When the dust cleared, Albert Franklin Hill lay on the floor dead.
Brown later described her actions to reporters. “I had my gun drawn,” she said. “[I] focused in on him--as he moved, my gun moved. I waited for my shot and when I saw an opening, I fired.”
Hill was hit four times: in the chest, groin, thigh, and back.
While this is a fairly typical self-defense shooting, the question on the minds of many Floridians is why Hill was out on the streets to begin with. With his criminal background, he should have been locked up for life.
According to a report from Fox News, “Hill had a criminal record stretching back nearly three decades--including arrests for burglary, battery, drug possession and grand theft. He reportedly served a 13-year prison term in 1987 and was released in September [2010]...”
Here’s a list of a few of his charges and convictions: burglary; assault and battery on an officer or firefighter; disorderly conduct; dealing in stolen property; resisting arrest; larceny; theft; disorderly intoxication; possession of burglary tools; criminal mischief and damage to property; sale, manufacture, and delivery of cocaine; possession of cocaine; and grand theft.
If that’s not bad enough, MyFox Tampa Bay reports that Hill was arrested on March 8 on a felony warrant: “Hill is no stranger to law enforcement with an arrest record that goes back nearly three decades. The deceased spent a large majority of his adult life behind bars serving five stints in the state prison system according to a Florida Department of Corrections report. He was arrested by [Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office] on Tuesday on a warrant out of Manatee County on a theft charge.”
He bailed out on March 9, then attempted to invade the Tierra Verde home on March 12.
Meghan Brown had the last word. “The way I see it,” she said, “is the guy was a really bad guy...It's not like he was going to turn his life around.”
As a former law enforcement officer, I see that the best justice of all here comes from the common citizen taking control of their OWN safety. Another prime example of why 2nd Amendment rights must remain intact for the American public... as it is the legit, common citizen who needs these rights. Elminating the 2nd Amendment right will not curtail criminal mentality or use of illegal fire arms... it will only take them out of the hands of the people who NEED to protect themselves from a criminal just like this young lady did!
ReplyDelete