A 19th Century Solution to a 21st Century Problem

The Colt 1860 Army Revolver was used by both sides on the battlefields of the Civil War.  Later, it saw action in the wild west.  It is fired using black powder and shoots a 45 caliber lead ball.  This is a real Colt, however you can also buy Italian-made replicas online without a New Jersey firearms ID for a little over $200, and lots of places will gladly ship one directly to your home.  These pieces really fire and would be a fine tool to deal with home invasions.

In the Trentonian an article appeared this week about a home invasion on Stuyvesant Ave. in Ewing.  The Ewing police said this was the second home invasion to happen there in recent days and the two may be related.

Home invasions are a common problem in Trenton.  Normally the perpetrators know the people they are robbing and the "victims" are involved in drugs or some other kind of criminal activity.  Suburbanites look at these reports and just laugh.  After all the victims brought it on themselves.

Except occasionally the victims are truly innocent.  Perhaps the invaders got the wrong address for the drug house of for the bodega owner that hides his tax-free loot in the safe in the closet.  Criminals have increasingly gone to breaking into occupied houses in states with gun control because they know the occupants will be unarmed.  They can terrorize the residents and force them to give up the locations of valuables, making the job easier than an ordinary burglary.

However wouldn't it be fun to disrupt the criminals' carefully orchestrated game plan.  Here is my fantasy.  I am sitting down in my living room munching on some chips and sucking down cold ones watching Cops.  Suddenly at around 11:00 PM I hear several loud kicks on my front door.  I reach for my weapon, a loaded 1860 Colt .45.  The front door burst open and three men dressed in black armed with silver handguns burst in. 

I pull my trigger at the door bursts open.  My gun belches a flash of smoke and flame over a foot long.  A heavy lead ball nearly a half inch round strikes the chest of the lead assailant.  The black-clad invaders are stunned.  They don't know what happened, but at first stop cold and turn white as sheets with fright.  The lead man topples over, His chest was struck by the heavy projectile, caving it in.  A stream of blood shoots out.  The others, scared as hell, turn and run.

Game over.  The score:  Homeowner 1, criminals 0.

Now here comes the hard part.  The police come.  I get arrested for unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.  After the interrogation, I get to spend the night in the police lockup, quickly make bail and return home. 

The news hits the paper.  Homeowner does the right thing and gives home invaders their just deserts.  The county attorney declines to take the case before a grand jury and your lawyer gets the judge to dismiss charges.

Now I know I live in the Nanny State where citizens need to be protected from themselves and can't be trusted with dangerous objects like guns, but wouldn't it be nice if the politicians would allow us to keep loaded black powder weapons in our homes for protection.

After a few cases of thugs getting blown to bits in the doorway, the bad guys will wait to their targets are out of the house before breaking in.  They would be too scared of breaking into any place with people at home.  After all, SOME homeowners WILL arm themselves and home invasions would then be too dangerous to contemplate.