What a foul and wretched day it is today! It's that wet cold that pierces to the bone, and it's raining steadily .

On the bright side, today happens to be National Ammo Day.

Glenn advises picking up a box or two, and what the hell, if it's "Chinese-made, "at least it'll be something that's supposed to contain lead!"

In an interesting heavy-metal coincidence, I badly need to buy a new battery for my car. Batteries are also probably made in China these days, and of course they also contain lots of lead in the plates. So today, I'll buy lots of lead.

Considering today's theme, there are two "lead" stories which seem appropriate.

Reader Sean sent me a link to an incident in Allentown in which an unarmed shopkeeping family was forced into barehanded combat with armed invaders:

Using nothing but their fists against two armed would-be robbers, an Allentown shopkeeper with a bullet in his shoulder, his stepson with a stab wound to the chest, and his wife fought back against their attackers with fatal consequences Friday night.

Jonathan D. Fernandez, 30, who police say tried to rob the store at gunpoint, was shot in a bloody struggle with the family at the Allen Mini Market, 601 N. Ninth St., said Assistant Police Chief Ronald Manescu.

Fernandez entered the store with an unidentified man wearing a mask and carrying a knife, police said. The man with the knife fled during the struggle, which was captured by a surveillance camera at the front of the store. He remained at large Saturday night.

[...]

Store owner Catalino Bautista, 44, was immediately shot in the shoulder and his stepson, 27-year-old Wilson Cabrera, was stabbed in the chest.

Although they were severely injured and unarmed, Bautista and Cabrera fought back barehanded against the suspects with the help of Eneyda Ponce, 46, who is Bautista's wife and Cabrera's mother. They were able to tackle Fernandez. It isn't clear how Fernandez was shot.

While the story is testament to the family's courage, it's a miracle that they survived, and I can't think of a better argument for being armed ahead of time.

The other "lead" story is from the Inquirer, and it involves a robbery at a Rite Aid. Fortunately, a witness flagged down a passing Philadelphia highway patrol officer who responded immediately:

Police surrounded a Rite Aid store while it was being held up last night and then wounded the shotgun-wielding robber as he walked out the front door and leveled his weapon at the officers, Chief Inspector Keith Sadler said last night.

The accused robber, identified only as a white man about 55 years old, was in stable condition at Frankford Hospital-Torresdale Campus after being shot twice in the legs, Sadler said. Four officers fired their weapons, he said.

The police simply cannot be there all the time. In their absence, guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens are the only equalizing force to preserve any semblance of a civilized society.

Again (from the essay Glenn linked) here's an excerpt from "why the gun is civilization":

....Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.

When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force. The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gangbanger, and a single gay guy on equal footing with a carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.

[...]

....People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that's the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.

So buy ammo today and give peace a chance.

And if you're in Pennsylvania, be sure to remember to boycott gun control tomorrow!

UPDATE: In a post about rape, Connie du Toit has some common sense advice that seems worth quoting here:

if a woman does have to be out alone, carry a gun! That is such a minor hurdle to overcome. Women carry Kleenex, in case they SNEEZE. Can't they carry a gun, in case of RAPE? We carry aspirin, a tampon in case our period starts unexpectedly, or hand cleaner, in case we get our hands dirty and water/soap isn't immediately available. Men carry a condom, in case they get lucky (despite their comb-over condition). Is it such a big deal to suggest that we ALSO carry the means of protecting life and limb, in the event of rape or assault?