Incredible as it may seem in the politically blue/liberal state of Washington, there has been an outpouring of support for an unidentified resident of Kent—a suburban community south of Seattle—who opened fire on a home invasion suspect, sending him to the hospital.

According to KING5 News—the local NBC affiliate—the middle-of-the-night incident began when the homeowner and his wife were awakened when the suspect entered their bedroom and turned on the light. The burglar turned to flee, but the homeowner grabbed a gun and fired at least two shots.

The account at KIRO—the local CBS affiliate—offered more details, including the fact that the couple’s children were also in the home.

But it was the report from KOMO—the local ABC affiliate—which brought scores of listener and reader reactions supporting the 34-year-old homeowner. Of the three stations, KOMO is the only one reporting the homeowner’s brother and family were also staying in the home at the time.

What makes this incident significant? In a state where woke politics seems to have taken hold and Democrats have dominated the Legislature and Governor’s office for the past four decades showing more interest in gun control than crime control, it may signal people living in the state’s most populous, and most liberal, county have had enough. In November, they will be voting on a new governor, and this race features two candidates with stark contrast when it comes to law and order.

Democrat Attorney General Bob Ferguson is running to succeed retiring Gov. Jay Inslee. He’s been portrayed as a soft-on-crime liberal who supports all sorts of gun control measures, including the state ban on so-called “assault weapons” and “large-capacity magazines.”

Republican Dave Reichert is the former King County Sheriff and former seven-term congressman who was the top lawman when the notorious “Green River Killer” was arrested and sent to prison for life. He has the support of nearly all county sheriffs in the state, has no history of supporting any gun control legislation, and while still in office as sheriff, he held public shooting events at a gun range in Bellevue.

In 1993, Washington voters—not the Legislature—passed the nation’s first “Three Strikes” law sending a message to recidivist violent criminals the revolving door of justice might slam on them hard. Conservatives embraced the idea while liberals and anti-gunners opposed it.

The following year, Washington voters again passed a get-tough-on-criminals measure, “Hard Time for Armed Crime,” this time as an initiative to the Legislature, which adopted it in early 1995. It took effect in July of that year. Again, conservatives and gun owners supported it, but liberals, not so much.

Ammoland recently learned that for the second month in a row, Washington has more than 700,000 active concealed pistol licenses in circulation. The Kent homeowner is one of those citizens with a CPL.

In King County, where Kent is located, one finds the highest concentration of CPLs, with 112,672 active licenses in circulation, down slightly from the 113,054 reported at the end of July.

Washington state also has a use-of-force by private citizens statute, which is short and straightforward. RCW 9A.16.050 states:

“Homicide is also justifiable when committed either:

(1) In the lawful defense of the slayer, or his or her husband, wife, parent, child, brother, or sister, or of any other person in his or her presence or company, when there is reasonable ground to apprehend a design on the part of the person slain to commit a felony or to do some great personal injury to the slayer or to any such person, and there is imminent danger of such design being accomplished; or

(2) In the actual resistance of an attempt to commit a felony upon the slayer, in his or her presence, or upon or in a dwelling, or other place of abode, in which he or she is.”

Washington also has one of the strongest Keep-and-bear arms state constitutional provisions, Article 1, Section 24: “The right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself, or the state, shall not be impaired, but nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing individuals or corporations to organize, maintain or employ an armed body of men.”

About 2 ½ hours after the shooting incident, Kent police responded to a call at an apartment where they found a man suffering from a gunshot wound to the torso. By coincidence, he matched the description of the burglary suspect. According to the KOMO report, “Regarding the shooting, officers said the homeowner had a concealed pistol license and legally owned his gun at the time of the incident. They said he acted lawfully.” (Note: It is not necessary to have a CPL to keep a loaded gun in your home in Washington.)

The prosecutor’s office will no doubt look at the evidence, but in the court of public opinion, the 34-year-old homeowner did the right thing. It’s the kind of reaction perhaps not seen enough times, but does happen more often than in past years.

KOMO readers declared the homeowner a “hero.”

One man wrote, “This is America and we have rights that allow us to protect ourselves and our families from situations like this. Vote for people that will defend those rights.”

Another commented, “That’s how it’s done folks!”

A third summed it up, “Finally, a feel good story.”

In all, more than 150 reader/listener reactions were posted within a day of the shooting.

The incident, and others like it from around the country, typically reported at AmmoLand, bolsters the argument for keeping guns handy for home defense.

Of important note, one common denominator in reports about armed self-defense is how the gun control crowd goes quiet in the aftermath. Recall the shooting at the Greenwood Park, Indiana mall in July 2022 when then-22-year-old Elisjsha Dicken drew a legally-carried handgun and fatally shot would-be mass killer Jonathan Sapirman after he had opened fire in the mall food court, killing two people with a semiautomatic rifle. Dicken’s actions were universally praised by local officials and law enforcement.

Nobody from the gun prohibition lobby cared to comment.

About Dave Workman