Senior Citizens Are Cocked and Locked; Gun Buyback This Saturday

What's going on with senior citizens lately? Over the last two weeks we've heard several stories of oldsters who "did what needed to be done."

- West Reading, Pa.: A 65-year-old man shot two teens, one fatally, as they tried to rob him Wednesday morning on a bike trail near the Schuylkill River. The teens knock the man off his bicycle and assaulted him, so he whipped out a handgun and shot them both. After investigating, police released the senior citizen and charged the surviving attacker and another participant. Berks Regional News via Reddit

- In Daytona Beach, Fla: Karen Granville, a 64-year-old fan of John Wayne, held a young car theft suspect at gunpoint in her backyard this past Tuesday morning as she waited for police to arrive. "I was watching 'Rio Bravo' before the scumbag came into my yard," Granville said. News Journal1 and News Journal2

- Also in Daytona Beach, Fla: On January 13, an 82-year-old Daytona Beach man grabbed his WWII-era handgun and killed an intruder wearing a ski mask and gloves. The man was trying to bang his way into the senior's house with a hammer and screwdriver. "I did what I had to do," Charles A. Robbins said of the 6 a.m. shooting. Daytona Beach News Journal

In the United States, more than 17 million people aged 65 years or older own a firearm. (APHA) The actions above fall in the general category of public service -- but public health officials are starting to worry about what will happen when a sizable chunk of these people get dementia.

Handgun manufactures, seeing a good thing, are increasingly designing and marketing guns just for seniors, and seniors are some of their best customers.

Is your grandmother packin'?

Unless she's gaga, better leave grandma's guns alone. She can probably shoot better than you.

But if she's too old to drive, she's probably too old to carry.  Try to convince her to drop off her spare firearms at the 66th and 77th Precinct's Gun Buyback Program, which takes place this Saturday, January 28.

According to Kensington Prospect, the buyback takes place at the Bedford Central Presbyterian Church, located at 1200 Dean Street at Nostrand (in Brooklyn).

Gram will get a $200 bank card for each operable handgun and a $20 bank card for operable rifles and shotguns. If your grandma's like mine, that's roughly a cool thousand right there.

For more information, call the 66th Precinct Community Affairs Office at 718-851-5601.

Photo by Slushie, Creative Commons license

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