Applying Right to Bear Arms Saves Trooper From Maniac

The need to exercise the right to bear arms is particularly acute in border states, due to the federal government’s refusal to defend the border from incursion or even to let states defend it, which has resulted in a situation so dangerous that police are not always able to keep it under control. A story from just west of Phoenix is illustrative:

An Arizona state trooper who was beaten and shot while responding to a traffic collision on Interstate 10 was attacked by a Mexican man who was responsible for the one-vehicle rollover, authorities said.

Leonard Pennelas-Escobar opened fire on Trooper Edward Andersson early Thursday after the officer had stopped on the interstate and set up flares in a bid to get motorists to slow down. Pennelas-Escobar said something unrecognizable in Spanish before shooting the trooper, and then he started landing blows with his fists and beating the trooper’s head on the ground, Department of Public Safety Director Frank Milstead said Monday.

A passing motorist who witnessed the attack retrieved a handgun from his vehicle and fired two shots at Pennelas-Escobar after he refused an order to stop attacking Andersson.

A third shot was eventually required, killing the undocumented maniac, who had managed to kill his 23-year-old girlfriend Vanessa Monique Lopez-Ruiz by rolling over on the main highway between Phoenix and Los Angeles.

The 37-year-old Pennelas-Escobar was in the country illegally, a drug user and was believed to have once worked as a Mexican police officer, Milstead said.

Following surgery, Trooper Andersson has been released from the hospital. As for the good Samaritan,

Milstead said the motorist didn’t serve in the military or work as a law enforcement officer, but he still had experience in using firearms. The DPS director described the motorist as a humble man with a strong religious faith.

He knows he did the right thing by saving Andersson’s life, just as Arizona did the right thing by allowing him to do it by recognizing his Second Amendment rights.

On a tip from Dragon’s Lair.