Two cases out of Lexington, Kentucky over the weekend demonstrate the importance of being able to protect yourself and loved ones. In both cases, armed citizens came to the aid of others, and in both cases the armed citizens were successful in stopping attacks and preventing a loss of life.

The first incident happened around 1 a.m. Friday morning, when police were called to a home on Dedman Lane. Authorities say a man was strangling a woman when her son fired a round, striking the suspect in his leg. The suspect took off, but was found by police a short time later. He’s now in jail facing charges, and while the investigation continues, it looks like the son was within his rights to defend his mom.

That same evening, Lexington police were called out on another case involving a self-defense shooting. In that incident, a 24-year old allegedly broke into the home of a woman he’d been dating and was shot by someone inside the home.

Police said they found the intruder, Jaymes Miller, dead inside the house. The Fayette County coroner’s office said he was pronounced dead at the scene at 11:40 p.m.

Police are continuing to investigate but said they do not expect to file charges against the person who shot Miller.

Police said Miller “had active warrants for domestic violence and the robbery of a Lexington motel earlier this month.”

One town, two defensive gun uses in less than 24 hours. In both cases the armed citizens were able to stop crimes in progress and save the lives of the women who were being attacked, yet I doubt either story will receive any national media attention.

The fact is that if there wasn’t a legal gun owner able to protect these women, these stories would have likely had a far different outcome. Perhaps the national media would have been more interested in covering two murders in Lexington, Kentucky over a 24-hour period. More likely, these women would have simply become statistics; their deaths worthy of local news coverage but quickly forgotten amidst the continuing coronavirus coverage.

I’m not happy that the national media will ignore these stories, but I am glad that there were armed citizens willing and able to prevent these violent crimes from escalating to the point that the news media would have been forced to give them coverage. Those armed citizens who acted in defense of others weren’t doing it for the press attention, after all. They were acting to save lives, and it looks like that’s exactly what happened.

Gun control advocates can claim that there’s no reason for anyone to have a gun, and that we’d all be better off disarmed, but I bet there are at least two women in Lexington, Kentucky who disagree.