According to crime analyst Jeff Asher, homicides in San Antonio have dropped 50 percent so far this year when compared to the same time period in 2023. At the same time, one member of the San Antonio Police Department says he's seeing an increase in defensive gun uses, including two separate incidents on Thursday morning.

“It does seem there is a spike in these types of activities,” said Sgt. Andrew Valle, as he investigated the second shooting of the morning.

In that case, Valle said a man who lives in an apartment in the 8700 block of Marbach told officers he used a gun to stop an intruder.

The man said the stranger tried to force his way into his home after 7:30 a.m. 

“And he told that person, ‘What are you doing? You don’t live here.’ That person said, ‘No, I do,” Valle said, explaining the scenario.

Valle said the man who was shot was taken to a hospital for treatment of a non-life-threatening gunshot wound in his stomach.

The shooting happened just a few hours after a homeowner in the 400 block of General Kruger shot two men who he said were stealing from him. 

According to police, the homeowner noticed the two suspects on his surveillance cameras after 5 a.m. and then confronted them.

He told officers this was the second time the suspects had come to his home to steal roofing materials in his driveway.

A police report later said the two suspects, 32- and 34-years-old, were arrested on theft charges.

It also said investigators had determined the homeowner was justified in shooting them and would not face charges.

KSAT-TV has also documented multiple armed citizens who've fought back against burglars, car thieves, and home invaders, and while neither Valle or the television station provided any hard numbers regarding incidents in which lawful gun owners defended themselves this year, it does appear that San Antonio DGU's are becoming more common than what we've seen in the past. 

Valle says there are probably multiple factors involved in the increase, but I'd say it starts with more people exercising their Second Amendment rights. More guns don't equate to more crime, but it does mean more opportunities for criminals to encounter a legally armed citizen when they're picking out their targets. 

The fact that Texas is a Constitutional Carry state likely helps as well. So long as you can lawfully possess a gun, you can legally carry it as well (subject, of course, to the "gun-free zones" that still exist in the Lone Star State) without the need for a government-issued permission slip. We have no idea how many folks are lawfully carrying in the state, but it stands to reason that by expanding access to that right there are more armed citizens on the streets of San Antonio now than there were just a few years ago. 

According to gun control activists, that should make cities like San Antonio chaotic hellholes. Instead, homicides declined by more than 28 percent last year, and are plunging even further in 2024. I'm not suggesting that's entirely because of Constitutional Carry; like Valle, I think there are multiple factors at work here, but it's pretty clear that repealing the need for a carry license hasn't been the disaster that anti-gunners predicted.