A few months back, Vice President Joe Biden advised Americans who feared criminals to buy a shotgun and fire two warning shots if they felt themselves under any threat.
“Buy a shotgun, buy a shotgun,” the vice president encouraged those worried about defending themselves. He was speaking in an online video as part of a Facebook town hall hosted by Parents Magazine on the administration’s strategy for reducing gun violence, which he has led at the direction of President Barack Obama.
Biden said he keeps two shotguns and shells locked up at home and he’s told his wife, Jill, to use them if she needs protection. He presumably was speaking about before he became vice president, a position that gives the couple full-time Secret Service protection.
“I said, `Jill, if there’s ever a problem, just walk out on the balcony … take that double-barrel shotgun and fire two blasts outside the house,”‘ Biden said.
Well, 52-year-old Jeffery Barton of Vancouver, WA claims that he was following that advice when he chased away a pair of suspected thieves.
Jeffery Barton, 52, pleaded not guilty to one count of illegal aiming or discharging a firearm at his arraignment in Clark County Court.
Barton reportedly admitted to deputies that he fired his weapon while chasing away people who he thought were breaking into his vehicles at 5804 NE 124th St. in the early morning hours Monday.
Deputies are investigating whether a large teen party that got out of control at a neighbor’s home may have been linked to the shooting. However, at this point, deputies have said there was no evidence of prowlers on Barton’s property.
Outside the courtroom Wednesday, Barton cited the vice president in defense of his actions.
“I did what Joe Biden told me to do,” Barton told KOIN. “I went outside and fired my shotgun in the air.”
Maybe the vice president should be called to give expert testimony in the case. Following his advice by firing warning shots usually ends up where Mr. Barton is, facing charges in court.
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