Homeowner to intruder: “Don’t you dare bleed all over my (expletive) couch!”

We love happy endings.

And this was a very, very happy ending for everyone involved, including the intruder who was shot twice.  (How’s that a happy ending for him?  He lived.)

This article is a well-done story of one family’s proper planning paying off when a persistent intruder repeatedly kept forcing entry into their home.

They had a plan, they implemented it, and it saved them from death or great bodily injury at the hands of a madman.

Read the whole thing.  It’s worth every word.

The money quote:  The female half of the family’s response to the intruder who wanted to crash on the couch after being shot for the second time:  “Don’t you dare bleed all over my (expletive) couch!”

The article from the Modesto Bee starts off:

At some point in life, we all prep for an emergency. Fire drills. Nuclear fallout drills. Earthquake drills. Folks in other parts of the country drill to be ready when a tornado rolls through.

Bart and Melissa Ardis added another drill to the mix with their blended family of four children. Living in a rural area south of Oakdale, they know it can take sheriff’s deputies quite a while to arrive if an intruder picks their home for a break-in after they call 911. So they created a plan that includes keeping registered handguns within reach at night. They’ve taught the children to hide in a safe room should trouble arise.

If this seems like overkill or paranoia to folks who detest gun ownership of any kind, consider what happened at 4 a.m. Wednesday. Three of the children were off staying with their mother. Carson, Melissa’s son and Bart’s stepson, had been feeling poorly and slept in their room. The home’s alarm system was disabled, courtesy of the critter that got beneath the home and chewed through a wire (it has since been repaired).

Suddenly, they all heard a noise – loud enough to bring all fully awake. Bart and Melissa looked at each other to make sure one wasn’t up and about. Then they grabbed their handguns. When they looked up, they saw the shadow of a man in their home. What follows is the Ardises’ account of events:

The article closed with:

The intruder should consider himself fortunate. Yes, he picked a place owned by a member of a family of lifelong ranchers and hunters, who are skilled in using weapons. At the same time, because the Ardises are so capable, they are confident in their abilities to handle the guns and thus the circumstances.

Someone else might have panicked, shooting first and asking questions later. Neither of the Ardises shot to kill, they say, which they could have, considering that, by their account, the guy broke into their home three times in a matter of minutes, the third time after getting his ear pierced by a bullet.

Instead, they exercised their Second Amendment rights to bear arms and protect their home. They stuck to their plan. They defended themselves in their home, and the only person who got hurt was the one who had no business being there at all.

Emphasis added.