Here’s a little-kept secret: liberals, independents, and conservatives all own firearms. Gun ownership is one of the few issues that crosses all sides of the aisle. In their book, Guns and Self-Defense: 23 Inspirational True Crime Stories of Survival with Firearms, Robert A. Waters and Sim Waters describe exciting true stories in which a cross-section of Americans used guns to fend off violent assailants.

These are stories the mainstream media rarely reports.

Have you ever heard of Harry and Janet Lodholm? This Lakewood, Washington couple survived a brutal home invasion by a gang that mistook their house for that of a drug dealer they planned to rob. Crashing through the front door, the gang pistol-whipped Harry and slashed Janet with a knife. When the assailants finally realized they had the wrong house, they took what they could find and fled, leaving the bound and tortured victims stunned, bloody, and Harry permanently disabled. In their haste to leave, however, the robbers forgot they’d left their backpack in the house — worse yet, the backpack contained all their cellphones. The group broke into the house once again, this time determined to silence the victims who could identify them and retrieve the evidence that would send them to prison. But the robbers didn’t realize that the couple had broken free and retreated to their bedroom where Janet was calling 9-1-1 and Harry had grabbed his handgun. When the gang kicked down the bedroom door, Harry and his 9mm firearm made quick work of the robbers.

The mainstream media never reported this story because it didn’t fit their anti-gun agenda.

Based on police reports, interviews with victims, court documents, media sources, and other public records, this true crime book recounts the courage and resourcefulness of armed citizens who refused to become easy prey. 

By the way, for those who fancy identity politics, the would-be victims represent a microcosm of America: liberals, conservatives, independents, whites, blacks, other minorities, male, female, able-bodied, and disabled.

In Guns and Self-Defense, you’ll get the “inside scoop” on two cases in which concealed carry permit holders saved the lives of lawmen.

You’ll read about two cases that went viral — then, since they’re still online, you can view the events as they occurred in real time.

You’ll read about the nurse who stopped a ring of car-jackers, her actions putting an end to a bloody summer in Milwaukee.

And there’s more.

If you’ve never heard about these (and other such cases), that means the national media is not doing its job. Broadcast and print media have a duty to report both sides of the gun issue, mass shootings and self-defense shootings. If they don’t, they portray a skewed version of the reality of gun ownership and use.

The authors are dedicated to writing a series of similar books, in order to publicize the “other side of the story.”

In 1998, true crime author Robert A. Waters published a well-received book entitled, The Best Defense: True Stories of Americans Who Defended Themselves with a Firearm. Guns and Self-Defense is similar, with nearly two dozen brand-new stories of violent encounters stopped only because each would-be victim had access to a firearm.This book contains 45,000 words.