By Gerard Valentino

Yet another potential home invasion ended with an honest law-abiding citizen using a gun for self-defense. According to The Columbus Dispatch, a convicted sex offender was shot while trying to break into an apartment and died from his injuries.

From the story:

Columbus police yesterday identified the victim in a Friday night shooting on the Northeast Side as Charles R. Sprague, 35, of Columbus.

Sprague was shot while trying to break into an apartment at 5764 Cooper Rd., said detective James Day of the homicide squad. A man inside the apartment fired shots because he felt threatened by Sprague, Day said.

"It appeared that the victim in this incident was the aggressor and that the shooter was acting in self-defense," Day said. "He'd actually tried to force his way into the apartment at the back door when this occurred."

Clearly, nobody wins when a criminal forces an honest person to use deadly force. However, considering the alternatives if the home invasion had been successful, this was a far better outcome.

By Linda Walker

One year ago today, the world lost a special man that I never had the privilege of meeting. Yet this man left a huge impact on the world after his death.

On April 2, 2009, Hank Wise walked into Johnny's Sports Bar in Nashville, Tenn. He had stalked Nikki Goeser as she and her husband Ben Goeser ran their karaoke business at various clubs throughout the area. Wise had tormented Nikki for months and had often been told to leave her alone. Yet that fateful night one year ago today left Ben Goeser gunned down by this jealous beast.

But the purpose of this story is not to dwell on this tragedy, but to talk about the positive results that have come from this horrible event.