No Additional Commentary Required

Not much to add to this other than thanking God this Massachusetts native didn't fall prey to the "nobody needs a gun" mentality that has taken over much of his home state.

From the Boston Herald:

Canoe and a gun get duo to safety
By Stephen DeFerrari as told to Jessica Fargen
Friday, September 2, 2005 - Updated: 07:06 AM EST

Stephen DeFerrari, a Dedham native whose sister-in-law lives in Hanover, and his wife, Pam, escaped from their New Orleans home yesterday, brandishing a shotgun, in a canoe with their seven cats. Stephen spoke to the Herald last night after they arrived at a Baton Rouge hotel.

It was so dark last night. Pitch black. That was the scary part.

I was standing on the front porch with a shotgun keeping an eye on things. I could hear people breaking into houses right around the corner. We knew. We knew we had to get out. There was no police presence. The people are just going crazy. There doesn't seem to be any authority at all.

It took a canoe trip of about an hour and a mile long. It started to rain. More water. Just the thing we didn't need. It kind of felt good because we were so hot, so filthy. It felt good to have cool, clean water.

We had to make two trips in the canoe to get the cats and the dogs and the people we were with to get to higher ground. We saw fires and looting going on. If we didn't keep on moving and stay away from some people I feel like we would have been in trouble.

Earlier today, a man came up to me. I think he wanted the canoe. He saw I was armed and gave up.

We happened to pass this mall and people were looting it.

People told us the police went in there so they started shooting at the police. So the police left. They (looters) just set the place on fire. We saw it burning and we saw the fire department not even going near the place because the looters were going nuts.

We made it to dry land. We got into an Explorer rented by one of our friend's daughters. There weren't too many people on the roads in the beginning. As we got closer to Baton Rouge there started to be more people. There are people with their bags, looking lost. It's so eerie and strange. People are just lost. I guess most of them probably lost everything they got.

We are lucky, very lucky. Our house didn't get destroyed. We are still alive. The first thing my wife did after she and her sisters hugged and cried at the hotel, she took a shower. I'm about to do the same.

Compare and contrast:

"I think there should be a law -- and I know this is extreme -- that no one can have a gun in the U.S. If you have a gun, you go to jail."

- Rosie O'Donnell, April 21, 1999

That 'bout sums it up.

UPDATE: Part 1 of the story

I missed this yesterday, but just saw it in the print copy of yesterday's Herald (excerpt below).

'We don't know where to go': Bay State couple's harrowing ordeal

We are hearing stories from other people telling us wait as long as you can for someone official. Don't venture out on your own because it's not safe. We keep hearing there are gangs of kids just looting everything. It's horrendous from what I hear. If you have a boat, they'll take your boat.

I would be devastated if I was in the raft and I had the cats in containers and they dumped them. I would be beside myself. I have seven cats and I'm not going anywhere without them. I don't wanna take that chance.

If we leave, it's like, what could possibly go in this raft? Personal stuff, cash and credit cards, ID, flashlight, a container of cat food. If we leave we are taking a big chance. If we stay we are taking a big chance. We don't know where to go.

It's depressing. It's frightening and what hope I have, I'm trying to hold onto. My husband has gone to rescue a woman with a baby from a roof. We'll probably stay the night here and try to leave in the morning.

No mention of any shotgun. Perhaps they got it from the woman whose baby he went out to save that night - now that would be a good deed well rewarded. Who knows? I obviously don't have all the facts here, but the truth remains that this story had a happy (relatively speaking) ending only because these people were fortunate enough to have been sufficiently armed.