The Fight Against Crime: Notes From The Front : Is Having Gun Around House Worth Upshot?

To arm or not to arm.

For many law-abiding people, that has increasingly become the question, as crime has become pervasive, and public fear has risen correspondingly.

The bad guys have guns, people reason, so why shouldn’t they?

Sometimes, though, a gun around the house can have tragic consequences.

Just ask Thomas Alford, Johnny Sanchez, Susan Kaleta, Pablo Martinez, Victor Tamayo and a 12-year-old who apparently believed he was plenty old enough to handle a gun.

Each is a San Fernando Valley resident, who, during the past few weeks either used a gun or had a gun used against him or her.

One allegedly shot his business partner in a fit of anger. Another shot an intruder allegedly breaking into her home. A third shot his best friend by accident.

Nobody was killed, but all had extremely close calls. And for better or worse, each incident occurred because there was a gun in the house.

The first happened about midnight Sept. 2. Fourteen-year-old Victor Tamayo was at the Van Nuys home of his 12-year-old friend.

The younger boy’s father was sleeping in the bedroom. Police said the boys were in the living room, sitting on the coach, watching a video--and playing with a revolver.

The 12-year-old later told police he had found the gun in a park near his home after Little League practice. He said he didn’t think it was loaded. He had pulled the trigger, spun the chamber, and taken the gun apart, all with no indication it contained any cartridges.

A week after finding the revolver, and countless hours playing with it, the boy told police that the first indication he had that it was loaded was when he pointed it at Victor that night, and at close range, shot him in the face.

Victor survived. And the shooting was ruled an accident, so no charges were filed.

“He’s sorry, very sorry,” the shooter’s stepfather said afterward. “He doesn’t want to play with guns anymore.”

A few days later, and several miles away on a hot, sunny afternoon in Reseda, Alford and Sanchez were arguing outside Alford’s home.

The two were partners in a trash-hauling business that was started to clear away earthquake debris left on streets, and had recently bought a garbage-hauling truck, police said.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t decide which of them was supposed to make the payments.

So instead of resolving their problem over a beer, or consulting a mutual friend or even a lawyer, police say, Alford ran back into his house, retrieved his pistol and shot his friend, once in the abdomen and once in the leg.

Now, the 63-year-old Alford faces an attempted murder charge, and Sanchez, 41, faces months, maybe years, of physical pain, and the haunting memory that he was allegedly nearly killed in a dispute over a garbage truck with a man he was supposed to trust.

“He has a lot of pain,” a relative who asked to remain unidentified said. “In his body and in his mind.”

Sometimes, even when a handgun that is bought for protection serves its intended function--to frighten, to maim, or to kill an intruder--there may be little cause for celebrating.

On the evening of Sept. 9, Kaleta, 47, heard a noise at the front window of her house in Winnetka. A man--police say it was 28-year-old Pablo Martinez--was removing a screen, trying to get inside.

During the previous nine months, Kaleta, who lives alone, had twice reported burglary attempts to police, but she had apparently been able to scare the burglar off both times.

This time though, the secretary had only enough time to retrieve her gun and dial 911 before the man had climbed through the window and into the house. Despite a blaring burglar alarm and Kaleta’s warning for him to stop, the unarmed man kept coming toward her, Kaleta told police.

While she was on the telephone with a 911 operator, she fired, striking him in the chest.

Police declined to file charges against Kaleta. It is unknown how she feels about having fired her gun, because neighbors say she has for the most part stayed inside her house since the shooting, a change from her previous gregariousness.

Meanwhile, Martinez faces a burglary charge--in addition to possibly permanent paralysis, police said.