If you’ve been watching Fox News lately, you likely saw a video of Los Angeles, Calif., homeowner Vince Ricci approaching his front door when two armed robbers came up right behind him. The armed thug right behind Ricci had a pistol pointed at Ricci’s back. Ricci spins around, dropping a drink, and draws his own concealed-carry pistol and shoots as the thugs run.
Now you need to see another video, an NRA video of Ricci explaining that the state of California almost immediately suspended his concealed-carry permit.
“After successfully defending my home and my family and my five-month-old child, California has now decided to suspend my Second Amendment [rights],” says Ricci.
Ricci says the reason the sheriff’s office told him his concealed-carry permit was being “revoked,” was that he yelled at Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers who visited his home to investigate a full three days after the live-threatening incident occurred. Ricci had previously said that the LAPD had done “sloppy police” work, including allegedly not picking up the spent casings there were scattered near his home as evidence.
The would-be robbers (or, perhaps, would-be murderers) came for Ricci on Nov. 4 just as he returned from the gym. The two armed men jumped his fence and tried to force their way into his home—Ricci’s wife, five-month-old daughter and the family’s nanny were inside.
Ricci had thankfully gone through California’s onerous process of obtaining a concealed-carry permit. Ricci said it took months to get the permit so he could defend himself and his family. But now, after he protected his family, he has been disarmed and left vulnerable.
Ricci argues in the NRA video that he clearly shot in self-defense, as one of the two men were “pointing guns at my chest.”
“My situation is unique because it happened at my front door, all on camera. But this happens time and time again all over the country … . People sweep it under the rug because it doesn’t behoove their political agenda. The fact is, evil will always exist,” said Ricci.
Ricci also told Fox News that his home was broken last June, and his car was broken into just months before that.
“I used to walk into this house and see this beautiful house that I built for my family, and now I walk into a war zone … . Right here in L.A., an innocent L.A. father was killed because District Attorney Gascón released a violent criminal back into the streets. And this is just one of the dozens of cases right here in this city,” says Ricci in the video.
In response, the NRA has publicly said it is “proud to have Vince as a fellow NRA member” and called the revocation of his CCW “reprehensible.”
“His decisive actions to protect his wife and daughter embody the core principles that NRA members fight for every day,” said NRA spokesperson Billy McLaughlin. “It’s reprehensible that California is shredding his Second Amendment rights after he defended his family. Gov. [Gavin] Newsom and [Los Angeles County District Attorney George] Gascón’s pro-criminal policies have transformed Los Angeles and the wider state into what resembles a war zone. The NRA stands with Vince and every responsible gun owner in California, firmly committed to defending their rights to protect their families and communities.”
