Stanford Management Co. seeks to improve saftey of residents…Simple GUNS!

DISCLAIMER:  I AM NOT AN EMPLOYEE OF BANGOR DAILY NEWS.  I AM SPEAKING MY MIND FROM BLOG SPACE PROVIDED TO ME BY BDN.  THE FOLLOWING IS MY OWN OPINION

Stanford Management Co. out of Portland has insisted that 67 year old Harvey Lembo give up his gun after learning that he shot an intruder in his apartment.

As you may have read, Mr. Lembo is wheelchair bound, and has been the victim of several recent burglaries. No longer wishing to be a victim, he exercised his constitutional right, and purchased a firearm.

Just 12 hours later, Mr. Lembo fired his weapon at an intruder who refused to comply with an order to remain seated while the police were called in.

On Tuesday Mr. Lembo was notified by Stanford Management CO. that his lease prohibits firearms in his apartments.

According to a recent Bangor Daily News article “Rockland tenant who shot intruder told to give up gun” by Stephen Betts, Stanford Management Co manages 1,500 units in Maine, and an employee there claims most multifamily housing developments have similar restrictions.

Apparently they are now looking into ways to improve the safety of their tenants.  If you ask me, Mr. Lembo did a pretty good job of improving his safety!  That is until they told him to give up his gun!

Criminals apparently selected Mr. Lembo because he appeared to be an easy target.  At 67, and in a wheelchair, he likely wouldn’t put up much resistance.  A Russian made 7mm revolver leveled the field.  Problem solved.

Now?  Well now down on their luck criminals who need money know that Mr. Lembo is no longer armed, and is still an easy mark!

Presumably, this management company, and others like it make these rules to avoid lawsuits if somebody in one of their buildings gets shot, and decides to sue.  They can whip out their rental agreement, and show that they don’t allow firearms in their units.

Fair enough!  But what about if somebody is robbed, like Mr. Lembo?  Does that give the tenants a right to file their own lawsuit, claiming that the management company was negligent in protecting their homes?  If they stipulate that a tenant is not allowed to protect their home with a firearm, doesn’t that place the burden on the landlord to pick up the slack?

Mr. Lembo has had his home burglarized four times!  Short of posting armed guards at the every entry, and barring all the windows, there is little that can be done by the management company.

Personally?  I think folks need to be armed.  Criminals are better protected that common folk. Christopher Wildhaber who was the man shot by Mr. Lembo has had other previous encounters with being naughty.  In fact Mr. Wildhaber’s initial charge after being arrested was for violating probation.

One thing is certain, had Mr. Lembo shot to kill, there would have been one less person who victimized people in the world.  And at 45 years old, it is possible plenty of people have had negative encounters with Mr. Wildhaber.

We need to stop coddling our criminals!  Sure, we are innocent until proven guilty.  But we are so concerned with protecting the innocent, that it is the innocent that suffer!

A criminal will only be a successful one if he/she learns how to avoid lengthy incarceration.  And it seems we have plenty of successful criminals.  Clearly we need to even the score, and I believe wholeheartedly that the solution lies with fed up victims taking up arms!

Armed citizens on the streets are shooting back.  Armed employees are shooting back, and armed residents have been shooting back for a long time.  Instead of being discouraged to possess weapons in the home, management companies need to start doing background checks, and putting scumbags in with scumbags, and decent folk in with decent folk.  Eventually the problems will work out on their own.  You cant rob somebody if you are dead!

Doug Alley

About Doug Alley

I grew up in Bath, Maine in an upper lower class family with 3 step sisters, a step brother, and a little sister. After high school I spent 3 years serving in the USAF at Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage AK. I've competed in, and won, demolition derbies. I've competed in, and never won, stock car races. I am the 47-year-old father of an 11-year-old boy who is pretty sure he is smarter than I ever was. We live on a little less than an acre of land in a 1973 mobile home in Stetson with my wife Jen, some cats, a few chickens, and rabbits, and a couple of goats. I hunt, fish, camp out, dabble in photography, gardening, and I cook in variable degrees of near success.