Some people just can’t seem to catch a break. Maine resident Harvey Lembo had suffered from a number of health issues which wound up landing him in a wheelchair. Then his apartment was broken into. Four times. Having had enough of being the target of criminals, Mr. Lembo went and purchased himself a handgun. On the night of the very same September day that he brought his new weapon home, criminals broke into his place for a fifth time, but on that occasion things ended differently. (CBS News)

“I had the gun under my pillow. I reached out and I cocked it. And I got in my wheelchair.,” Lembo said.

Lembo confronted the alleged intruder in his home rifling through his prescription medication and held him at gunpoint.

“I screamed at him to stop. And I told him to go sit on the coffee table or I’d blow his brains out. I still had the gun in my hand. And I’m trying to dial 911 with the gun in my hand,” Lembo said. But while Lembo was on the phone, the man jumped up and ran.

“That’s when I shot him, yes. I shot just like that,”

So, a relatively happy ending to the story, right? Mr. Lembo had suffered three heart attacks in addition to having diabetes and was on a lot of medication. The cops figured that the burglar was trying to steal his prescription medicine. The intruder ran off with a bullet in him but the cops tracked him down later and arrested him.

Unfortunately, not all stories work out like they do in the movies. After the event, Harvey was informed that his landlord doesn’t allow firearms on the premises and that he would either have to give up his gun or find new accommodations. (Yahoo News)

A disabled former lobsterman who shot an intruder after buying a gun to defend himself sued his landlord Monday over a policy that prohibits him from keeping a gun in his subsidized apartment.

Harvey Lembo, who uses a motorized wheelchair, was warned by his property management company that tenants are prohibited from having firearms after he shot an alleged burglar in the shoulder after five break-ins.

The lawsuit was filed in Knox County Superior Court.

The folks trying to give Harvey the boot are the managers of Park Place Apartments in Rockland, Maine. The property is a Section 515 subsidized low income rental unit with 20 apartments. It’s unclear whether there is some sort of state or federal rule about owning guns in such subsidized housing or if that’s a policy that was put in place by the local management.

Either way, they’re not very popular in the public eye right now. The NRA is already weighing in on the case, saying that, “Self-defense is a fundamental, God-given right” which shouldn’t be dependent on your zip code or your income bracket. If Harvey qualified for a permit and legally obtained his gun, how is it even an issue if the guy has it inside of his home? That’s not to mention that he’s clearly had a tough enough time of things and he lives in an area where the apartment management is unable to provide any fundamental level of security for the residents if the guy’s place was broken into five times.

This calls for a bit of public exposure and perhaps some intervention by Mr. Lembo’s elected representatives. Surely this policy can be changed now that it’s been proven a dismal failure.