Black Bear Attack Stopped with .38 Caliber Handgun

On August 25, 2023, near Kingston, Massachusetts, a bear attack was stopped with a pistol.  The bear started by attacking a goat. Bear attacks against animals that depend on people for their protection are much more common than direct attacks against people. From Kingston Police on Facebook:

Shortly before 3pm this afternoon KPD responded to Hawthorne Road for a report of a black bear attacking a resident’s livestock (goat). Initial investigation appears to reveal the following:

Upon the bear attacking the resident’s goat, the resident attempted to scare the bear away, the bear postured up towards the resident and the resident reported he was in fear of being attacked. The resident then shot the bear with his lawfully owned firearm.

At that time, the bear fled into the wood line. Upon police arriving, we were unable to locate the bear. KPD contacted the Massachusetts Environmental Police who are conducting an investigation and have been unable to locate the bear as of this time.

This correspondent made contact with the Kingston Police PIO, who communicated the firearm used was a .38 caliber handgun. In an update, NBC Boston reported the man had fired warning shots in an attempt to scare the bear away from the goat. The bear became threatening instead of fleeing, and he shot the bear. From nbcboston.com:

The man said he was afraid of being attacked so he shot the bear in the leg and it fled into the woods.

Wildlife officials say the injury is minor and local police say the resident does own the gun lawfully.

Kingston police and Massachusetts Environmental police have been looking for the bear since this incident yesterday afternoon but they haven’t been able to find it.

Less than a year ago, on September 30, 2022, near Middleton, Massachusetts, the owner of two goats was not as vigilant. Both goats were killed by a black bear. When the bear returned the next day and began killing chickens, the bear was shot and killed. An animal control officer reported it was likely the same bear that had been killing chickens at several locations in the area.  From eagletribune.com:

“I had an email from the Andover Animal Control Officer two days ago, and she was reporting several instances of the bear getting into chickens on the west side of Harold Parker,” Wattles said. “Some of those incidents were spread out over 3 miles, but that’s easily a distance a bear can travel.”

Bears have been bad neighbors for as long as history has been recorded. In the Bible, the sheepherder, David, was reported to have killed a bear that was attacking his sheep. It is much less risky to shoot a bear with a handgun than it is to kill it with a sling and a club. From KJV bible, I Samuel:

³⁴ And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:

³⁵ And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.

David would have been very glad to have a modern firearm to defend his sheep. Modern handguns are very effective as a defense against bears.  In 170 documented instances where cartridge handguns have been fired in defense against bears, the bear stopped the attack, was driven off or killed, 98% of the time.

We discovered handgun failures in defense against bears are rare. Successful uses of handguns to defend against bears are about 50 times as common. Handguns have been shown to be an effective tool to use against bears 98% of the time.

The number of bear attacks against people has been increasing with increasing bear populations. There have been at least nine bear attacks against people in August of 2023 as of August 23rd.

About Dean Weingarten:

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.