Desperate times call for desperate measures. Sounds like a mid-90's film title. Actually, pretty sure it was. Such was the case for George Pickering II who conducted a standoff in a hospital 11 months ago to save his son. Here's the scuttlebutt: George's son, who is prone to seizures, was in critical condition and on life support in the hospital after suffering from a massive stroke. The hospital said the son, George Pickering III (noticing a trend here?), was brain dead. Since George Pickering III was also an organ donor, the figurative vultures were circling. Well, dad got himself a gun. Watch:

From Click2Houston:

Hospital staff said Pickering's ex-wife and his other son were placed in the position of making decisions for George Pickering III.  The hospital then ordered something called a 'terminal wean,' a process that slowly removes life support. Hospital staff even notified an organ donation organization that Pickering's son was an organ donor.

"They were moving too fast. The hospital, the nurses, the doctors," said Pickering.

Pickering admits to be being drunk and aggressive that night, but said he was certain there was still life left in his son. He said he faced a similar situation once before with his son and he recovered.

"I knew if I had three or four hours that night that I would know whether George was brain dead," said Pickering.

"Why did you feel that going and getting a gun and threatening people was your only option at that point?" asked Channel 2 Investigator Robert Arnold.

"At that point I had blinders on. All I knew I just needed to have this time with George," said Pickering.

"During that three hours, George squeezed my hand three or four times on command," said Pickering.

Pickering was charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. That's fair.

But here's the kicker. His son, George III, woke up and is doing just fine. Not brain dead. His organs were not harvested. Had this man's father not stepped up and defended his son's life, his son would probably be dead, gone, and parted out. Am I condoning his actions to use a gun? Here's the thing, what we know is his son was scheduled to die, his organs ripe for harvest. Kind of hard to take a stand against the dad here, isn't it?

Here's the latest development. It looks like authorities agreed. One assault charge was dropped, the other lessened to a state jail felony. As Pickering's defense attorney pointed out, this was a case of a father defending his son, when his son was incapable of taking care of himself.

Usually when we have gun stories, it involves a person defending himself from intruders (Conceal Carry Holder Shoots Armed Robber and Saves the Day), but this case offers something different. An armed man saved his son from the hospital. We call that a plot twist.

We've talked about this here at LwC a lot. Firearms are "the great equalizer" in that they offer a mechanical advantage to assist the physically powerless. In this case, the powerless individual was literally on life support with the plug about to be pulled. What saved his life? Not a law, not a law-suit, not a GoFundMe, not a public protest... but his dad with a gun.

Any way you slice it, without his armed father, George would be dead today. Think on that for a bit, and then thank God for your Second Amendment Rights.