A West Virginia woman was able to save her life with a firearm during a violent attack by her boyfriend.

According to a report at usacarry.com, the couple was visiting an acquaintance in Charleston, West Virginia, when the violence started. The boyfriend, 32-year-old Chrishawn Perkins, allegedly accused his 19-year-old girlfriend of stealing and then began physically assaulted her.

According to the Charleston Police Department, Perkins stomped on his girlfriend’s ribcage and head, and punched her in the arm and mouth. Perkins then grabbed a firearm and multiple times threatened to kill her.

During the melee, Perkins began to also fight with the acquaintance who lived at the residence. Seeing her chance to stop the attack, the girlfriend, who police haven’t identified, picked up the gun and shot Perkins.

After the shooting, the girlfriend performed CPR on Perkins until emergency responders arrived. He later died from the wounds at a nearby hospital.

The girlfriend was also taken to the hospital for her wounds suffered in the attack and was listed in stable condition. In an interview with a local news channel, a reporter asked her how she feels. “I wouldn’t say blessed,” she said. “I just don’t feel scared anymore, but I wish things didn’t go the way they did.”

The woman also told the news channel that she had been in a relationship with Perkins for about eight months and that he had beat her multiple times over that period. The case is still under investigation, but currently no charges have been filed against the woman in the self-defense shooting.

Anti-gun advocates will tell you that guns are seldom used for self-defense purposes. However, that’s a big lie, as this situations and thousands of others like it every year show. For this woman, a gun—even though it was not her own—was the great equalizer when it came to stopping and attack by an enraged man.