Firing Line
These are the stories I like to read. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, when two robbers approached a Temple University student and shot him, the student pulled out his own weapon -- and fired back. The story says the student had a permit to carry. A police spokeswoman put it succinctly:
"If you do have a permit, that would be the time to use your weapon, when someone tries to rob you and shoots you."
Personally I don't think self-defense requires you to wait to get shot before you shoot. Though I don't have a gun myself, I remain a strong supporter of the 2nd amendment. And I wonder how many of those hoodlums who went crashing through those London shop windows would have done so if the shopkeepers had the right to bear arms that would allow them to defend themselves and their property.
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Jun '10
Re: Firing Line
Remember this? It was real proof that criminals, given the choice, choose unarmed targets. FL was nice enough to label the unarmed:
(from: http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1993-04-08/news/9302040710_1_rental-companies-plates-car ) 4/8/1993 "MIAMI -- Six weeks ago, Gov. Lawton Chiles called for all of Florida`s rental car companies to abandon the state`s ``lease`` license tags as it became obvious that criminals were attacking cars with telltale Y and Z plates. [...] Barbara Jensen Meller, a tourist from Berlin, was beaten and robbed when a pair of thugs ran into her rental car while she was lost in Liberty City and searching for her Miami Beach hotel. The robbers then killed the woman in front of her mother and two children, running over her head with a car as they fled. Her car had a lease license plate and an Alamo Rent A Car logo on the front. The murder -- the fourth of a tourist in Dade this year -- sparked a firestorm of anger over crime against tourists. It also sharpened the focus on the easily identifiable rental cars on Florida`s streets. Since Monday, at least 10,000 replacement plates have been issued."
Jan '11
Re: Firing Line
Mr. McGurn, I'm puzzled by your recognizing the prudence of personal armed protection, but avoiding it yourself. To each his own, of course.
Apr '11
Re: Firing Line
Surely someone on the left has already made the case that the firearm itself caused the crime. The weapons have some type of evil static charge causing the otherwise well intentioned criminal to act out when near by. Had the young man been unarmed then nothing would have happened. History shows that no harm has ever come to defenseless people.
May '10
Re: Firing Line
This is actually showing progress by the Philly PD. They acknowledged a right to self defense.
In the past they would have arrested the Temple Student and let the courts sort it out. Most recent Example was the Gerald Ung case (another Temple student) http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/021511-student-not-guilty-in-fox-29-shooting
Edited on Sep 6, 2011 at 10:08amMar '11
Re: Firing Line
The next step that I fervently hope and pray for is the recognition throughout the land (and subsequent codification in law) that protection of property, not just life and limb, is a valid reason for the use of deadly force. If a criminal attempts to take property that I have worked for, why am I required to let him/her have it just because they haven't tried to kill me? If an individual decides that the property in question is not worth the emotional trauma of taking a life, then that is their prerogative. However, I would prefer to remove the offender from society, the criminal justice system and the gene pool. I would sleep well at night, and would view my action as having done society a favor. I think it might also give recidivistic dirtbags pause before they try to rob someome. Even those types have to see the foolishness in possibly receiving multiple 9mm perforations over a lawnmower - not making this up - happened to me. I didn't kill the dirtbag, but he was under the muzzle of my pistol until the police arrived. If he had twitched, we would have no doubt needed a coroner.
Edited on Sep 6, 2011 at 10:34amMay '11
Re: Firing Line
Thanks Bill, these are the types of gun stories I like to read about too. It's rare to read or see news on responsible and lawful gun owners practicing their second amendment rights to self defense.
Jul '10
Re: Firing Line
Could do no better than to borrow from Mark Steyn about Gun-Free Zones" and their consequences:
…It was a “gun-free zone” except for those belonging to the guy who wanted to kill everybody. Had the Second Amendment not been in effect repealed by VT, someone might have been able to do as two students did five years ago at the Appalachian Law School: When a would-be mass murderer showed up, they rushed for their vehicles, grabbed their guns and pinned him down until the cops arrived.
But you can’t do that at Virginia Tech. Instead, the administration has created a “Gun-Free School Zone.” Or, to be more accurate, they’ve created a sign that says “Gun-Free School Zone.” And, like a loopy medieval sultan, they thought that simply declaring it to be so would make it so. The “gun-free zone” turned out to be a fraud — not just because there were at least two guns on the campus last Monday, but in the more important sense that the college was promoting to its students a profoundly deluded view of the world.
Jul '10
Re: Firing Line
He continues:
“A few years back, a couple of alienated loser teens from a small Vermont town decided they were going to kill somebody, steal his ATM cards, and go to Australia. So they went to a remote house in the woods a couple of towns away, knocked on the door, and said their car had broken down. The guy thought their story smelled funny so he picked up his Glock and told ‘em to get lost. …Eventually they figured they could spend months knocking on doors in rural Vermont and New Hampshire and seeing nothing for their pains but cranky guys in plaid leveling both barrels through the screen door. So even these idiots worked it out: Where’s the nearest place around here where you’re most likely to encounter gullible defenseless types who have foresworn all means of resistance? Answer: Dartmouth College. So they drove over the Connecticut River, rang the doorbell, and brutally murdered a couple of well-meaning liberal professors. Two depraved misfits of crushing stupidity (to judge from their diaries) had nevertheless identified precisely the easiest murder victims in the twin-state area.”
Jun '10
Re: Firing Line
Owning a gun takes work. I never owned one because I was worried about guns in the house with kids. Now that the kids are older, I still don't own one because I am too lazy to get training in how to maintain and shoot the weapon. I think gun ownership is less and less likely for me as I age and my reflexes slow and my vision worsens. It's simply not for everyone, just as pet ownership or car ownership or home ownership are not for those unwilling to put in the time.
Jul '10
Re: Firing Line
Mea culpa - Forgot to enclose the first post (#7) from Mark Steyn in quotes. I do take these things seriously.
Re: Firing Line
One of the golden moments of my police career came when I responded to a report of a burglar at the home of an elderly widow. "Where is he?" I asked when I arrived. "He's bleeding all over my back porch," said the woman. She had shot the burglar with a pistol left to her by her late husband.
Most street cops recognize gun control as a chimera. In the U.S., the cities with the strictest gun-control laws are the ones with the most gun crime. Go figure.
Sep '10
Re: Firing Line
Better to be tried by 12, than carried by 6.