« what's so impressive about a diamond except the mining? | Main | Hanging on, we push and shove »
Say hello to my leetle friend
by anna at 07:00 PM on May 05, 2005
You ever get stuck behind a car in traffic that has some really annoying bumper sticker like, "I'm reading your email?" I do, and I hate sitting there trying to fathom what in the hell that is supposed to mean. But other times I get stuck behind cars with stickers whose meaning is ALL TOO CLEAR.
For instance: "Guns Save Lives." And then, in smaller print, "2.5 million Defensive Encounters Every Year." Obviously this is someone in favor of toting guns around and using them on others if need be. This is not wrapped in the cloak of "hunter's rights." They at Gunssavelife.com are talking about shooting people who annoy them. As are the folks who promote books like Dial 911 and Die. This book basically says the police are under no obligation to protect anyone. You must protect yourself. Or die. With guns. (No links provided for obvious reasons.)
Let's talk about this factoid for a minute. First of all, I seriously doubt there are 2.5 million encounters involving private citizens and firearms. And even if there were, I'd guess most of them involved two parties that were both armed. Otherwise it is kind of overkill to pull a gun on somebody. They always say not to pull a gun in case you're fully prepared to use it. So basically you've got a Wild West style who-can-draw-and-fire-quicker type situation. Hardly one you want to be in for the first time with your life on the line. (Maybe you need to go practice on somebody.) And so somebody gets shot, maybe killed, in many of these encounters. And yet, "guns save lives." 2.5 million times every year, in fact! Unbelievable. I suppose there are lives and then there are lives.
It's also important to remember that the shooting of persons with hanguns, particularly if not at point blank range, is a tricky matter indeed. Adrenaline is pumping and you're liable to miss badly. Or perhaps even worse, the dreaded superficial leg wound that only irks your assailant or burglar and incites him to plug you.
Which is why it is all the more disturbing that in Jeb Bush's Florida, they want to pass some redneck law that would make it easier to shoot other people who piss you off in some way. It stands a good chance of passing and when it does it will make the shootout at OK Corral look like a piano recital. What a scene, hotheaded Columbian drug dealers hopped up on coke shooting it out with senile old retirees.
On the other hand, sometimes the other side goes too far. There is a local story that has circulated for years. Who knows if it's really true? But if you can believe this, they say an old woman lived in a ground floor apartment in a seedy area. Locals kept breaking in through a window and stealing all her shit. Fed up, she rigged up a shotgun so if anyone pried the window open, they'd be eating buckshot. Sure enough, some hooligans tried to break in and bought it. She wound up charged with manslaughter. Key to the prosecution's argument was that she had a reasonable expectation that somebody would try to break in and come into harm's way as a result of her prank.
Well, that is all I have to say. Mainly I wanted to post something on this historic 05/05/05. Supposedly that only happens like once in a lifetime. Unlike the defensive encounters with handguns. Which, if these jokers are to be believed, happen 6000 times a day.
comments (9)
I've heard: "never pull out (draw?) a gun unless you're prepared to use it," and "never point a gun at something you're not going to shoot."
The manslaughter charge seems likely. Maybe Chuck can correct me, although maybe things are different in Canada. Anyways I think you're supposed to use the minimum amount of force needed against a threat. Anything more than that is on you, not on the criminal.
by jean at May 6, 2005 12:29 AM
Even though I don't own a gun, besides a 22 rifle at my parent's house, I still think it's perfectly fine to defend yourself in your own home. How do you know if intruders are there to rob you or kill you? You don't and I for one don't play russian roulette with my life. I would give warning and allow the perp a chance to leave without incident, but if they come at me I think I ought to have every right to defend myself. How do I know what the minimum is to stop an intruder from killing me? Hindsight is 20/20 and that doesn't hold water when you are talking about heat of the moment attack or flee reactions.
And let me make this clear: Even though my dad was a cop for over 30 years, I will never depend on the police to protect me. NEVER. Just because it is their job to doesn't mean they will do it. I will only depend on myself and my home is my last line of defense.
Ick. It's gross, but there is one thing I agree with Charlton Heston on: "From my cold, dead hands."
PS: Any douchbag who robs an old lady deserves to get shot.
by MrBlank at May 6, 2005 1:25 AM
I agree about the police. At least locally they all seem to be lazy slobs. But with this lady, if she'd have dragged the carcass in her house and repositioned the gund, everything might have been hunky-dory with the law. The fact that he bought it while still outside the premise made all the difference. Though the rigging up vs actually hand-firing of the gun might make a difference to a judge.
by anna at May 6, 2005 7:52 AM
When I was young, I like firearms. Not for their power, but for their precision...
by Lockheed at May 7, 2005 12:38 AM
If you like precision, check out a crossbow.
by anna at May 7, 2005 10:57 AM
Are crossbows really that precise? I felt sad the day I realized that modern crossbows (and bows too) are made of high-tech graphite composites and stuff. I thought the whole appeal of bows is that they're low-tech.
When I imagine people who are into crossbows, I think of Ted Nugent, even though he's a gun guy.
by jean at May 8, 2005 11:22 PM
The one I have is black and made of steel. It can deliver a small arrow very accurately at 100 feet. Lethal.
by anna at May 9, 2005 7:46 AM
Many people have been convicted of Manslaughter or similar charges for laying fatal traps for people who broke into their homes. The classic example is from England where a person had a chronic problem with people scaling his garden wall to steal from his garden. He set up a shotgun, it went off and killed an interloper, and he was convicted.
Personally I'm glad that canada doesn't have as many guns as you people down in the states, of course stats from the Toronto area suggest that 90% of the handguns used in crimes in that city were smuggled in from the states.
Crossbows are plently precise at short distances, moreso that most handguns, but much less so than almost any rifle (that is any rifle more powerful than a .22). Give me a AR- 15 (or M-16) anyday, quite precise up to 300 metres.
by chuckwoolery at May 11, 2005 5:15 PM
The thing about having crossbows is that they can be lethal and silent. It's like having a silencer on your gun. People tend to think you're up to no good. And you usually are.
by anna at May 11, 2005 6:37 PM