lawandorder
Member
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2003
- Messages
- 45
Please share this.
Assuring news
Fire when ready, Gridley
By The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
LITTLE ROCK — THERE’S GOOD news in the paper, too. Like a front-page story Wednesday by our own Andy Davis that should brighten law-abiding folks’ day. (“Dentist opens fire on purse snatcher/ Police say he shot as wife fought mugger”-Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Wednesday, March 25, 2009.) The lede pretty well sums up the whole story:
“Going to the aid of his wife as she and an armed man struggled over her purse on the parking lot of the Wal-Mart Supercenter in west Little Rock on Monday night, a 63-year-old dentist pulled out a .357-caliber revolver and opened fire, striking the would-be robber in the buttocks, police said Tuesday.”
According to the cops, the suspect was found a little while later when he sought medicaltreatment. As soon as he’s released from the hospital, they say he’ll be charged with aggravated robbery, just as the two people with him have already been.
Let’s hope word gets around to the right, or rather, wrong people: Don’t mess with innocent folks in Little Rock; they may be armed and dangerous to thugs who threaten others with bodily harm. These good people aren’t easy pickin’s. They may even be good shots.
The couple who were threatened declined an interview, but a neighbor described them as “a good Catholic family” that goes to Christ the King on Rodney Parham and has two grown sons. We trust there’s a prayer of thanksgiving in the church for having survived a threat like that, and hope their armed tribe increases. For all our sakes. Because an armed society is a civil society.
These days the bad guys just can never tell just who’s prepared to defend himself and his-or her-family. Applications for concealed-carry permits have spiked in recent months. Handgun instructors speculate it may be because of fear the new administration is going to crack down on the right to bear arms. Or maybe the surge in applications comes in response to the horrendous murder of a popular television newscaster not long ago in her nice little house in a supposedly safe Little Rock neighborhood. (Never take your safety for granted, good people.) The growing number of folks prepared to defend themselves is good news in general, and needs to be spread.
Let it be noted that Little Rock’s finest generally discourage folks from firing to fend off robbers. “You are not familiar with this person,” warns a spokesman for the local police department, Sergeant Cassandra Davis, who has the most fitting first name we’ve ever come across for an officer whose duties include warning people. She adds that the would-be mugger may have an accomplice nearby or “be more skilled than you are.”
Maybe, maybe not. Folks who’ve got a concealed-carry permit do have to undergo some minimal training, and anybody who’s been in the service will find that the old reflexes (and safe practices) return in a hurry. The manager of a firing range in North Little Rock, who’s also a handgun instructor, says he advises anyone who’s being robbed at gunpoint to defend himself if he’s got the chance. “If you’ve got the opportunity to pull the gun out,” he says, “you take the opportunity to shoot at the same time. The gun does you no good if you don’t use it.”
The choice is up to the citizen, which is one of the rights (and burdens) of living in a free society. That 63-year-old dentist sounds like one citizen who made the right choice. He certainly made our day when we read about his close call. Here’s hoping lots of folks read that news story, and get the message. Because an armed society is a civil society.
This article was published Monday, March 30, 2009.
Assuring news
Fire when ready, Gridley
By The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
LITTLE ROCK — THERE’S GOOD news in the paper, too. Like a front-page story Wednesday by our own Andy Davis that should brighten law-abiding folks’ day. (“Dentist opens fire on purse snatcher/ Police say he shot as wife fought mugger”-Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Wednesday, March 25, 2009.) The lede pretty well sums up the whole story:
“Going to the aid of his wife as she and an armed man struggled over her purse on the parking lot of the Wal-Mart Supercenter in west Little Rock on Monday night, a 63-year-old dentist pulled out a .357-caliber revolver and opened fire, striking the would-be robber in the buttocks, police said Tuesday.”
According to the cops, the suspect was found a little while later when he sought medicaltreatment. As soon as he’s released from the hospital, they say he’ll be charged with aggravated robbery, just as the two people with him have already been.
Let’s hope word gets around to the right, or rather, wrong people: Don’t mess with innocent folks in Little Rock; they may be armed and dangerous to thugs who threaten others with bodily harm. These good people aren’t easy pickin’s. They may even be good shots.
The couple who were threatened declined an interview, but a neighbor described them as “a good Catholic family” that goes to Christ the King on Rodney Parham and has two grown sons. We trust there’s a prayer of thanksgiving in the church for having survived a threat like that, and hope their armed tribe increases. For all our sakes. Because an armed society is a civil society.
These days the bad guys just can never tell just who’s prepared to defend himself and his-or her-family. Applications for concealed-carry permits have spiked in recent months. Handgun instructors speculate it may be because of fear the new administration is going to crack down on the right to bear arms. Or maybe the surge in applications comes in response to the horrendous murder of a popular television newscaster not long ago in her nice little house in a supposedly safe Little Rock neighborhood. (Never take your safety for granted, good people.) The growing number of folks prepared to defend themselves is good news in general, and needs to be spread.
Let it be noted that Little Rock’s finest generally discourage folks from firing to fend off robbers. “You are not familiar with this person,” warns a spokesman for the local police department, Sergeant Cassandra Davis, who has the most fitting first name we’ve ever come across for an officer whose duties include warning people. She adds that the would-be mugger may have an accomplice nearby or “be more skilled than you are.”
Maybe, maybe not. Folks who’ve got a concealed-carry permit do have to undergo some minimal training, and anybody who’s been in the service will find that the old reflexes (and safe practices) return in a hurry. The manager of a firing range in North Little Rock, who’s also a handgun instructor, says he advises anyone who’s being robbed at gunpoint to defend himself if he’s got the chance. “If you’ve got the opportunity to pull the gun out,” he says, “you take the opportunity to shoot at the same time. The gun does you no good if you don’t use it.”
The choice is up to the citizen, which is one of the rights (and burdens) of living in a free society. That 63-year-old dentist sounds like one citizen who made the right choice. He certainly made our day when we read about his close call. Here’s hoping lots of folks read that news story, and get the message. Because an armed society is a civil society.
This article was published Monday, March 30, 2009.
