First, HiWayMan, You are to be complimented on your good manners. Of course I accept the apology. Perhaps I was a little too acerbic in my initial reply. By way of explanation, let me offer this: I am unable to see any clear evidence, here, that the victim was about to launch a deadly attack; there is, also, no stated evidence that the shooter suffers from any ailment so severe that he could not withstand being pushed or, for that matter, being shouted at face-to-face. (Which might have been the victim’s sole intention? The fact is that we’re never going to know the true answers about what actually happened that day because three quick shots rang out before events had fully unfolded. So far the ONLY mitigating circumstance I see is that the shooter promptly reported the shooting to authorities.)
There is, however, clear evidence that the shooter could repeatedly fire a large caliber pistol accurately and, thereafter, walk some distance away from the scene. Neither have I read anything about the shooter requiring hospitalization, afterwards, for any reason; nor do I accept 57 years of age as being, ‘old’ or infirm. (I feel, ‘safe’ in this assumption because, as of last Monday, I’m 61 years old myself.) As I mentioned I’ve been a dog breeder most of my adult life; and pride myself on understanding the canine mentality and being something of a better than average dog trainer.
I hate to see any gun owner play straight into the hands of the likes of: Dianne Feinstein, Chuck Schumer, Hillary Clinton, and Ted Kennedy. Granted we, all, make mistakes; but, when that mistake involves killing an unarmed man with a handgun, under overtly ambiguous circumstances, then, all of us who carry pistols everyday are SURE to feel the heat. This is exactly that sort of terrible event that the anti-2nd amendment crowd waits for!
In the years that I, myself, have been carrying, I’ve had an angry tractor-trailer driver actually push my vehicle off the road because I wasn’t going fast enough and he wanted to get by. As I headed for the ditch I could have put my S & W, Model 686 out the window and, ‘taken him out’. The split-second decision I had to make that day was that my life wasn’t (really) in danger – only my vehicle; and I was keenly aware of how this event would have to, ‘play’ in the news. I let myself be run off the road; and, afterward, I called the state police to report the incident. No matter how, ‘justified’ I may have felt (or actually been) at that moment, ‘What’ I did NOT want to become was, ‘the talk of my local gun club.’
Very recently, I pulled into a parking space that someone else had his eye on. He, ‘charged’ up to my face while yelling every insult that he could think of! Know what? I wasn’t going to let this guy, ‘get the better’ of me. I, simply, tucked my right arm into my side to prevent the wind from revealing the Glock Model G-21 hidden underneath. Even when he was less than a foot from my face, the thought of, ‘throwing down’ on this guy never occurred to me. (Taking him out with an upsweep to the point of his chin or, ‘thumbing’ his eye, maybe; but I certainly wasn’t going to use a weapon on this idiot.) It got worse, too: When I came out of the store he was waiting for me and began to follow me in his vehicle. Is this rational behavior? I think not! I noted his license plate and, then, drove straight to the police station. (He must have been a, ‘local’, too, because a block from the station he, suddenly, veered off and disappeared.)
In today’s America it isn’t enough to, ‘go armed’ and be competent with firearms; American gun owners need to be MUCH MORE than well-armed and good shots: We, also, need to have greater self-discipline, and to actually be, ‘smarter’ than the next guy. Call me an elitist, if you like; but, I believe that the state has given me my CCW permit primarily because my life record reflects the facts that I am honest, trustworthy, and responsible BEYOND conventional societal norms! It should be obvious that I do not take this civil trust and the concomitant social responsibility lightly – quite the opposite, I assure you.
Anyone whom I may have to face in ANY social confrontation, really, doesn’t have to be as highly self-disciplined as I pride myself on being. It is MY RESPONSIBILITY as a Life Member of the NRA, as well as a supporter of, both, ‘Gun Owners of America’, and, ‘Jews For The Preservation Of Firearms Ownership’ to be SMARTER (By, ‘smarter’ I mean: mentally tougher, more self-disciplined, and more calculating.) than most of the other unarmed (or, even, unworthy) people with whom I come into daily contact.
I am keenly aware that one of the ways for the anti 2nd amendment crowd to persuade the American public that guns are a real threat to society is to insidiously allow (If you’ll permit me to use the phrase, again.) as many, ‘dumb-ass civilians’ as possible to carry guns in daily public life. Given the power of the national news media, it shouldn’t be too difficult to imagine some conniving politician sitting in his office, smiling to himself while thinking; ‘Go ahead let ‘um carry all they want.’ ‘It’s only a matter of time before these gun-totters’ mistakes begin to pile up; and, then, we’ll be able to finally disarm them, all!’ All gun owners and users need to understand that every, ‘jerk with a gun’ is a threat to everyone else’s own precious civil liberties! All gun owners, everywhere, need to understand that if I, here in Pennsylvania, make a serious mistake with a firearm, then, this mistake IS going to have a negative impact on everyone’s right-to-carry no matter which particular state is involved!
I am positive that I don’t want to be remembered as someone who gave American gun owners a, ‘bad name’. Sure I’ll use my guns IF I really have too; but I’m going to require significant provocation before I level that front sight and begin, ‘double or triple tapping’ another human being. I’m sorry; I truly am; but I, just, don’t see this level of provocation in the subject incident.
Remember, ‘What’ I said about being, ‘smarter’, ‘tougher’, ‘more self-disciplined’, and ‘more calculating’ than the other guy: Before I’m willing to give benefit of doubt to the shooter, here, I would need to see: one or more dead dogs, as well as some evidence of injury to the shooter. A wiser man than I, once, wrote; ‘No man is an island unto himself!’ In my considered opinion this degree and quality of evidence is owed to all the rest of us who carry guns on our bodies – everyday. Without it I must conclude that a serious mistake has been made by someone who, clearly, never should have been carrying a deadly weapon in the first place.
I’m a great believer in considering everything IN CONTEXT. If this were a different sort of incident, perhaps, inside a camping tent at around midnight, then, I might have an entirely different slant on events; but, I don’t see any such mitigating circumstances, here; and there’s, still, that troubling problem with no wounds on the shooter and no dead attack animals. (Only two of which might have been considered threatening.) As hard as I try to rationalize this event, I can’t get around this. It, just, doesn’t add up to three E.C.Q.B. killing shots on an unarmed man.
Neither do I buy the argument about an unarmed, somewhat, younger man being a deadly threat. That’s, exactly, indicative of the, ‘hair-trigger’ mentality I’ve already criticized! Go ahead! Kill a dog, or two, if you have to; but, even at my age, I know that the first opening moves another man would make against me are, probably, going to miss. If someone is THAT frail, what is he doing far out in the woods, carrying a big powerful 10mm handgun, in the first place? Again, as much as I might wish otherwise, the facts behind this shooting continue to be unjustifiable; and I strongly suspect that some district attorney is going to see things the same way!
A GUN IS A GUN, PEOPLE; IT’S USE IN COMBAT ENDS LIFE! If you are carrying a handgun and, also, don’t know the first thing about clearing an unarmed attacker off your vertical body centerline, then, I must conclude that there’s a, ‘big hole’ in your training. E.C.Q.B. and ‘retention firing’ skills go (If you’ll excuse the pun.) hand-in-hand. If the rest of us aren’t less, ‘hair-triggered’ and more careful than this, then, these, ‘jerks with guns’ are, at the very least, going to ruin CCW for all of us - everywhere. Enough said!
