Thursday, January 21, 2010

A Responsible, Law-Abiding Citizen

Pro-gun advocates keep telling us it is OK to allow people to carry guns, either concealed or openly.
They tell us that licensed people have to go through gun safety training and are "responsible, law-abiding citizens," so people have nothing to worry about.

Besides that, guns don't kill people, people kill people.

Let them tell that to the people in Appomattox, Virginia:
he victims of a gunman's violent rampage in central Virginia included the suspect's sister and brother-in-law, as well as two other adults, three teenagers and a 4-year-old boy, according to authorities who charged the alleged shooter with first-degree murder on Wednesday.

Christopher Bryan Speight, a 39-year-old security guard, surrendered to police at daybreak after leading investigators on an 18-hour manhunt following the slayings at a house in rural central Virginia where deputies found a mortally wounded man and seven bodies.

[...]

State police identified the Sipes, both 38, as two of the victims, along with 16-year-old Ronald Scruggs; 15-year-old Emily Quarles; 43-year-old Karen and Jonathan Quarles; 15-year-old Morgan Dobyns; and 4-year-old Joshua Sipe.

[...]

Police were alerted to the bloodbath when they found the wounded man on the side of a road. Then sheriff's deputies discovered seven more bodies — three inside the house and four just outside.

When officers converged on the area, the suspected shooter fired at a state police helicopter, rupturing its gas tank and forcing it to land.

[...]

Appomattox County court records show a concealed weapons permit was issued to a Christopher Bryan Speight three times between 1999 and last year.
The gun nuts need to be reminded that everyone is a responsible, law-abiding citizen...until they kill for the first time.

And how often do you think someone could take down a helicopter, in flight, with just their fists?

7 comments:

  1. Yeah but capper, what you are talking about here is male enhancement devices.

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  2. Yup, tell that to the guy in Vegas who just shot a home intruder and put him in his grave.
    May the thug rot in hell and the shooter, an elderly man who is also going through hell, have some comfort that he took a thug off the street permentally.

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  3. We have a 13 year old that put a slug in the back of his dad's head today. How's that?

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  4. Did the 13-yo have a CCW permit?

    Did he purchase the gun legally?

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  5. Far more lives are spared by CCW than taken by CCW holders. There's always going to be a corner case. Human nature dictates that.

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  6. In a state like Wisconsin where a man can carry a weapon on the street for any and no reason, proponents say we are safer if "law abiding citizens" are armed in our liquor stores, churches, and streets. The police here have no right to even ask the identity of a man who finds it necessary to carry a weapon while doing lawn work in a suburban community.

    Recently lawsuits in Racine and Milwaukee have been filed demanding expanding this right to carry weapons near schools without the police being able to question the motive of the carrier, because, as we all know, firearms near schools are a good thing. What could go wrong?

    The point might be this. Nobody knows if the man walking down your street and past your children is a law abiding citizen or not unless the police can at least make an identity check. If a man walks past my children with a gun, whether he appears to be a law abiding citizen or not, I may err on the side of caution and respond with three loads of buck shot at the ready, and suddenly, neither of us is safer, I assure you.

    With my own eyes I have seen police officers, friends, shot at after domestic altercations by "law abiding citizens." Now, I consider this a price of freedom. A man can and should be able to own firearms. But if he finds it necessary to carry 20 rounds of 180 grains of copper jacketed lead alloy at the ready to go get a loaf of bread, forgive me for questioning his decision making processes at the outset.

    Reasonable people can agree that using a firearm to defend one's home and family is a good and proper use of firearms. You aren't going to get too many arguments there.

    Where this becomes sticky, is how we determine who should and should not be walking around armed. In Wisconsin, the answer right now is everybody.

    So Dan, I applaud the man who "put the thug in his grave" during the home invasion.

    In Virginia eight innocent "law abiding citizens" were also put in their graves, including a 4 year old. Who do we see about that?

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  7. Daddio-

    The question is not if the 13 year old had a permit, but did the gun owner? And why did he or she not practice normal gun safety, since that person is supposed to be also "a responsible, law-abiding citizen."

    I also like the way you missed the whole post and the story within. Nothing to say about that?

    TerryN,

    Sorry, I don't believe the NRA spin.

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