04 July 2016

A father reflects...

...on Orlando...
After seeing the Paris massacre last year, I thought, this couldn't happen in America, because surely, somebody in a large crowd like that would be armed. Wrong. History has repeated itself right here in the USA and my son and 51 others were slaughtered like helpless cattle.
2nd amendment
Like his mother, Christopher was very idealistic about the human race, and he did not want to see the evil in the world or even to believe it existed. He used to laugh and joke and tell me I was paranoid to carry a gun off duty, when I was a Detroit cop.
Unfortunately, the reality is, the only thing that can stop a bad man with a gun, is a good man with a gun...
When the shooting started Saturday night, I'll bet there wasn't a person in the club who wouldn't have traded everything he owned in the world for a loaded gun.
But, hey... that's just wishful thinking... I mean, how often could that happen in the real... wait a minute...
Deputies said 32-year-old Jody Ray Thompson pulled out a gun after getting into an argument with another man and fired several rounds toward a crowd that had gathered out in front of the club. "His rounds struck three victims, and almost struck a fourth victim, who in self-defense, pulled his own weapon and fired, striking Thompson in the leg."

Lt. Kevin Bobo said the man who shot Thompson has a valid concealed weapons permit, cooperated with investigators, and won’t be facing any charges.
It happens more often than you think.

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FROM THE COMMENTS: Here's your next byline...
Somalian Dahir Ibrahim successfully challenged a deportation order and was told he was allowed to stay in Britain after his release from a 10-year jail sentence for rape. However, the 31-year-old, who was originally convicted in 2005, went on to sexually assault and beat two more young women as they walked through Birmingham city centre.

His lawyer argued that Ibrahim did not know that his behaviour was "unacceptable."
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LAST WORD: The Pink Pistols say "Never Again"
Austin is one of two gay men I know who believe they were saved from death, or at least a long hospital stay, by guns.

Today almost half of all Americans (and 60 percent of gun owners) live in states that license concealed weapons; abuse of lawfully carried guns turns out to be vanishingly rare.

Remember, to get a permit you typically need to register with the police, pay a fee, pass a gun-safety test, have no criminal record, not be crazy and so on.

In aggregate, people with concealed-gun permits handle their weapons more safely than off-duty cops.