Comments on: A Gun Owner Defends Himself

By: MH

MH — Tue, 01 May 2007 15:52:15 +0000

It is sad that a life was lost. However, the “kid” was committing adult crimes – felonies of the first degree with a gun spec – man4F

By: VRB

VRB — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 10:56:36 +0000

Nick,
You may do all those things and as a mother of a once 15 year old, you can count on them being stupid at times. I not assuming that would play out with a gun.

By: Nick M.

Nick M. — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 14:16:59 +0000

Sorry, the kid brandished a weapon. Why should Mr. Wells sacrifice his property, possibly his life, so that some punk can continue to be a punk. Guns, knives, and clubs are only used to instill fear of death. If that is not the message the kid intended to send, he should not have pulled a gun. One of the rules of gun handling is “Never point a gun at something you do not intend to kill or destroy.” This kid pointed a gun at Mr. Wells, he obviously intended to kill him. While this kid may not have had any formal firearms training, this rule is pretty self evident. Though, the kid may have known the rule as something like: “If I point my gun at someone, they give me what I want, because they are afraid of me killing them.” Well, everyone is not afraid to defend themselves.

As to the point about my kids. I don’t have any right now. But, I will tell you this, they will know about guns. They will know how they work, they will know how to use them. They will know the rules of gun handling. They will also know, that they will suffer the consequences of breaking the rules. They will know that one of the consequences of breaking the rules is death, of them or someone else.

Nick

By: Ted

Ted — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 06:13:16 +0000

VRB,

Let’s take a look at your proposed scenario.

Kid has knife and intends to rob. A weapon is never brandish to inspire fear of injury, but rather fear of death. As far as I am concerned, when a weapon is brandished, they intend to kill me. It was how my father trained me.

So, taking the situation against what my father taught me, let us assume that the “kid” did not want to kill, but rather to injure or merely threaten injury or death.

What options are available?

1. The kid has a knife. The owner does not have a gun. The man, being bigger, attempts to resist. Maybe he is stabbed, maybe not. Maybe he dies, maybe not. Maybe the kid is injured, a suit begins, the kid wins. Maybe the man just gives his money and is violated.

In this case, everyone wins. The man is either dead, injured, or violated, or the kid is injured and sues. /sarcasm

2. The kid has a knife, and the man has a gun. The man, only seeing a brandished weapon, and a threat to his life, shoots the kid. The kid is dead, a waste of life, but he threatened to take anothers life and property. The man has to live with the burden of a life taken, but it was not his choice to attack and steal, merely to defend.

Consider it in context of a larger scale. An attack on a country is met with defense. The attackers are killed, before any damage is done, or maybe a little or a lot is done. Few people have qualms about this. When defense turns to attack is where a lot of people begin to have a difference of opinion.

Also, as a note, when I was 15, I was damned invincible. I could take on an army with a knife. Or so I thought.

My father had taught me how to kill an attacking dog with my bare hands. He taught me to shoot. He taught me to use a knife. He taught me some hand to hand.

He also taught me to defend, not to attack.

I also know that one of my foster brothers was a Blood. When we took him in, he was proud of the fact that he was legally dead at 13. His uncle had stabbed him over 20 times when he caught Arthur in the liquor cabinet. He was proud that he had also been grazed by some bullets.

Later, he changed a lot. He dropped out of the gang life… or he had when I last saw him. He realized he had the choice.

This kid also had a choice.

As was said, paraphrased, in Indy 3.

“He chose… Poorly.”

By: Aimee

Aimee — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 05:19:59 +0000

VRB,
Seriously, what the hell was this guy supposed to do, ask him his age before he shot? Come on! The coward is the 15 year old, not the guy defending himself and his home. When you are about to be robbed, you don’t have time to worry about if they have another weapon on them. You do what you have to do to protect yourself and your property. Or wait, should he have just let him in, “here take what you want.” If this guy hadn’t stopped him, I bet he would have just ended up another street gang statistic anyway. Wells may have ended up saving several peoples lives because I would bet this wasn’t Buford’s first robbery and wouldn’t have been his last. Would you feel better if it wasn’t a 15 yr old ‘kid’ and instead a 30 year old who was shot and killed?

By: VRB

VRB — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 04:55:33 +0000

Once again people are putting words in my mouth.
A gun does make a difference in child’s hands.
But a grown man shooting a 15 year old with a knife, I think would be cowardly. He would have been able to scare the 15 year old. You think the 15 year old is mature enough when he robs with a gun, but not mature enough to stop if he’s confronted with a gun if he robbed with a knife. The gun is a far superior weapon.
I am pretty sure if your 15 year olds did something like that, they would not be as deserving as that 15 year old.

By: mike

mike — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 23:45:30 +0000

The “kid” could have just as easily used a knife, baseball bat, or his fists to threaten Mr. Wells. So no, it’s really not about him having the gun in the first place. It’s about a punk threatening a law abiding citizen; fortunately, in this case, the law abiding citizen was armed and able to defend himself.

By: Nick M.

Nick M. — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 23:40:18 +0000

Once again, people like VRB want to make this about the weapon of choice of the criminal. If the kid had pulled a knife, Mr. Wells would still have been justified in shooting the kid. This kid is not a victim of anything other than his own crimes. It’s almost like you want there to be no consequences in life. The consequence in this case was death. Gun, knife, baseball bat, it doesn’t matter, the minute the kid pulled a weapon and demanded something that wasn’t his, udner threat of bodily harm, his life was forfeit.

Nick

By: Doug Mataconis

Doug Mataconis — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 23:22:02 +0000

VRB,

This “kid” you refer to was using the gun to commit a crime.

By: VRB

VRB — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 23:12:02 +0000

Mike, I guess you do not know or live where a kid might think they need a gun for self defense.

I guess the story is about the kid getting what he deserves is more important than him having the gun in the first place. He can’t drive(in some places), smoke, drink, or join the military, but… Not y’all’s problem.

By: T F Stern

T F Stern — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 19:20:16 +0000

I’m gonna pull a Rosie O’ on Tameka Foster,

Bite Me! Yo cuzin d zurv 2 b kilt.

The liberal left media thought Rosie was awesome for the same remark made at that women’s forum meeting; must be okay to use it now.

By: Bob Weber

Bob Weber — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 18:24:43 +0000

I’m a peace-loving gun owner who opposed both Iraq Wars from the outset. I have only two things to say about this:

1. The little punk got exactly what he deserved.

2. As for his age, when you pull a gun on someone it makes you look a lot older.

By: David

David — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 05:53:03 +0000

Why do gun opponents insist upon making the criminal into the victim. Buford was the aggressor. Wells was the victim.

The fact that these gun control nuts want to claim the child is the victim outrages me. The 2nd amendment is not negotiable, and a 15 year old robbing people on their front porch deserves everything he gets.

I agree with these two statements whole-heartedly. They tried to rob him with a gun. Was he supposed to just cave in? I thought the US constitution allowed for self-defense within the bounds of the law. And gee, what do you know, he did just that.

Yeah, you’re going to get problems with guns, however in this case the problem person was the 15-year old with illegal possession of a firearm, who was attempting an illegal act with it. One less scum in Cleveland.

While I’m all for gun-control laws if they are sane, if you take away legal ownership of guns only criminals and cops will have guns. And you’ll probably find that stabbings, etc go up or something.

By: Conservative Culture » Poor Youth Killed by Carry Conceal Permit Holder

Conservative Culture » Poor Youth Killed by Carry Conceal Permit Holder — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 01:16:14 +0000

[...] like this comment. Iâ€™m sorry, but if he hadnâ€™t been out on the streets of Cleveland robbing people at gunpoint, then heâ€™d still be alive today. Mr. Wells is not getting [...]

By: Wild Pegasus

Wild Pegasus — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 01:15:13 +0000

Is it tragic that a 15 year old died ?

No, not this one. Congratulations on starting your worm farm, shithead.

- Josh