Yesterday I wrote a column about the Supreme Court’s decision to rule on whether New York’s Sullivan Law did or did not abridge Constitutional protections covering the civilian ownership of guns. In particular, the Sullivan Law vests very wide discretionary authority with the police to determine whether a law-abiding citizen can walk around with a concealed gun. And such arbitrary decision-making authority could deprive someone of their Constitutional
I received a number of comments from readers who felt that I was showing a lack of concern for the degree to which concealed-carry (CCW) is a factor in the high rate of gun violence from which this country, and this country alone, suffers year after year. So, the purpose of today’s rant is to explain where I stand on the issue of armed, self-defense.
First and most important, the term ‘self-defense’ is about as meaningless as the description of any type of behavior that could ever be put into words. If nothing else, it presumes that the individual who committed an act of self-defense was really defending himself against someone else.
But to one person, an act of self-defense could be an act of self-offense to someone else, and who’s to say which is which? We do know, thanks to the research of Marvin Wolfgang and others going back more than fifty years, that in at least half of all homicides, it was behavior precipitated by the victim which led to the fatal event. Which makes it rather difficult to create a neat division of behavior between the individual who attacked someone else rather than the individual who reacted to an attack or the threat of an attack.
In the ‘olden’ days, before the gun industry started promoting armed, self-defense as a type of behavior that was both legally and socially as virtuous as being next to God, it was usually assumed that someone walking around with a gun was up to no good. Guns weren’t considered to be things that law-abiding people needed to use or own unless they happened to live somewhere out on the frontier. But since, according to the Census, the frontier disappeared in 1890, the appearance and use of guns for anything other than hunting was simply not what self-defense and protection from the ‘bad guys’ was all about.
Then along came Clint Eastwood who released a movie – Dirty Harry – in 1971, which took the whole gunslinging genre from the Wild West and re-set it as a social and cultural theme in city streets. And what Eastwood created was the idea that if you really want to be a ‘good guy,’ you have to walk around with a gun. And you have to use that gun against the bad guys as often as you can.
We are the only country in the entire world which not only allows its residents to own guns whose design, function and sole purpose is to end human life, but we make a positive cultural motif out of the idea that a so-called ‘legal’ gun owner should first and foremost always use his gun to set things right?
Why do we even bother doing research on the reasons for more than 125,000 fatal and non-fatal gun injuries every year when gun companies from all over the world being their products to sell in this country because these same products can’t be old in the places where they are made? We introduce several million man (and woman)-killing products into this country ever year and then you’re surprised when people get shot?
And by the way, don’t give m any of that nonsense about how all we have to do is make sure that criminals and people who don’t obey the law can’t get their hands on guns. You think the guy coming towards you waving a Glock as you pull some cash out of the money machine won’t tell the cops that he was acting in self-defense? Of course, he will, and maybe he’ll even get off. We have the lawyers defending Kyle Rittenhouse for that one, to be sure.
Next year, the Supreme Court will hand down a decision on whether we can exercise armed self-defense outside if our homes. If the Court says ‘yes,’ the gun industry will deliver some new, self-defense gun models which I’m sure are already being designed. If the Court says ‘no,’ we’ll see some more public health research on laws that could be enacted to bring gun-violence rates down.
Do I sound just a little tired of listening to the same old, same old for the last thirty years?
Nov 05, 2021 @ 20:32:26
No, doesn’t sound a little tired of listening to the same old…more like projection for the last thirty years.
And for Kyle Rittenhouse maybe it’s more like Mayberry RFD.
Kyle Rittenhouse was 17-years old when he shot and killed two people and wounding a third during multiple confrontations on August 25, 2020 in Kenosha, WI.
The Mayor of Kenosha, WI was 66-years old at the time when the “mostly peaceful” demonstrators were burning, looting, and destroying his town. (Kenosha is a town of a population of around 100,000)
Sometimes it’s nice to know who all the players are…
Mayor Antaramian (D) was mayor for 16 years and was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly. In 2016 he again was voted Mayor of Kenosha, and again in 2020 for his sixth term until 2024. After this term, he will have been mayor for 24 years. Think one would know a little about being a leader after all this time.
Mayor Antaramian is the chief executive of the city, including the police department and there has been much criticism of him from Kenosha citizens saying; “We didn’t hear from him, He didn’t lead, and jokes like he was hiding in his basement.” But one thing is for sure he hasn’t answered any questions from his constituents on where he was during the “mostly peaceful” demonstrations. It is well known that he wants Kyle Rittenhouse convicted. He wants Kyle to take the blame to distract from his failures.
The Mayor has a lot of powerful family members in Kenosha.
The lead detective in Rittenhouse case is Benjamin Antaramian, his nephew
The mayor’s cousin is the Kenosha City Attorney, Ed Antaramian (D)
His nephew is the Kenosha City Judge Michael Easton (D)
His other nephew is Thaddeus McGuire (D), State Representative
His other cousin is Laura Belsky (D) County Board Supervisor
(Sounds a little like Mayberry of The Andy Griffith Show)
BLM sympathizer and Kenosha DA, Mike Graveley, is reported to love the limelight and always prosecutes the high-profile cases. Not this one….why? Could it be that the DA knows the state cannot win?
Kyle Rittenhouse came to Kenosha from Antioch, Ill (a town 21 miles from Kenosha) as a 17-year-old kid of his own accord on August 25, 2020 to volunteer to remove graffiti and while there was asked by one of the owners of a used car dealership if he would help in protecting his business.
Who is this owner? How old is he? Does he share some blame when asking a 17-year-old kid to help protect his business. Wouldn’t Rittenhouse now be an employee or at least an agent working on the behalf of the owner? — Don’t know.
Where was the 66-year-old Mayor and how/why did he hide and allow his city to burn?
Yes, Rittenhouse may have done something stupid, but how many 17-year-old kids do stupid things?
The mayor was 66 years old, and I believe he also did a stupid thing…allowed his city to burn and now maybe some powerful people in the community is protecting him.
I’m not advocating for or against Kyle Rittenhouse but these are just some of my thoughts as I watch his trial.
P.S. The investigators seem to have been very thirsty to connect Kyle Rittenhouse to the “Kenosha Guard.” They desperately wanted to connect the “Kenosha Guard” Facebook page to Rittenhouse. They could not. Even Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook twice told the public that there is no connection, once on a Facebook Q and A and again in front of the U.S. Senate. This is a common myth that Rittenhouse is connected to the Kenosha Guard and has been repeated by the media and naive folks. THERE IS NO EVIDENCE OF IT!!!
So some may ask what connection does Rittenhouse have with Kenosha…simple, that’s where his father lives.
Nov 05, 2021 @ 22:13:37
Rittenhouse is being scapegoated for sure. From what I read in the NY Times, there should be reasonable doubt.He was an immature, useful idiot but there is more than enough blame to go around. No way he should face a first degree murder charge.
As far as Dirty Harry, yep, those movies were made when crime was high and someone wanted a mythology about how a good guy with a Mod 27 could solve all the problems that a complicated, corrupt, and inept bureaucracy failed at solving. Heck, Magnum Force was a better example. I almost bought a S&W 44 Mag just because of those movies. But a man has got to know his limitations, right?
So it goes.
Nov 06, 2021 @ 11:59:41
There are seven criminal charges against Kyle Rittenhouse, one being “FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH AN EMERGENCY ORDER FROM STATE OR LOCAL GOVERNMENT.”
Kenosha officials imposed an 8 p.m. curfew the night of the shooting. Rittenhouse was still on the streets as midnight approached. The offense is punishable by up to $200 in forfeiture.
As Mike sometimes says…Give me a break.