BTW, i wanted to hide this rant so the mods wouldn't take it down./smile
BTW, i wanted to hide this rant so the mods wouldn't take it down./smile
I am very happy to get to see Stewart win one last time. I just didn't want to start a slug fest about it on here LOL
It's impossible to fully predict how these things are going to end up under different circumstances. But one thing is for sure, a bunch of drunken low life pond scum white trash hillbillies will probably think twice about a shoot out with someone who is carrying, knows how to handle it and willing to use it.
I'm thinking it would even have been different if there had been as many able bodied guys in Wallace's group as there was white trash hillbillies with no weapons involved. That kind of vermin is usually much more timid when the odds are even.
So when do you pull a gun out in a parking lot when confronted by drunks? What is your switch point where you know, "hey, this is going to get violent, time to pull out a gun?" Before the first punch is thrown? Ok, do you know a punch is going to get thrown at all?
You pull the gun first, you just escalated the whole thing and could be charged with threatening someone with a weapon. So then, I guess you wait until you get hit. Ok, then pull the gun out, when some guy is punching the crap out of you and you're trying to not get teeth knocked out, protect your kids, etc? How does that work? In the middle of being attacked, you're going to find your gun and brandish it without losing control of it to the thug(s) trying to beat you up?
Oh, and remember, you just escalated the confrontation from some guys being verbally abusive to deadly force on the force continuum, which skips at least two steps if not three on that continuum. You just made it a life threatening confrontation by bringing a gun to what was essentially an argument. And just by carrying a gun you turn any dispute with anyone into an armed confrontation, because you brought the gun.
You should do some "scenario" training sometime and get put into these kinds of situations and see how fast it can escalate out of control and you can get yourself killed with your own gun. Or someone else's knife. I've done it, and it's an eye opener for sure. Things happen way faster than you can imagine.
Oh and one other thing. Shooting someone doesn't necessarily stop them at all. Some people get shot in confrontations and don't even know it. So that gun isn't a guarantee of anything except making a bad situation way worse. There are very limited situations and circumstances where a gun is useful. But it isn't going to stop people in most situations, and in some cases, it's just going to make them even more aggressive.
The truest statement yet on this subject. "It's impossible to know how things will turn out" and you could stop there. Period. And those pond scum have no way of knowing who's carrying or not, and drunk they don't even think about it. You're about as likely to get yourself killed or at a minimum get ready for a lot of legal bills pulling out a gun in these situations.
Here's what my suggestion would have been to Wallace. Keep your head down, mouth shut, move away from people who are being loud and obnoxious, try to get near a larger group who aren't drunk or looking like redneck trash, keep your distance and avoid the problem. Don't talk to anyone in a parking lot anywhere, ever, for any reason. Be alert, vigilant and watch people and how they are acting and avoid the loud, rowdy, etc.
Keep your eyes open on the edges of where you are for people who are looking around for a victim. I can't tell you the amount of times I have seen people in public places scoping things out, looking for people who were not paying attention to maybe try and rob them. Just looking for people not paying attention to their surroundings, sizing up who would be a soft target. I've lived and worked in the hood or in inner city areas where people have been stabbed/shot in parking lots, etc, so I have seen a lot of the seedier side of life and the people who commit crime.
Guns aren't nearly as effective as keeping your distance, being aware of your surroundings and staying away from people who are even remotely looking like they might be trouble. That's my take. Like the Bible says "see trouble and flee." Nothing cowardly about keeping yourself and your family safe and in one piece without confrontation. To me, that's just being smart.
Well sir, I don't know about you, but if I'm outnumbered 3 to 1 by those who are younger, faster, stronger and my family's well being is in question and it is clear bodily harm is imminent to myself and my family I truly believe at that point is is incumbent upon myself to do what is most likely to protect body and soul.
If that turns out badly then that's the way it is but if I don't do what I believe will protect my loved ones and myself and something bad in fact happens to them then I might as well be dead anyway. In a case such as I speak do what needs to be done and let God and our system of jurisprudence sort it out. In a situation of which I speak I want my conscience to be clear of any and all doubt.
Of course. If I am sitting in my back yard, enjoying a nice sunny afternoon, kid playing in the pool, steaks on the grill and I hear gunshots ringing out yes, I am going to get the family inside, lock the doors, get them in the safest possible area in the house and take a position that gives me the element of surprise and a clear line of fire at the door. Then, if someone goes to the trouble of breaking down the door, which is going to take a couple minutes and a lot of effort while I yell as loudly as possible that I am armed and if anyone comes through that door they are getting shot, and these daredevil hooligan psychopathic ne'er do wells insist on entering my fine abode, then yes, I am going got shoot them.
Bu that is a little different than walking through a public parking lot after a concert and being accosted by a band of drunks obviously looking for trouble. In the one situation, a gun is probably a good choice rather than sitting idly by and letting someone break into your home and assault you. In the other, you're probably just as likely to get your own self killed and your family hurt by carrying a gun as not.
I am certainly no anti-gun person by any means. But guns aren't the most effective form of self-defense. Awareness of your surroundings and avoiding confrontations with problem people is.
I think you may be inferring that possibly Wallace may have partially instigated what happened to him and his daughter. If that is the case then that changes the dynamic a bit.
I too avoid any and all confrontations when in a public setting but if it becomes a case where no other options exist to avoid injury to a family member or myself it is appropriate, no it's contingent upon myself to prevent that in any way possible. If I meet my Maker in the process I'll go down knowing I did all I could, simple as that. I could not live with anything else.
Not at all. I don't think Mike Wallace is capable of it. I have met the guy a couple times, seriously, he is the nicest, quietest person, I wondered how in the world he even got involved in this. This was down to the drunks attacking him, I can't for a minute see him doing anything to instigate it. The story, as far as what I have read, is all he did was ask the guys how they liked the show while walking to his car and they were like "what are you asking us that for?" and laid into him.
I had a similar situation about 20 years ago. Walking back to my apartment at the time, Friday night, lot of drunk people milling about because the bars had just closed and I walked past these three guys going the other way and the next thing I know one of them has run back in front of me, turned around, got into a boxers stand and unloaded on me. I was pretty stunned like, what the heck? and then I am just trying to protect myself as the punches come pounding in. As quick as it started they ran off, leaving me standing there with blood just gushing out of my mouth.
My tonge was cut up pretty good from my teeth, nose bleed, black eye, yada yada. The police came and an ambulance took me to the ER where they stitched me up and sent me home.
The cop said I was lucky I didn't go down, because they would have probably started kicking me and that could have been even worse. He also said I was lucky there were no weapons, so I didn't get cut up or shot. Basically he said that if you are going to get jumped, best thing is for it to just be punches and stay on your feet.
No. I don't think Wallace did anything to provoke it apart from speaking to the wrong people at the wrong time. And I still think that had he had a gun, it either wouldn't have done him any good, he probably wouldn't have been able to use it, and it might have even cost him his life.