Lethal Defense

"He got what he deserved."

Wow.  I couldn't believe the woman I was interviewing this afternoon actually said that out loud and in front of a television camera.  Sure, I'm sure a lot of the folks living in the neighborhood thought it - but she said it. 

"People work hard these days for what they got, and not for somebody to come and steal it from them", said continued.

This was a mother of two who was talking about the man who was shot and killed while he was (allegedly) breaking into a storage building.  Several people said this wasn't the first time he did this in that area.

Ironically, before this happened I was assigned to talk to the pastor of a church that gave away a gun to a teenager during a recent youth conference.   On the phone the pastor told me it was a way to teach gun safety to teens and the importance of defending one's self.  It was also a way to promote patriotism and it involved a safety course guided by professionals and lawmen.

I said ironic because my ‘new' story is about a man who did just that.  He had a gun.  He defended himself. And without that gun, he may have been hit and killed by the alleged thief who was trying to run him over with a car.

I'm not crazy about guns.  They only serve one purpose:  to kill.  But, then I find myself covering stories like this where a gun actually saved an innocent life and took the one of  a man who may have voluntarily put himself in that situation.

Either way - it's a sad situation all the way around.

Rusty Surette

Rusty.surette@news9.net