Thursday, October 16, 2008

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Legacy Media giant and famous McNewspaper, USA Today, notes an uptick in righteous self-defense shootings of goblins and, for some unknown reason, gets all hand-wring-y about it.

SayUncle has the story on the story.

13 comments:

BobG said...

I guess they would rather see more accounts of unjustifiable homicide of people who couldn't defend themselves. Whoever wrote the article should go back to delivering newspapers, rather than writing for them.

JT said...

What really sucks is the terminology that these goblin-enablers use.

"Killings" is interchanged with "homicides"; one is clinically accurate, the other is scaaaaary.

"Gun legalization movement" - as if they were completely illegal from the start and we're trying to change that. Catch the sly connection to drugs via the use of "legalization"?

And apparently, the clear text & meaning of the 2A notwithstanding, what the SCOTUS did in Heller wasn't confirming an existing right, no no no, what they did was "carve out" the right to arms, presumably from whole cloth.

So they took one thing that never existed until a government came along (restrictions on ownership of arms) and said it's always been that way and we gun-nuts are the ones changing things. Then they took another thing that's always existed (the right to self-defense via armed resistance) and said those activist judges only just now created it. Awesome.

Rio Arriba said...

These rags like sensationalism on the order of oh-woe!, and how-sad!. Most sensible people don't see too much sadness in accounts of rapists and BGs getting smoked. Doesn't fit the pattern, so the whole topic has to be MADE to fit.

staghounds said...

"The FBI says a homicide committed by a private citizen is justified when a person is slain during the commission of a felony, such as a burglary or robbery. Police are justified, the FBI says, when felons are killed while the officer is acting in the line of duty."

Which is SOOOOOOO not the law.

Anonymous said...

If we were truly "shoot first, and ask questions later", the number of goblin slayings would see a ten-fold increase.

Solid research has already demonstrated that the vast majority of defensive firearm usage does not result in shots being fired. I’ve pointed a loaded gun at another human being exactly once, and thankfully actually firing it wasn’t necessary. I know I’m not alone out there.

That said, when a pedophile breaks into a little girl’s room and her father cancels the man’s birth certificate, I get a warm feeling of satisfaction. As more states follow the lead of Texas and Florida in passing “Stand your ground” legislation, these incidents will continue to increase.

Gudis said...

"The NRA and other analysts say most laws allowing gun possession have existed for years and would not likely account for a recent spike in self-defense killings."

I don't know where to start with this one... I wonder if the author believes that he would not be able to own, say, latex paint or wheelbarrows were it not for the laws allowing them.

Somerled said...

It's a low-profile news story when an unarmed person meaning no one any harm is murdered in most metro news markets.

It's trivial--just something the reporter covering the police department picks up when reading reports or listening to the scanner.

Now, a wave of vigilante killings by crazed militia types--that's more exciting. Particularly if it takes allows some opportunity for creative writing and reporting.

alath said...

The "carve out" thing made my blood boil, too.

After all the other rights courts have invented out of thin air - and are fully embraced by the press - here is a right that is actually written into the Constitution in black and white, and suddenly this is the one and only instance of judicial activism in all of US history.

staghounds said...

Almost every sentence in this article contains slanted wording, scare quotes, or outright, objectively, factually wrong statements.

The legacy media outlets wonder why they aren't trusted. If it weren't for the Gell-Mann effect and the movie listings, the spider would weave her web at their desks and the owl sing his watch-song in their office towers.

Anonymous said...

It should be pointed out that this information comes from the FBI Uniform Crime Report, which is viewable on the internet. The recording methodology is also viewable on the internet.

The interesting part is that those "justifiable homicides" for civilians are only those cases that actually went to trial, and the defendant was acquitted because the homicide was justifiable. It does NOT take into account the homicides that were determined either by the police, the prosecutor, or a grand jury to be justified. The number is based purely on the number of criminal trials that ended with a verdict of "justifiable homicide."

The real number of bad guys killed by armed citizens is much higher.

John Hardin said...

If you want to comment on the "carve out" nonsense, feel free to write:

Rachel Smolkin
National editor/Legal Affairs
USA TODAY
rsmolkin@usatoday.com

I'm discussing the matter with her via email right now...

Anonymous said...

"I wonder if the author believes that he would not be able to own, say, latex paint or wheelbarrows were it not for the laws allowing them."

That will come, eventually. Give them time..... they are kinda busy right now, what with figuring out how much debt each person is allowed to have, and how big a house a person is allowed to live in.

Anonymous said...

They can have my latex when they pry it from my...well, nevermind.

As to how big of a house you can own, buy as much as you want. The government will stick it to your bank if you can't make the payment.