A recent story by the Philadelphia Inquirer tells us the tale of rising justifiable homicides in the city. As violent crime rises and more good people are getting carry permits, the number of violent criminals who played stupid games and won their very last prize is spiking.
As the Pirates of the Carribean ride says, “Dead men tell no tales.” But, the people who successfully defend themselves from armed attackers in an increasingly violent city aren’t dead, and the Inquirer story tells some of their tales.
One man stepped out for a smoke when a crackhead (or crackhead-like individual) rolled up on a bike with a gun, demanding cash. The good guy, however, had a gun himself and smoked more than a cigarette that day. The guy on the bike died from a bad case of sudden onset intercranial lead and copper poisoning. The outcome was found to be justified by both the police and Philly’s often disinterested prosecutor’s office.
A Dollar General employee may have lost his job, but he didn’t lose his life. An armed man in a ski mask demanded money, and the manager said, “I’m opening up the drawer for you, sir.” Instead of a drawer of greenbacks, the would-be robber got a ballistic response Again, the prosecutor’s office agreed, determining it to be a justified homicide.
The manager had decided to start carrying a gun after a drug addict threatened to stab him with a needle and, in a separate incident, he was grazed by stray gunfire from gang bangers conducting a friendly neighborhood gunfight. “It’s unfortunate that it happened, but victims are tired of being victims,” he told the Inquirer. “People are actually standing up for themselves and are making robbers think twice about taking hard-earned money from everybody else.”
But, the Inquirer couldn’t manage to tell a straightforward story about armed citizens defending themselves. Instead, they were sure to “both sides” it, interviewing anti-gun activists and looking for bogus statistics about the rise of completely justified shootings. And it wouldn’t be a story about guns without the obligatory “Wild West” reference:
Jamal Johnson, an antiviolence activist who since 2017 has marched to Washington to lobby for stronger gun-control laws, said flatly he sees little good in the boom. “Whether they have permits or not, everyone is quick with the gun now,” he said, noting that two men with gun permits touched off the June 4 South Street mass shooting that left three dead and 11 injured.
“Guns are becoming too prevalent, whether they’re in the hands of licensed or unlicensed people,” Johnson said. “We’re becoming the Wild, Wild West, and soon everyone is going to have a gun, killing people ― justified or not.”
This is all very concerning to those whose job it is to see that as many Americans as possible don’t have armed self-defense as an option.
The trend worries some analysts and gun-control advocates, who say civilians who buy guns for protection may be putting themselves and others at more risk, not less. They cite studies showing that legally purchased guns are more likely to be fired in accidental shootings, during domestic disputes, and in suicides than in self-defense.
And, of course, the Inquirer was sure to include studies that people like John R. Lott, Jr. have thoroughly debunked:
Numerous studies have found that guns legally purchased are used far less for self defense and are more likely to be used in unintentional and criminal shootings and in suicides. In 2019, there were nearly two and a half times as many suicides (47,511) as there were criminal homicides (19,141), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 2015, David Hemenway, director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, and Sara Solnick, an economist at the University of Vermont, analyzed national government surveys involving more than 14,000 people and found that people were more likely to be injured after threatening attackers with guns than they were if they had called the police or ran away.
In a landmark study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1993, researchers found that having a gun in the home was linked with nearly three times higher odds that someone would be killed at home by a family member or intimate acquaintance.
What should be an empowering article about the constitutional rights of the poor and minorities giving them a fighting chance against the scum of the earth who prey on them instead becomes an opportunity to give voice to the very people who would rather see these Philadelphians be victims instead of victors.
Somehow those who advocate for more gun control laws are quick to quote that 45,000 people were killed with guns last year (about 55% of which were suicides) but they never acknowledge the hundreds of thousands of assaults, robberies, rapes, and murders that are prevented every year because of civilian gun ownership.
While politicians, the corporate office honchos at Family Dollar, and rich people in gated communities can afford armed guards, the people in this story can’t. Which is why more of them are taking steps to protect themselves.
The poor often have to wear many hats to stay afloat. They fix their own cars to be able to afford a car at all. They fix their own homes as needed, playing the role of handyman. One guy was working as his mom’s caretaker (a tough job if ever there was one).
Wealthy people see no problem with such DIY ingenuity…until people start to take charge of their own security in a city that’s experiencing rising violent crime. That’s a bridge too far for elites who claim to have the best interests of the poor and middle class at heart.
This “Just dial 911,” let-them-eat-cake attitude is what drives the gun control industry. It’s terribly inconvenient for the Civilian Disarmament Industrial Complex that empowered, hard-working people aren’t at all happy about living in a “you’ll own nothing and be happy about it” system. As a result, the poor and middle class must be disempowered wherever possible.
As an influential man once said, “Under no pretext should arms and ammunition be surrendered; any attempt to disarm the workers must be frustrated, by force if necessary.” Surely that’s a sentiment someone like DA Larry Krasner can get behind.
It is real simple. If the .gov can’t provide a safe and stable environment it is up to the people to see to it.
Every person regardless of race, gender or religion has a right to peacefully live their life and when that life is threatened they have the right to defend against the threat.
It’s amazing how many people can’t see such a simple truth.
You’d be amazed at how many Southern Californians are seeking to do just that – peacefully live their lives, and defend themselves against threats…
…with or without a mythical “mother may I” permission slip from TPTB.
I saw a mildly concerning thing on the ‘scotusblog’ website earlier, just an un-substantiated rumor :
(Roughly 9 AM)
“I heard random rumors on Reddit that there was vote switching happening regarding NYSRPA let’s hope it’s just rumors.”
https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/06/announcement-of-orders-and-opinions-for-tuesday-june-21/
Reddit being Reddit and all, I really don’t need that kind of stress… 🙁
Maybe there has been vote changes. Maybe the left has decided to get Right with the constitution.
9-0 for nationwide constitutional carry. One can dream, can’t one?
I was in CA for a year. I carried the whole time. Not asking for permission, I’ll ask for it after the fact. That’s said, I did apply and it took 9 months for approval. 9 months! By then, I didn’t even give a shit. I had to use universal language one time when I was there because I heard someone trying to open my metal screen door. Police showed an hour later which I was honestly surprised by, and said they had passed someone on the way over fitting the description, which I was also shocked by because I figured that person just retreated to their tent shelter under one of the many close by “hidden” in the brush to the side of the road. Just a shit show all around. And this was 2015/16 when the whole modern style protest thing became so casual. I got trapped on a street after driving 6 blocks away from where they were all day when coming home from school, and that was the only other way home because the idiot police closed off the highway instead of keeping these idiots out of the way. Anyways… Not surprised at all that people “stuck” in these places are not asking for permission any more. The problem is tho, that most of them lack the discipline to know when to use and when not to, and then their state fucks those that pay for permits even more because of it.
I’m just glad to be out of that shit state. Went to bury my father and got buried in his debt in the process trying to sell off assets. So for a year I was subject to it all. Beautiful state ruined by idiots.
I agree. When I was discharged from the USMC I chose to live in Kally. At that time it was truly the golden state with the best university system in the world, the best highway system in the world, a balanced, part-time legislature. Plenty of jobs that paid well. We had aero-space, construction, lots of reasonably priced homes, good hunting and fishing supported by active state programs, the death penalty for the likes of Caryl Chessman and Ma Duncan, vicious murderers who were a threat to society and a court system that was interested in justice as opposed to discussing how many angels could dance on the head of a pin. We had a bracero system that allowed farm workers to easily go back and forth across the border that supplied labor for jobs that no U.S. citizen wanted to do. It was the best of both worlds for farm workers then. We had a great mental health system that kept insane people off the streets and provided at least custodial care for folks who had mental problems. Of course, as with anything human system there were problems in all those endeavors but instead of trying to cure the problems, the systems got thrown out or changed so drastically that they became a parody of what they were supposed to do.
So now the folks that screwed up Kally are moving to states that are not yet screwed up to spread their ill-conceived theories in states that still retain a semblance of what the U.S. is about.
Or they refuse to see. When you finally realize everything you believed in turns out to be a lie it’s probably pretty rough.
The cake is a lie.
No government can ever provide a SAFE and REQUIRE environment without the help involvement and consent of the people. LEGAL gun ownership continues to climb and nobody is sure as to the number held illegally most of whch had LEGAL beginnings or have been supplied by legally licensed ROGUE TRADERS or have been stolen or otherwise obtaind from legally owned stock. There is I believe up to a 100% markup for legally obtained semi-autos and handguns obtained legally in the first place. There are if the above comment is to be believed 55,000 deaths buy firearm per year in the USA. 45% of that is still around 20,000 which is over ten times the annual average death rate in the entire US Armed Forces during the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq [who lost around 6000 I believe in 12 years] Surely this must be a concern for everybody including the those that seem against any kind of gun control.
I can find NO CLEAR statistics of how many ‘potential’ shooting incidents have been foiled by ARMED CITIZENS and the only quasi- statistics available are mostly ANECDOTAL not solid evidence.
What statistics are available regarding the use of firearms for self defence point most emphatically to the fact that the possession and attempted us of a firearm for self defence is far more likely to get you l killed that it is to save your life!!
The bad guy or gal with a gun-in-hand will ALWAYS have the advantage and by even attempting to draw down on them you will turn an incident where YOUR DEATH was not the priority, if it was you would already be making a one way trip to the morgue, into a near certainty.
Give it a rest herr dacian. Nobody believes your bs.
Who are these ROGUE DEALERS? Even F-troop can’t even provide a number for them, much less which dealers they were.
It is guaranteed F-troop, who are hardly shy about self-promotion, would be announcing such a bust for all to see.
Any dealer knows they can lose their FFL for such minor things such a 2 that looks like Z or a S that could be a 5. Any off books sales will result in their business being closed and the licensee spending a long holiday in Club Fed.
Prince among kings Albert, or Dacian having another medical induced alternate personality, you are REALLY full of $h!t.
Albert L J Hall,
“I can find NO CLEAR statistics of how many ‘potential’ shooting incidents have been foiled by ARMED CITIZENS …”
Absence of evidence is NOT evidence of absence.
Regardless, I am virtually certain that rock-solid evidence would not matter to you and your ilk anyway since emotion drives you to your position on any given matter.
I will close with a simple question: if arsonists used pillows to start more than 100,000 deadly fires every year, would you argue vehemently to outlaw civilian possession of pillows?
Hall,
“The bad guy or gal with a gun-in-hand will ALWAYS have the advantage and by even attempting to draw down on them you will turn an incident where YOUR DEATH was not the priority”
Funny- didn’t you read the part where the smoker shot the guy on the bike? Somehow he was able to draw- probably because the criminal was waiting for a wallet to be taken out.
Criminals don’t jump out of spider holes pointing a gun at you- they eyeball you, walk up to you. If you are paying attention, you can see it coming.
I would walk my dog in Philly with a gun in my coat pocket, if someone looked suspicious, I would put my hand in my pocket. I was ready.
As evidenced by thousands of years of recorded human history, bad people will prey on good people. Evil cannot be eliminated. Utopia will never be attained. I consider myself one of the “good people” because I studiously avoid harming other people. Maybe you have a point. Maybe wielding a defensive weapon against a bad person puts me more at risk, but I would much rather have a potent defensive tool to bear than rely on any residual trace of mercy or fairness in my tormentor
Dont you live in cu ck England? Get out of our business you wan ker.
I’m keeping my gunms until I die.
I dont care what the Supreme court says.
( yah know, I dont like that supreme in the supreme court.
To me Supreme means I’m above all things, both good and bad, untouchable, answering to no one, or nothing.
9 robes should not have the power to change the Constitution of The United States of America.
This hashing about the militia, right to be armed, restrictions on firearmns, common use,blah , blah, blah. Lawyer talk to make it different.
It says, Shall Not Be Infringed .
possum,
And you just touched upon the true core problem in our nation: our society no longer agrees on our Supreme Authority.
For some people, our Supreme Authority is whatever their emotions beckon them to do.
For some people, loud public sentiment is our Supreme Authority.
For some people, government is our Supreme Authority no matter what government declares or does.
Finally, for some people, God Almighty is our Supreme Authority.
In case it isn’t completely obvious, permissible versus forbidden activities often do not align between the various Supreme Authorities.
Out resident trolls will post that this never happens in 3. 2. 1.
Funny you never hear that on the network evening new, eh!?
They’ll report that someone was shot, but they’ll be all fuzzy about the details. For example “A man was shot during a liquor store robbery overnight in the city’s Kensington section” They won’t tell you if he was the perp or the cashier or just someone replenishing their supply of Moet and MD.
Was just in Philly for father’s day. I never though it was that great but it’s going downhill far and fast.
“Guns are becoming too prevalent, whether they’re in the hands of licensed or unlicensed people,” Johnson said. “We’re becoming the Wild, Wild West, and soon everyone is going to have a gun, killing people ― justified or not.”
I get his emotional response, but it is just emotional and not rational.
These few zip codes in the US are not like the “Wild, Wild West” . It is more violent and less civil than what the West was. Of course he is not well educated and gets his historical perspective from movies TV shows.
Mr Jamal, if you want to end justified uses of firearms, end the culture that make decisions that get people shot. If you don’t use unjustified force there won’t be justified force in reply. Do understand this simple concept?
It is settled science; people who possess firearms are more likely to misuse a firearm, than people who do not possess a firearm.
The sun is hot; water is wet. Video at 11pm.
He does not care if the ordinary citizen can defend themselves, he has security guarding him. That is the way all the democrats think.
“We’re becoming the Wild, Wild West”
In 1880, Dodge City had one homicide. The wild, wild west was peaceful compared to Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Death.
According to Dodge City’s own records, in 1876 there were only 1200 residents, so even if we increase that to at least 2000 for 1880, one homicide for that population is about a dozen times deadlier than modern day Los Angeles County. The reported murder rate for LAC is (averaged across the entire County) about 1 in 25,000 residents.
https://crimegrade.org/murder-los-angeles-county-ca/
And triple modern day Philadelphia. The PPD reported 258 homicides for 2021, out of just over 1.6 million residents, or 1 in 6200.
https://www.phillypolice.com/crime-maps-stats/
Did you ever notice it is in all the democrat run city’s.
“Did you ever notice it is in all the democrat run city’s.”
All the problems in Democrat owned cities exist because of the mass migration of Republicans into Democrat owned cities. Republican owned states have looser laws regarding the right of people to move from one state to another.
Not true, we moved away from PA. two years ago to Tennessee and everyone is flocking here to get away from democrat ratholes. Should have moved here years ago.
“Not true”
Of course not.
………. brutal, needed a few moments to appreciate that one.
“………. brutal, needed a few moments to appreciate that one.”
Happy to be here, grateful for the opportunity, proud to serve.
(Cliche’ Is Us; glad you enjoyed it)
One man’s cliche another segment of the populations joke at 50,000 feet and climbing.
“citizens who buy guns for protection are putting themselves and others at more risk, not less.” That’s like saying having life vests on a boat puts everyone at more risk of drowning.
16th century pirates considered knowing how to swim to be bad luck, as a form of “tempting the sea”.
Of course, the chance of rescue after being swept overboard in rough water was so slim, it was probably considered a mercy to drown as quickly as possible.
The best thing you can do with the left is to tune them out. There really is no sense in talking or debating with them. Your best response really is,”It makes no sense to engage you in an intellectual discourse because you really don’t care what I have to say if it differs from your own point of view, so I am not the least bit interested in what you have to say.”
Exactly. The Left is a cult. You can’t deprogram cult members in the comments section. You can, however, provoke them into a stalking campaign if you try.
dprato,
Regarding any attempt to engage in an intellectual discourse with the Far Left: the Bible refers to that as, “casting pearls before swine.” In other words it is wasted effort as you stated.
Having said that, I do caution everyone against ignoring the Far Left. There is a very poignant saying, “You may not be interested in politics, but politics is interested in you.” We ignore politics at our own peril because unscrupulous people in business and government abound who want to exploit and abuse you. The real trick is determining how to effectively push-back on the unscrupulous people who seek to use and abuse you.
I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that the only effective way to push back is to first attempt to cajole and then, if that fails, declare that continued efforts to use and abuse me will go badly for the aggressor. Note that such a strategy avoids futile attempts at intellectual discourse for the very reasons that you stated.
the last elected republican mayor of philadelphia
left office
in 1948
How many of those 45,000 killed with guns were perps meeting their justified end?
What most people discount is the Human survival instinct. Even those who would rob, rape, or kill have an ingrained desire to survive. When the average thug knows he has a very high risk of being injured or killed, he or she or it, will likely find some other victim or another method of making their living. End result being the popularity of the “Thug Life” diminishes.
Something else being ignored is the simple fact that while crimes and violence are part of the human condition, only a small percentage of the population are committing the majority of the crimes. Go into any community and ask the street police officers about the crime in their jurisdiction. They will tell you they deal with the same 10% of the local population 90% of the time.
DA Larry Kasner doesn’t look happy about citizens defending themselves.
Of course he doesn’t.
The “wild west” disarmed people on a regular basis. So regardless, there will still be force being justified or not. There has never been a good reason to disarm people. It’s always been in the hopes that it deters crime. It’s never prevented it though. So saying that we can fix it by changing culture is really just another hopeful venture that doesn’t involve disarming people. It won’t work either. There will always be those wanting control, and those wanting it through force. I don’t really know where I am going with this and I’d like to agree with you, I just don’t see the hope and optimism of it because it’s never really existed. Societies regardless of civil or uncivil, are always violent one way or another. Through fear or force, or both.
Disarming people in the name of deterring crime is no more effective than taking a drunk’s driver’s license thinking he, she, it will not drive!
Whilst I can undestand that n many noputbvthere believe that the possession of a firearm will provide a means of self defence the STATISTICS tell us other wise. First of the the possession of a handgun withing a hoiusehold increases the risk of SUICIDE by a considerable factor. Then the aspect of self defence is not so clear cut as the PRO-GUN lobby would have us believe. The LAW states that any response to threat must be ‘proportionate’ and it is NOT lawful just to shoot somebody who rattles you door or is wearing a cOVID face mask.
The point is that by attempting to use a firearm in SELF DEFENCE you are likely to turn a incident where YOUR death was not a first priority into one that results into a rapid visit to the local morgue. No matter how you try you cannot ague with verifiable statistics .
This is especially true of STREET SELF DEFENCE. It is unlikely in the extreme that you can draw down on the bad guy or gal who has you at gunpoint and it is even MORE certain that you will turn a situation where YOUR death is not the first priority, if your death WAS the first priority you would already be booking you place at the morgue, into one where it certainly is.
Another, I think, valid point. There have been around 30 mass shootings in the USA in the first six months of 2022. It stands to reason considering just how many Americans are now ‘ carrying’ that in most of these incidences there were at least one or more armed persons within shooting distance. So what the flock were these make-believe Rambo’s doing exactly??.
They like all citizens INCLUDING THE POLICE have the power of CITIZENS ARREST using a propoprtionate response to protect themselves or others. So why did they not?? And if not what is the point of carrying in the first place?? Just a thought.
In the UK it is against the law NOT to come to the aid of a POLICE OFFICER if requested – all they have to do is shout HELP
Word for word the same retarded shite that herr dacian spouts.
Suicidal people will find a way if they really mean it, and whatever the increase in chances of committing suicide, the odds are still very, very low – betting odds, as they say. When the odds of suicide for those with guns gets up to the vicinity of one in a hundred, then maybe it’s time to talk about it. In the meantime I’m much more concerned about the significantly better odds of being killed in a car crash. You can’t argue with verifiable statistics.
No one here needs you to explain the lawful rules of engagement to them, particularly when you’re arguing with strawman scenarios of “rattling your door” and “wearing a Wuhan flu mask”.
30 mass shootings so far this year? Sure… name them all without looking them up. Gets a little hard after you get past the handful of double digits fatalities incidents which the press makes a stink about, doesn’t it? When you have to recite the majority, the inner city gang shootouts where enough people are shot to qualify as a “mass shooting” (usually with one or zero deaths)? Almost like a much lower casualties standard was chosen to inflate the number of “mass shootings” despite the newsworthy standard being much more stringent.
The incidents making up the newsworthy, real standard for “mass shootings” occur mostly in gun free zones, which law abiding citizens respect no matter how absurd it is that a packing parent can’t pick up a kid from school so armed. So now you’re arguing that armed citizens in no immediate danger themselves should be taking long distance shots into school zones against a perceived school shooter? Wow son, talk about “Rambo” attitudes. Maybe you should stick with what you know, which isn’t much – particularly about American gun owners and our culture.
I’m not the least interested in the maudlin ramblings of pointy headed liberal know it all types who reside in gated communities behind armed security. When and if they choose to depart the hallowed halls of academia, entering the real world, my opinions might change. When and if that much to be desired change actually takes place, I will listen to what they have to say. I might still disagree, but I will listen. Till then, I remain unimpressed.
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