You know the old Irving Kristol saw: a (neo)conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged by reality. Another truism: there’s no zealot like a convert. But does the same thing translate to gun rights? Is a pro-2A supporter a gun grabber who’s been (literally) mugged? Unfortunately for Jon Fogg, we may have a perfect case study to see if Kristol’s theory holds true where armed self defense is concerned. Fogg, an editor at the Baltimore Sun, was coming home late from work on January 14 when he was allegedly met on the street by Mustafa Eraibi, who demanded his cash . . .
From Fogg’s web site:
As I was walking to my apartment from my car, I was attacked. Although I handed over my wallet, car keys and laptop, the assailant hit me in the head with a landscaping brick multiple times before fleeing in my car.
Fogg suffered multiple skull fractures, cuts, several broken teeth and some broken fingers in the attack. Eraibi was apprehended late last week when he used Fogg’s credit cards and was caught on camera.
It may not surprise you to hear that this wasn’t Eraibi’s first brush with the law.
From wbaltv.com:
Eraibi was charged with robbery and assault in at least two previous cases but he was not prosecuted. When 11 News asked about this, the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office did not provide an explanation.
Of course they didn’t.
We don’t know Fogg’s stance on armed self defense. He’s a relatively anonymous sports editor, not a member of The Sun’s editorial board. But given the voting patterns of members of the mainstream media – particularly those at a big city, anti-gun, dead tree daily – it doesn’t seem like much of a stretch to assume he sympathizes with his paper’s pro-gun control stance. Or he did.
Would almost being beaten to death on the street change that? Could someone who thought that civilian disarmament was a common sense solution to the problem of urban crime have his mind changed by a brick? It appears that Mr. Fogg will make a full recovery and happier about that we could not be. But we’d love to know how his views on armed self defense may have evolved in the aftermath of his victimization. If, in fact, they have.
[h/t Dirk Diggler]
He’ll be fired for sure if he’s writes an opinion piece proclaiming a pro-gun stance.
Not necessarily. Stephen Hunter wrote for the Sun for many years.
Then maybe he will advocate for landscaping brick control e.g.
All landscaping bricks must be permanently concreted to the ground.
Anyone landscaping with with bricks should first pass a background check.
Landscaping bricks that can be wielded one handed require a $200 tax stamp.
California and New York can not have more that ten bricks in one yard.
Garden Gnomes, if hollow are allowed.
But, but, but…I thought if we paid the barbarians the Danegeld through numerous social programs they would leave us unharmed?
Mmm, this dude might change his mind. Reality has its way of doing that. Don’t know that he’d ever publicly say so given his career.
Maybe he will move out of that hell hole and leave it to the unruly denizens of the night.
He’d have to move if he wanted to start tooling up. I doubt even getting your skull smashed would sway the authorities to seeing that you had reasonable need. After all this was just random. Like lightning striking! Probably will never happen again n that city. A total aberration. The authorities got your back!
Yee-haw!!!!!!
Maybe the idea that Eraibi’s associates or kin might look him or his loved ones up to finish the job or otherwise silence Frogg will be inspiration enough for him to consider arming up, you know, just in case lightning really CAN strike him twice.
Why would they bother? He’s done it twice before and wasn’t prosecuted…Or did he just “persuade” his victims not to testify, and the DA hasn’t figured that out yet? Inquiring minds want to know…
+1000 for “Danegeld” reference. Quite apt.
“Although I handed over my wallet, car keys and laptop, the assailant hit me in the head with a landscaping brick multiple times before fleeing in my car.”
“Although”? Ha, this guy actually thinks giving up all his stuff would protect him from a violent criminal. Well, he just got a lesson in the dark side of human nature.
Isn’t that what a lot of people are taught / what a lot of folks who give advice say … that you should obey the bad guy’s commands? (as if that’s going to automatically prevent them from attacking you after you comply …?)
That seems to be the advice from most big city police departments and mayors.
I don’t think it’s totally shitty advice, sorta, if we lived in a time where they just took the loot and ran off, if there ever was such a time.
But even in small city vile where I live, you often read news stories where the summary is “despite giving his attacker his valuables, the victim was shot anyway. Despite this, Police remind citizens that they should not struggle with an attacker and should immediately give up their possessions.”
We got your back they say!
I mean, if I could be guaranteed that if I gave up my cell, or some small amount of cash and everyone walks away, sure I’d do that for a variety of reasons. But no one can guarantee that, and thugs seem to want to bash people to bits as part of the thrill.
You’re placing your life in the hands of someone who is likely drug addicted, criminally raised and trained, likely below average IQ and not much more than a middle school education, functionally illiterate and thinks your shiny things are worth maiming or killing you over.
Shit sandwich. Take a bite.
It is tactically flawed to decide that your attacker is stupid or otherwise disabled. It will often as not leave you under estimating him. If you treat him like he is a master tactician with an Ivy League education as well as a golden gloves champ and world class marksman you will atleast have the opportunity to re evaluate later.
SUB-human nature.
FIFY.
the 9-11 passengers thought that if they complied, the hijackers would let them go. At least until the folks on the last plane figured it out.
wake up, Maryland.
I am sure our young editor is requesting a pay increase so he can move from the (probably) gentrified area he occupied into the ‘burbs. Once he starts to enjoy lower crime and car insurance, better grocery store options and roads, and generally enjoy BBQ’ing on the weekends, he will become conservative and wonder why he is paying high taxes to support his attacker. give him time
Wait till he tries to carry a non lethal form of defense, like a stun gun. Nope, sorry, not even that is allowed. He’ll start to ask, hey, what am I allowed to use to defend myself. The person who robbed him will be out in under a year, my guess. That will be strike three. In six years, he’ll be calling it a hellhole. It’s a process. We all go through it.
I’m betting his attacker is out on bail right now, and will ultimately get 90 days (minus time served) or “boot camp.”
I would support “boot camp” as a rehabilitation tool only if it ended with handing the graduates a radio and a canteen and dropping them in the sandbox….
But.. But.. Why would he leave such a great city with so many things to do??? There are probably so many shows he can go see, or.. or.. plays to go watch, or concerts to attend! What can possibly be better than that?!?! Who cares i you lose thousands of dollars every year in higher cost of living and taxes, and occasionally much more than that due to violent criminal behavior and the following medical bills, its TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!
I also wonder how many little Mustafas that the big Mustafa has running around? Which good Mr. Fogg’s taxes likely go to raise into the next generation of street predators. All odds leaning towards, since the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
There’s a certain, I don’t even know how to say it, but a certain morbid appreciation for the sick genius of a social system setup to extract riches under force of law (and I do mean force – try telling the tax man to go take a leap – and see who visits you next) from the productive in order to suckle the next generation of those who will rob, rape and kill them.
‘Merica man!
This is why the statists resist prosecuting the street criminals; the big thieves(government) are protecting the little thieves from harm;family protects family after all.
The little thieves help justify the presence of the big thieves. They are the first part of the con; the guy you don’t realize was in on it until later. In fact they don’t even realize it.
A NeoCon is a liberal who loves war.
I am a conservative as can be and I hate war more than you can imagine. That said somethings just have to be fought for. Freedom is very high on that list.
True dat. A true warrior hates war, and views it as the penultimate last resort.
If war is the penultimate last resort, pray tell what IS the last resort?
And while war is generally a bad thing, any war is good or bad based on the reasons for engaging in it, not just because it is a war.
To call ALL war equally terrible would be the equivalent of saying all guns are bad and not giving any consideration as to the use for which the weapon is intended.
(Interrupting my sabbatical for an important point):
“Penultimate” means “next to last”, hence, “next to last last resort”.
ALL war IS terrible. It is only the reason for which one takes arms that is not.
Nuclear war is the ultimate. As armed up as everyone is, it would mean the end of higher life forms on the planet. That this is completely untenable is the reason that there has not been one since WW II.
War is the worst thing unless not going to war is worse. If you are being attacked and your people are killed, you can either run away or fight back. The presence or absence of a spine determines which course you take.
Don’t expect peace, sunshine and rainbows. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, but retain the ability to wipe them off the earth if necessary.
The sad fact is that there are many people who have succumbed to their basest urges, and who no longer deserve the classification as human. Our acceptance of their continued residence among us is a sign of great moral weakness.
There is more truth to that statement than you think. However, it is a Progressive will be called a neoCon by both Buchananites and Progressives.if he supports a war started by a conservative. I give you the neoConservative former Senator for Connecticut Joe Lieberman. He had a voting record to the left of Hillary Clinton and got labeled a neoCon. Donald Rumsfeld, who was Barry Goldwater’s Illinois Campaign Manager in 1964, was also called a neoCon. So a neoCon is anybody that Pat Buchanan or Tom Friedman says is one.
Neoconservative died with the Soviet Union. There are no more neoCons. It is just Pat Buchanan’s polite way of expressing Antisemitism.
One only has to remember the roots of the Neoconservatives in the DNC. 😉
You are clueless
Nah, just been around for a long, long time.
Then senile because this Goldwater boy has been around long enough to be there when the movement got started and it had nothing to do with the DNC. The Neocons rejected the welfare state and communism. The movement was as much Irish Catholic as Jewish.
Pejoratives add very little to your argument. Try “social democrats” = neoconservative. Try “Scoop” Jackson. The roots of the neoconservatives are firmly there. “Conservatives” were in the vein of Bob Taft, a firm anti-interventionalist. Neo-conservatives were in the vein of right-wing social democrat James Burnham, a former Trotskyite who ended up with Bill Buckley at the National Review. And don’t forget that Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, and Elliot Cohen started out what party? The Democrats. What unites them–a willingness to throw whatever is necessary under the bus to go to war. Borroing ad nauseum to fund the military and war. And war, until the world is “safe” for democracy. In other words, war = peace. These would have been thrown out of any group of true conservatives a century ago. Neoconservatives want empire not liberty.
Liberals tend to like war. It helps progress progressiveness.
It was not the criminals fault it is societies fault. If society would follow the Constitution notably the 2A. This victim could have properly defended himself and one less criminal to continue to be supported at tax payer expense. OK maybe it is also the criminals fault but with the right incentive (45 acp) he just might get his life straightened out. I also hope the victim of society will also get his life straightened out and take responsibility for his own well-being and personnel defense.
That’s entirely assuming this particular victim would have chosen to defend himself. After all, the British, paragon of peace and prosperity that they are, have decreed that it is in, in fact, downright uncivilized to defend yourself against criminals.
[cough]Bull excrement[/cough]
For the case recently posted here on TTAG, in the UK if you lay into a stranger thoroughly enough to break one of their arms and both of their legs, the law pretty much insists that the matter be properly investigated. When all the full facts are found and laid before a British jury, they take less than half an hour to dismiss the case as justified self defence. Hard to see the problem, really.
There’s a strange determination among some in the US to believe outlandish fantasies about life here in the UK, usually the weirder the better. In the 1990s we were apparently all being gunned down by Jamaican gangsters with AK-47s: since then apparently the Yardies have all vanished or turned into Muslim extremists, millions of whom are now roaming the streets beheading hundreds of people every day. I can’t own any sort of firearm under any circumstances, and apparently if I so much as raise my voice to a criminal I’ll be locked away for life. And so it goes…
(No, no, effectively ‘shall issue’ for Joe Biden Specials, and as long as most of the wounds are to the villain’s front you’re probably OK, in reality).
For a very wide range of reasons, not many of them having to do with firearms, you’re a lot less likely to get shot, burgled, or badly hurt in a street attack in the UK than the US *on national averages* – which doesn’t change the fact that great swathes of the US are much safer places than the less salubrious parts of some UK cities, either. However, that doesn’t seem to suit some peoples’ preconceptions…
http://dispellingthemythukvsusguns.wordpress.com/ is well worth a look for anyone interested in some proper numbers and comparing like with like as far as possible.
uhh, there is a bit of – what is it called – i’m thinking – oh yeah irony on the editors blog:
I don’t think defense means what he thinks it means. I worked in Baltimore, and you are not even allowed to carry a stun gun.
Oh Lord. I take back what I said. This guy will not change his mind.
He sounds like type who will next be saying “It’s my fault really, for existing in my privilege and not doing enough to help people like my attacker reach their true potential.”
News flash Mr. Fogg, you can be certain that Mustafa and his pals are doing exactly what they want to be, and enjoy doing.
Derp.
I wonder who the chick is with Fogg and how he will feel (helpless) watching her get gang raped by his attackers buddies when they show up to finish in a year’s time?
She’s probably carrying illegally. Just look at the smile.
Exactly. If I had to conjecture (lil lol) I would expect that the reason our bad actor did not get prosecuted before is that he and his friends have a reputation on the street as someone that you don’t talk to the police about.
Hopefully there is no further incident in the future with Mr. Fogg related to this or retaliation against him by the assailant or his friends for “snitching.” So to speak.
Apparently in certain parts of the country “defense” has come to mean quietly grumbling to your friends at cocktail parties about how it’s a shame what happened to Fogg.
Good to know….
I’m a little more than bothered by the conjecture here. It really seems like you’re reaching for a story. “(Possible) anti-2A gun grabber (potentially) learns the error of his (possible) beliefs.”
If I’m misinterpreting this, please correct me, but I come to TTAG for facts, not assertions with little evidence to back them up.
If that had been the premise, “Blogger sees the err of his ways maybe?” then I would agree. But I think seeing as this is a Shoulda been a Defensive Gun Use, It’s fair to speculate on what other shouldas this guy might take on.
Consider yourself corrected.
I think it’s fair to postulate on how having a gun may have saved him a severe headache, but this is stereotyping based on his job.
Hunter S. Thompson was a sportswriter for various papers, and he was hardly anti-gun. The same for Hemingway. I’m sure there are others. (Before anyone brings up the fact that they both used guns to kill themselves and how it doesn’t help our cause, I’m aware).
Assuming that he is anti-gun because A) he didn’t carry concealed, and B) he writes for a newspaper, is taking a leap.
Neither Hunter S. Thompson nor Ernest Hemingway were writers for the Baltimore Sun, an anti-gun paper published in an anti-gun city in a state that just passed some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation. I doubt he could write a pro-gun column and have it published even if he wanted to. Also see his subsequent remarks about the incident above. He was lucky he wasn’t killed.
Consider yourself corrected.
Having known him years ago, I seem to remember him being not liberal. But hey, why let unknowns get in the way of your own narrative? Someone’s been listening to some mothers.
How dare you sir. This is the Internet. To bring up the ugly specter of conjecture is beneath its electron filled halls.
Color me skeptical that a member of a “news” media will learn any lesson from this. Most sports reporters want to fancy themselves as just like their news beat brethren and are usual even more useless than their news counterparts. In the age where these papers are losing readers and subscriptions, partly because the product is utter crap, the editors act like they don’t care and the public is too stupid. In some cases, you are more ill informed if you read these papers than if you read nothing. So will he learn? In my best Malcolm McDowell voice, “he probably won’t. ….but he might.”
“If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re mis-informed.”
― Mark Twain
haha 🙂 I wonder what would happen if a gun was used in the robbery instead of a brick.
His mourning family would be snap-shotted for a snappy MDA jpeg, and they would join the legions of objectified victims used by people who like making victims.
He’d win a Pulitzer Prize for his heartfelt essay “My Encounter with Gun Violence and How it’s My Fault.”
He couldn’t have. It’s illegal.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Snare Roll! Cymbal Crash!
I’ve said several times: if you disarm the populace, criminals will no longer need guns.
Hell, even with an armed populace the criminal has the advantage. They get to decide the time and place of the conflict. They get to decide against attacking the linebacker sized guy in favor of the elderly woman. And even when they go for the formidable target it won’t be on the targets terms. A firearm and the ability to use it only begin to even the odds.
Well said. Firearms provide a person with a means to put up a defense but do not do away with criminals. Using the “more guns = less crime” argument is factual but not the primary argument against gun control legislation. Regardless of any deterrence effect or lack of it, it is a God-given or natural human right to protect oneself against criminal violence be that violence carried out by unlawful citizens or unlawful government.
maybe we should post his work address and email here and let the peanut gallery inquire of his political views going forward?
501 N. Calvert Street
Baltimore, MD
21278
410-332-6215
[email protected]
Welp, another streak free of coffee spewing down the drain….thanks Dirk.
I have a letter to write…
“Eraibi was charged with robbery and assault in at least two previous cases but he was not prosecuted. When 11 News asked about this, the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office did not provide an explanation”.
This is UNACCEPTABLE. If a public servant is asked a legitimate question it is their civil duty to answer it.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
You’re funny. It’s Bawlmer. Get with the program.
Bodymore, Murderland
I used to travel there monthly for business and hated to not be carrying.
Interesting side note: The Sun is one of MOM’s biggest disarmament cheerleaders. I wonder if Jon Fogg will start hanging out at the range? Or “score” a gutter gun from one of “Baltimore’s Finest,” since he’ll have to jump through myriad hoops and pay several large to get a pistol legally thanks to his employer’s efforts.
Fogg, an editor at the Baltimore Sun, was coming home late from work on January 14 when he was allegedly met on the street by Mustafa Eraibi, who demanded his cash . . .
Yep, should’ve been a DGU like, “I don’t have any cash, but I’m glad to give you my precious metals starting with this brass & lead, 115 grains at a time . . . . .
I know it’s been stated before but reiteration is needed:
If a criminal is intent on doing you harm make them regret it. If they have a brick, knife, gun, bat ……I hope to make it as painful as possible on them. Sheep get slaughtered shortly after being shorn !
Maybe Mustafa is just misunderstood. Can’t we all just get along? blech.
I can get along with most anyone as long as they aren’t trying to rape, rob or kill me.
I’m a people person like that.
Mr. Fogg looks to me like an earnest, well-meaning, cocooned, oblivious dipshit. I’m going to bet that the epiphany he experienced is for naught. Poor, poor, Mr. Eraibi; if only the world understood his hardships.
Yes, we must always keep our eye on the ball here, or should I say the paving brick. I agree with you, I don’t think he learned a damned thing, Randy
Missing from all of this is that the perp didn’t have a gun. How could he have injured his victim? I thought you needed to have gun to hurt someone.
If we had common sense landscaping brick measures this would have never happened.
I’m thinking his mindset requires him to think “OMG! If that guy had had a gun instead of a brick, I might have gotten hurt!”
Baltimore Sun Writer… Beaten almost to death…
I know I’ve been in the fight for too long because the only thing I see wrong with this is “almost.”
I just don’t see the problem with terrible people reaping what they sow…
And to be fair, we don’t know he’s a terrible person.
That can’t be, sarah b said if you give the perp your cash you will be fine. Besides, old Jon wouldn’t want to hear “you didn’t haveeee to shoot him, you waaaanted to shoot him”. Randy
To be fair to the victim of the crime, it is not known what opinion he might have about self-defense and firearms. Surely many of us have worked for employers that held opinions and views we did not agree with. But he should not become a deserving victim in any case. The real issue is the horrible violence carried out against him.
read “fair” instead of “fare”. I hate spellcheckers. I hate spelling even more.
I would count the days before the scumbag was let out of jail, so that I could repay him (with interest) for what he did to me. Jail would only be the beginning of his pain.
This was not an assault/ robbery. It was a canonization gone wrong. One must be dead to achieve sainthood. Mr Fogg muffed his chance to become a martyr to the cause of nonviolent resistance. Better luck next time Saint, I mean, Mr. Fogg.
This falls into the “I could care less what happens to Maryland or people that work for the Baltimore Sun” category.
At least he survived..that way there is a chance he will come to a new understanding. Many do not get that opportunity.
Well, now that Fogg has already been beaten near death, MAYBE he will qualify for a CCP in the “may issue” nanny state of Maryland. But probably not. And even if Fogg managed to “win the lottery” and get a Maryland CCP, it has to be re-justified at least every 5 years. Not “renewed”, it has to be rejustified and then approved.
Nope. He has to have a CLEAR need for the permit. Just because he was randomly robbed and had the crap beaten out of him doesn’t make him any different than the scores and scores of others who have had the same experience in “Charm City.” What a crybaby. Maybe if the beating was lethal he might stand a chance for a permit. But if he was well enough to go back to work… well, no harm, no foul. Sorry.
Wow, it’s a good thing Maryland has strict gun control. It really helped to prevent the mall shooting and the brick attack on a journalist.
Well, Eraibi used a brick, not a gun. See how well it’s working?
And look how ineffective he was with a brick. There seems to be an urgent need for a city funded course for intending felons on the proper use of bricks as weapons of robbery, rape, mutilation and murder. Perhaps he had fallen out with the corner drug boys, and couldn’t get an illegal gun from them. At least the city should be proud that he was making his own way in life, an entrepreneur if you like.
Such enterprise deserves to be rewarded. I would like to contribute 255g of ACP to the cause.
No matter if some one searches for his required thing,
thus he/she desires to be available that in detail, thus that thing
is maintained over here.
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