This past Sunday night, a 17 year old kid in Atlanta tossed a bunch of eggs at a Mercedes Benz automobile as a Halloween prank. The driver of the Mercedes was so mad about the boy's prank that he stopped his car and fired ten shots at the boy who was in the process of running away. One of the bullets struck the boy's neck and he died while being taken by ambulance to a local hospital.
At first blush, you might assume that the driver of the Mercedes will soon be facing homicide charges, but that probably won't be the case, especially since Georgia is one of a growing number of states that have expanded the rights of gun owners to use deadly force whenever attacked, no matter what level of force is used against them.
Now, kids who toss eggs on Halloween or snowballs after a winter storm can expect a hail of live bullets in return.
Gun rights activists call it self-defense. I call it insanity.
Somehow I find myself sympathizing with the gun owner on this one, and here's why. It's very easy when examining a law to pass judgement based on the most extreme of circumstances and to then lose sight of the law's intent.
ReplyDeleteMy suspision is, and I have no legal background to justify this, that if a law was passed forcing victims to react with reasonable ot proportionate force, any wording used would lead to a whole new series of loopholes and unfortunate rulings.
Make no mistake. This IS an unfortunate outcome, but as with any grand theory of everything there will be outliers to prove that nothing in life is without a flaw or three.
Yes, responding to an egg with a bullet is certainly an unreasonable escalation of force, but so is responding to a knife fight with a 12-gauge shotgun. I'd much sooner seek to protect the rights of defenders than let wanton agressors go free on a technicality. And I think we both know the kinds of people with the money to find these loopholes.