Im tired of hearing this foolish fallacious fantasy: The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun (or a knife) is a good guy with a gun. Well, sort of. Sometimes. It depends. Probably not. And what does one mean by stop? Kill? Back in 1982 I was robbed of my bicycle at knifepoint. It was a warm summer evening in New York Citys West Village. I had just walked my bike into the very tight foyer of my apartment building, typical walk-up. The muscular little guy must have been hiding nearby because he slipped in with me, and shaking with adrenaline, held a 6 or 7 blade across my face, pointing it downward at my neck and chest. I gave him my bike. When I recently told a business acquaintance this story, he remarked that had I been carrying a gun, and it was understood that other people did (like Bernie Goetz?) maybe these thugs would think twice about robbing people at knifepoint. So, the scenario would have been different. Would he have coveted the gun more than the bike? Would I have been able to wrestle with him in this tight space? Could I have been able to get off a shot at point-blank range? Or would it have gone the other way? Hard to say. Most likely, one of us would have gotten shot, possibly killed. And to what end? I dont know if this guy is still alive; I doubt it. But I am. Would my being armed at the time have resulted in a better outcome? I lost my bike, some false sense of security, and some innocence that night. None of those are big losses in my way of thinking.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 15:15:06 +0000