Posted on 04/30/2012 3:34:08 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Even as George Zimmerman stands trial for fatally shooting Trayvon Martin, many Americans argue these laws make us safe. I've had pistols held to my head from Bosnia to Beirut. Your best self-defense is your tongue. Those who put their faith in guns will ultimately be outgunned.
Because this is my last column, I want to challenge a deeply held belief that is, tragically, a core one for millions of Americans. [See editor's note at the end of this column.]
One of the most common ideas emerging after the Trayvon Martin tragedy with Florida’s Stand Your Ground law is that guns make you safe. My experience is exactly the opposite.
Handguns like the one George Zimmerman used to shoot and kill the African-American teenager merely enable those who use them to make fatal mistakes. Mr. Zimmerman is now out of prison on bail, awaiting trial for second-degree murder, when a $20 can of pepper spray could have possibly defused the confrontation without loss of life....
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
Walter Rodgers is a former senior international correspondent for CNN.
Three page column.
uhh...the handgun worked in this case...and may have saved Zimmerman’s life...at least saved him from more serious injury
Another elitist idiot. The whole point of Stand Your Ground is that in a free society when one is attacked it is the attacker who is at fault and must face the consequences. The idea that one has a “duty to retreat” is abhorrent in a free society. The concept of duty to retreat means that a free people must be under the tyranny of the societal predators.
If that is true, Walter, then you are a class A screw up.
>> I’ve had pistols held to my head from Bosnia to Beirut. Your best self-defense is your tongue. Those who put their faith in guns will ultimately be outgunned.
Because this is my last column, I want to challenge a deeply held belief that is, tragically, a core one for millions of Americans. [See editor’s note at the end of this column.]
One of the most common ideas emerging after the Trayvon Martin tragedy with Florida’s Stand Your Ground law is that guns make you safe.
<<
And police carry guns because...??
While inside the ever-plastic reality of the liberal mind no evil ever takes place, in the real world that is not always so. Every human has an unalienable right of self defense, and by implication, a right to the effective defensive tools to exercise that right. You, Mr. Liberal, would deny that right to me. You must hate me and my family.
In a developing situation, every tool should be used, starting with the most peaceful. The firearm is the last, not the first of those tools. Fleet feet are also a tool, but many young men can outrun my Medicare-eligible wife. No good wishes or myth slaying on your part will change that.
Your piece was just pitiful.
defused the confrontation
No...deferred the confrontation. The self styled “niggah” would have gotten his from someone else...
Act like a dirt bag
Die like a dirt bag.
I’m sorry this writer thinks we should all be unarmed and at the mercy of animals. I won’t be.
Walter. You’re a moron.
Being unarmed is so much safer. Yeah.
either that, or he’s John F’n Kerry.
I was gratified to see that the comments were generally not supportive of his viewpoint, even in the liberal-leaning CSM.
First, I see nothing impulsive about shooting a guy who is bashing your head on the concrete.
Second, Rogers cherry picks events that ended without deadly violence, while ignoring the daily murders & numerous instances where people with legal guns saved themselves or others from vicious killers.
In his own instance of assault, submission is his preference. He takes the hostage attitude of saying what his captors want to hear. Apparently, submissive hostages are what we all should be in public & in our homes. If the mugger wants our money, give it to him. But what happens when the mugger wants his accompanying daughter or son, or just wants to kill?
Now, I understand the need to try to talk thing out. But when my head hits the concrete, the talking is over.
Oh! Never bring pepper spray to a gunfight!
A thrill seeking journalist who puts himself in the line of fire for a more impressive byline wouldn't understand that concept.
“Your best self-defense is your tongue. Those who put their faith in guns will ultimately be outgunned.”
Personally, I would guess the brain is more useful than either, but why not use all 3?
The French in 1938 believed themselves to be much more clever than the Hun.
8:}
Why does the fact that Mr. Rodgers works for the Christian Science Monitor make me have a complete lack of faith in the credibility of his story?
Really?...Promise?...Thankyou...Very Much!!!
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