Trust the Criminal

Say Uncle has an interesting post discussing the current trend by the media to encourage crime victims to "trust the criminal" and to "give him what he wants" and all will be okay. I have noticed this theme in our local media when they offer their "crime safety tips for the holidays", and it is becoming a popular topic on the gun boards and on blogs such as To Which I Replied...

#9 of Say Uncle points out the medias reaction to Commissioner Lambert's confrontation with the goblin Kane Stackhouse. If you will recall, the goblin attempted to rob the car dealership owned by the commissioner. The commissioner stopped the robbery by drawing his firearm and forcing the goblin to drop his own weapon. For further details go here. Later in the week it was discovered that prior to his attempted robbery of the commissioner, the goblin had murdered a truck driver. Even after it is known that the goblin is a murderer, #9 reports the following from a political talk show in Tennessee:

The second local event happened Sunday morning on the “Inside Tennessee” political talk show on WBIR. You can see a clip from the program on Say Uncle. Panelist and local Knoxville attorney Don Bosch made a statement to Lumpy Lambert that defies common sense. Bosch said to Mr. Lambert, “You increased your chances many fold over of being shot by pulling that gun.” So what is attorney Don Bosch saying? He is saying trust the criminal.

Mr. Bosch, is there no situation where you would condone drawing a firearm to protect yourself or your family? Even if the commissioner had not been as well trained as he was, even if he was slower than the goblin and was injured, at least he was injured defending himself from a goblin who had already killed and would not have hesitated to kill again if given the chance.

#9 goes on to mention:

There were six shootings in the same 24 hour period with two fatalities. The only firearm event that had a good outcome was the one where an armed citizen protected himself. The idea that armed citizens present a hazard to other citizens has not be proven, in fact in areas where carry permits are allowed violent crime has decreased.

Those statistics just do not seem to make it to the 10:00 news.

Let's see what happens when you "Trust the Criminal".

This is an article from today's local paper, The Star Telegram:

Arlington man shot in attempted robbery dies

ARLINGTON—Police are seeking help in identifying a suspect wanted in the killing of a 26-year-old man.

Sanal Nathan, a former University of Texas at Arlington student, tried to stop a robber from taking his fiancé’s purse when he was shot outside his apartment complex Monday night.

Officials said he tried to reason with the suspect but was shot in the chest and the suspect fled without the purse. He died at 3:18 a.m. Tuesday at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth.

Personally, I prefer the outcome of the commissioners confrontation over the outcome of Mr. Nathan's. Self protection is not just a choice, or even a right, it is a responsibility.