An acquaintance of mine reported a frightening experience she had in the parking lot of a well-known retailer the other day. Doing some post-Christmas shopping, she exited a Wal-Mart not far from where I live and headed to her car. She had a bag in each hand as she walked. When she arrived at her vehicle, she noticed a van parked nearby with two salty-looking characters in the front seat. As she noticed them, she saw one pull a sweatshirt hood up over his head (on what was an unusually warm day here in Central Florida). At that moment, she moved as quickly as she could to deposit her bags and get in her car. However, she only made it as far as dumping the bags in the back seat when the man with the hood exited the van and walked up to her very quickly. She looked him dead in the eye and told him, “You’d better back the (expletive) off!” According to her, he promptly turned around and began walking away, pretending to talk on his cell phone as he did so.
My friend is 100% certain that she was a robbery target. No question. She believes that the only reason she wasn’t attacked is that her assertive demeanor and choice of language startled her would-be assailant and prompted him to walk away. It was clear he was not going to be dealing with a shrinking violet.
That said, when she arrived at our house, she was clearly shaken, which is more than understandable. We sat around and spoke about it for a bit, and our conversation eventually moved into the subject of having a gun for self-defense (she does not own a gun).
Whenever I hear stories like this, it reminds me of how stunned I always am when I hear others actually suggest that average citizens shouldn’t be allowed to own firearms, or shouldn’t be allowed to carry guns on their person for protection. No one has the right to deprive me of the right to defend myself. It’s really that simple. Who is anyone to tell another that he should not be permitted the means to defend himself? It’s my life, and I’ve become sort of attached to it. My right to self-preservation supersedes any man-made law that prevents me from doing just that.
My indignation on this subject even extends to states that do allow for the issuance of concealed weapons permits. My position has always been that my “permit” exists in the form of the 2nd Amendment, and that my right to possess a gun for self-defense should not need some additional sanctioning by the state. In fact, even states that have seen fit to be gracious enough to allow me such a right will do so only if I have a generally pristine legal record. I don’t agree with that. Those rules can be too broad, and there should be more room for a case-by-case analysis. For example, if you were in the service and exited on the basis of a dishonorable discharge, Florida will not ever let you have a concealed weapons permit. That’s ridiculous. There are a lot of reasons why someone may have a dishonorable discharge. Additionally, many people who earn that discharge did so as young men; according to Florida, if you earned a DD at, say, 21, but have seen fit to live a clean life thereafter, you can’t get a concealed weapons permit at any point for the remainder of your life. That’s just plain stupid, and what’s more, it’s not right.
My friend survived her parking lot “incident” just fine, of course, but she’s now looking into getting a concealed weapons permit. She shouldn’t have a problem with it, but in the meantime I would encourage her to do whatever she feels she must to protect herself when going about her business as a law-abiding citizen, even if it means acting in contravention of the law. How does that saying go? Better to be tried by 12 than carried by 6? Indeed.
Robert G. Yetman, Jr. – Editor At Large – www.ChristianMoney.com
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