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From the dictionary:
Parable/noun/ A short story intended to illustrate a point of morality or behavior.
I also called it "the story" and "rant", nowhere did I say it was a literal event.
But I also know that all the various major parts of it (shootout, kidnap, suicide, cop-killing, bystanders run over, etc) HAS happened in real life. Anyone who watches COPS, America Most Wanted, Real TV, ad nausem has seen these events taking place. So I don't need to go out and find any ONE particular event to quote.
And I'm also sure that if I did spend enough time looking for it, I could find an almost identical event having happened somewhere at some point in human history. So that's irrelevant too.
In most of the cases where I've heard of a mass execution happening, it was because the BGs had already decided to this before they even went to the scene, in which case nothing you did (or didn't do) would have made much difference.
OR, they got pissed because someone tried to play hero and they retaliated by killing everyone for the foolish actions of one.
Hasher, I noticed you quoted just two events. Both of which happened in different years. Now I know that others have happened, but the fact that you only quoted two in the last two years shows (to me anyways) just how rare such events are.
American Rifleman has an article called "Armed Citizen" which appears every month. It's full of reports of relatively untrained people using guns to successfully defend themselves.
You're not telling me anything I don't already know. To quote myself:
Nothing major that'd get a write up in a "I Was There" magazine article, but hey, who want's to write about the great tactics they used in the gunfight they "won", if you have to write it from your wheelchair.
Also, being a gun magazine, I don't think it'd be good for their sales to publish all the stories about how guns DIDN'T solve the problem, made it worse in fact, and got the person maimed or killed.
As a matter of fact, when's the last time YOU'VE seen a story in ANY gun magazine that told about how someone (other than the storys BG or "innocent victim") got killed? I've NEVER seen one and I've been reading various rags for almost 20 years. And I'll probably read them for another 40 years and not see it then either.
I also don't recall any stories about successfully driving off 3 armed intruders who have the drop on you at a party.
Most of the stories I see are "Punks pulled a knife, I showed my gun, they ran away" or "I caught burglar in house, held him at gunpoint till cops came".
NOT "I got the drop on three armed robbers at my neighbors house party, killed all three, party resumed."
And let's say for a (very) brief moment that you DID somehow manage to get the drop on them? Now what?
Well, assuming you killed them, you've probably just "tramatized" (I hate using that word) every person there with images of brains and blood splattering all over the place. If there's any children present, you've just given years of nightmares and therapy.
You'll also (perversly) have probably turned everyone present into rabid anti-gunners because they won't really remember the robbers so much as the "nut" who killed three people and splattered the robbers brains over their friends faces, having turned a peaceful party into a wild orgy of death.
I'd also think it safe to say that you will NOT be getting anymore invitations to anyones parties who's heard about what you did. EVER.
A gun is not a magic talismen who's possesors are now immortal and invulnerable, and by mere presence prevents all evil within line of sight from happening.
A gun is a tool, who's proper use depends on both training, skill, experience, and the wisdom of knowing when it's NOT the proper tool to use for the task at hand.
The ability to recognize ones limitations is a sign of a truly wise person in any endeavor.
And since you mention statistics being dynamic....you're chances of being involved in a violent shootout increases dramatically if you're carrying a gun, much more so if you pull it, and exponentially so if you lack the sense of when NOT to pull it.
Your statistically less likely to be involved in a violent shootout if you live in high-income neighborhoods, are white, don't associate with criminals or irresponsible gun owners, and don't make careless lifestyle choices like making yourself a target by flaunting your wealth by living in the middle of a ghetto area.
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