Maybe they both are
Mike emails this story. Long and short: Two guys driving down the street and notice a man shooting at people. Two guys (who happen to have concealed weapons permits) turn around and draw down on the man (who is black – important later) and tell him to stop. Two men viewed as heroes.
But wait, there’s more: Turns out the original shooter also had a permit. He says his car was rammed and six men approached him, one with a gun. So, he was firing at them. He has been charged with reckless endangerment. Notes on this fellow:
He had a handgun carry permit.
He called the police.
That indicates he’s not a criminal and I don’t think his intent was criminal. But it was rather cowboy to shoot across traffic. And he did hit a bystander’s car.
Mediaverse thinks there’s a racist element to it, noting:
The brothers are being called heroes because they did something. Roberson, who did something too, is being called a “gunman,” a criminal. No, he should be called a hero too.
What did he do so differently than the Webbers?
Probably because he endangered others by firing across traffic. As a permit holder, you are responsible for any shot you fire. You can’t go shooting across traffic. I’ve seen no indication in the story that the assailant he was shooting at actually fired shots. I think his crime here is being a bit overzealous.
March 9th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
I read the MCA article first, and I thought it was biased (towards the two hayseeds, amazingly) but didn’t see the racial element. Then I read MV’s point that they put a mugshot of the guy on A4, and that started ringing warning bells.
Reckless endangerment sounds like a reasonable charge. I do support gun control in the sense of knowing what is in front of and behind your target. But even at that, I’m not sure how much support we want from newspapers that talk about guys who have thier handguns “slung on his hip” getting “opportunities to pull” thier gun. I’ve only put my hand on mine twice, and I hope to never have an “opportunity to pull” it.
I’m happy that nobody got killed. Frankly, I could see any one of the three getting zapped by the other and it being 100% justified (unless it turns out that Roberson is lying about why he presented and fired in the first place.) I hope that MCA doesn’t go too far the our way on this one on citizen empowerment vs. gun prohibition.
Oh, and one hayseed got it right, while the other is working on blowing his brother away.
March 10th, 2007 at 5:24 am
[…] Say Uncle notes that there’s another angle to the story about the two folks in Memphis who sto…. The gist is that the person that was actually shooting claims he was acting in self defense after his car was rammed & a group of 6 men approached him. Go read Uncle for the details & some thoughts. […]