Words To Die For: “I Thought I Saw a Gun”

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“An armed society is a polite society”

It’s a platitude I’ve heard a lot of over the years, but if it’s true, I don’t think it’s a credible refutation of the fact that where you have a lot of guns, you might have a lot of gunfire.  Hot nights, hot tempers, hot lead.

There was a fatal altercation recently – about an hour from me here in South Florida. It involved a man with a violent criminal record, (16 arrests in 20 years) with methadone and other drugs in his system, known to be pugnacious and confrontational. It involved another man, a Combat veteran diagnosed with PTSD that caused him to be so hyper-vigilant and in fear for his life that he carried a loaded Glock in his lap as he drove his car.

There was an exchange of angry words as the two drivers sat at a light. Threats were made, according to witnesses, and insisting that he saw a gun, the shooter fired 16 times killing an obnoxious, offensive but unarmed man. Yes, because of the way Florida’s “stand your ground” laws are written, the shooter cannot be prosecuted, even though there was no gun, though there are laws against shooting from a vehicle and there were all sorts of bystanders and passengers put at risk. Another occupied car was hit by stray bullets.

I’m not a lawyer. I won’t discuss whether the law goes too far, was even necessary or applies in this case, but I will question the wisdom or legality of issuing a concealed carry permit to a man with such a degree of pathological anxiety and fear that he was undergoing treatment. Is it possible that the Trump administration opposition to letting the facts of the shooter’s medical condition be known to the Department of Agriculture (who issues carry permits in Florida) or to the background check apparatus played a part here?

One gets into trouble lately, discussing the relationship between mental illness and rage and murder, but I think it’s proper here and it’s proper to note that our President, while sidestepping the need to keep guns from unworthy owners after the Parkland shooting, does seem to have taken steps to make sure that people receiving Social Security benefits for mental illness might not have that fact considered during a background check.

Yes, I’m concerned that a reckless and deadly act is beyond prosecution, but I’m concerned that it was legal to sell a gun to a mental patient with a condition strongly affecting his judgment and to issue him a concealed carry permit. That’s something the President and his party of yes men and political prostitutes bear responsibility for.

About Post Author

Glenn Geist

Glenn Geist lives in South Florida and wastes most of his time boating, writing, complaining and talking on the radio
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Perry
5 years ago

I read about that. It was a mutual thing wasn’t it.

Glenn R. Geist
5 years ago

Read an article yesterday about how some clerk decided it was too much work to actually do the background checks and was issuing carry permits without them. A lot of licenses have been revoked! Part of the problem is not the law, but the unwillingness to apply them.

But really, a lot pf people here are outraged that someone can shoot up another car and even some bystanders and escape any charges whatever. He was a prime example of the need for background checks. A perfect example and yet there is so much reluctance to supply information and actually apply the rules.

Admin
5 years ago

We live in an insane country with insane laws, and non-laws. We live in a country where virtually anyone can get a gun. The mentally deficient, children, the blind, people on the no-fly list, even convicted felons in some states. It’s no wonder people are shooting each at the slightest provocation. It’s nuts. Just nuts.

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