Sometimes you don’t need a weapon:
The Hillsborough teen who died on Monday had suffered a punch to the head after an argument, Somerset County Prosecutor Geoffrey Soriano said late Tuesday morning.
Jared Colon, 17, a rising senior at Hillsborough High School, was punched on Saturday evening during a verbal argument with another Hillsborough teen, Soriano said. The prosecutor’s office said the other teen is now in custody at the Middlesex County Juvenile Detention Center and has been charged with second-degree reckless manslaughter.
We talk of “Gun Death” and we ignore cases like this that will not be effected by any bans or regulation. People will always have fists.
Still “Gun Death” promotes an agenda, while violence as a whole is a much harder mountain to climb.
H/T Mike W.
Similar story, different school…
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2014/10/01/council-bluffs-fight-charges-dropped-teenager/16551389/
Pingback: Sharp as a Marble - One punch, one life lost.
Fist can be deadly- in October 2012 El Paso Texas Officer Jonathan Molina was killed by fists of a 17 year old felon; he was stunned and knocked to the ground by a “sucker punch” and his assailant mounted him and beat him in the head in an MMA style beat down.
This, of course occurred while G Zimmerman was being tried for having shot his attacker who was trying to do the same thing and some were decrying Zimmermans shooting of his unarmed attacker.
They don’t talk about the Molina murder very much.
2 good cases for drawing of a weapon when fists are presented.
Or just 2 good cases for having something like pepper spray available, and not just a gun.
I hate saying it, because your point IS valid, but I personally dislike OC spray and advise against it’s use.
Two simple reasons. The BIG #1 is it may not work. Pepper Spray simply causes pain and irritation to mucus membranes (ie: lots of tears in the eyes, and a flood of nasal mucus in the nose, and saliva in the mouth). It SUCKS and sucks enough to cause many people to have uncontrolled panic. Still if the person is A) Used to hot peppers, or B) is used to things like getting your nose smashed in a fight which causes similar reactions, they can easily fight through it.
The smaller #2 is use of OC spray is looked at in most laws as simple assault (not with a deadly weapon) so really you are only justified in using it in most cases where a gun or other weapon can be legally deployed.
I have a cheap sap that I would actually trust as a “Less Lethal” weapon, but sadly that is illegal to carry here, but not in all places.
This of course is all “Chairborn Ranger” talk, but personally I’m walking away from a threat, or I’m standing my ground with deadly force. If I can’t walk away, I consider myself in serious danger.
Just a thought.
Despite use of OC having a lower bar than use of lethal force in Michigan I will probably never own it because my wife has asthma and it could kill her.
Each year in the USA, about twice as many murders occur with hands/fists than with rifles. When are we going to start requiring registration of “assault fists”, and removing them from felons and the mentally ill?
My God, MPH, you’re right.
This trips my onetime ad man’s genes. 30-second TV commercial done as a faux public service ad. Ad opens with several 1-3 second scenes from surveillance footage showing criminal assailants punching innocent victims. Voiceover: “The only way to stop a bad guy and his fists is a good guy with a gun.” End credit: “This message brought to you by the good people at Smith and Wesson/Glock, etc.” (Sure, the idea is provocative and propagandistic.)
Maybe firearms should be regarded as no more than medical appliances that empower a lot of folks to lawfully do what their own muscle power in self-defense can’t.
Happened to someone I knew in high school… He never could have imagined that him throwing one punch would have the results it did. He had 15 years to think about it:
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1999-12-16/news/9912160077_1_witt-mark-forgiveness
Problem with pepper spray is that OC simply does not work on a fair per cent of the population.
I tell my students – leave any confrontation that would have “pepper spray” as an appropriate response. As private citizens they are NOT trying to “subdue and take into custody”. If Jimmy-Joe MacThug wont let you leave , or pursues you, or presents his own weapon, we are past the need for pepper spray and HE has escalated to deadly force; it is best to have deadly force of your own with which to
that’s really my thoughts exactly. As I say here a lot, I’m a non-violence guy, but I’m also a non-pacifist. Less-lethal are fine with police because when they see a criminal act they are OBLIGATED to step in. A normal civilian is NOT, and I think avoidance is the best solution if it can be done. If a dangerous situation CANNOT be avoided, I really can’t think of any reason why that could be WITHOUT your life or health is NOT in danger.
Like you said, if the attacker is in a position where it is not safe to simply walk away and move to a safe location, your life and/or health (as in grave bodily injury) is in immediate danger, and pulling out pepper spray (which had a good probability of A) not working, and B) physically weakening you…I’ve tested pepper spray and even in controlled settings where I’m watching the wind and have ample clearance to avoid back splash, and I’ve always felt a bit of the spray, and I know I won’t be in a situation like that if I am deploying the spray against a person) could very well put you in a WORSE situation than you were in before.