OK I’m treading a fine line here, but I think some notice needs to be made.
First up Jason Kilgore of Ceasefire Oregon is a despicable person and a hypocrite, and nothing changes that. Still he’s decided to talk about his first-hand experience with gun violence. I’m not going to give much judgement or breakdown of the story. Nor am I going to make any comments on Mr. Kilgore’s feelings. If he’s telling the truth (which should always be called in question with a documented liar) he witnessed a horrible, frightening, and traumatic thing.
A large boy, whom I later found out was an 18-year old named John Raper, was standing by the passenger side of a Mercedes talking to a boy inside the car, and I couldn’t hear what was being said. The boy inside, who was a slim 16-year old named Mark Haines, as I later learned, more commonly called “Skater Mark.” He was clearly intimidated by the larger kid. The large group of teens circled around them were expecting a fight. I had never met either boy, nor particularly cared about them; I just wanted to get Ryan and get out in time to get to work. Much later, I learned that John and Mark had a feud over a girlfriend. I also learned later that Mark had been drinking.
The argument between the boys became more hostile, and they raised their voices. Not only was Mark visibly intimidated by John, but he no doubt felt he had to do something now that he was being scrutinized by a growing crowd of peers. Mark suddenly threw open the door to the car and jumped out. A shoving match began. Mark was obviously frightened, but John didn’t appear the least bit concerned. He crossed his muscle-bound arms and smirked at the smaller boy.
That’s when Skater Mark pulled out a black semi-auto handgun. Everyone screamed, and the crowd pulled away. Some kids ran. I and another boy crouched behind another car. A newspaper article later said the gun was a 9mm….John acted nonchalant, not raising a hand at Mark, but not backing down either…Then Mark raised the weapon and fired a shot into John’s forehead.
I was only about six feet away.
That’s just horrible! I don’t wish that experience on anybody. Further he claims he chased after the shooter with his car (BTW very similar behavior he has attacked George Zimmerman for doing), but points out that that was a VERY stupid and dangerous move. Good for him.
What I take issue with is WHAT Mr. Kilgore has done with this trauma. The stereotype situation is the kid who was molested as a child. Some get on with their life after the trauma, others make it their life’s mission to protect future children like they, and others become molesters themselves.
I think we’re allowed to judge this reaction. If you disagree feel free to comment.
Now I’m a father. I work hard now to try and prevent shootings like the one I was in, prevent guns from getting into the hands of those who shouldn’t have them, and encourage commonsense gun regulation through education and legislation. If we do it right, my children will never need to witness what I did.
Noble desires, but I must drop a flag on this play. So we’re talking about two violent teens fighting over nothing (this is illegal), One is a minor who is DRUNK (illegal) and carrying a firearm (illegal), then THREATENS the other person with violence without a deadly threat being present and likely escalating and/or starting the fight in the first place (illegal), and of course MURDER!
And what has Mr. Kilgore done to prevent ANY of these things?
What have I done? Well honestly, not much, when it comes to bad kids doing bad and illegal things, what CAN you do? Still one thing I have been working for is getting more GOOD people armed.
What does this do? Well when the jerks think about picking up a gun with ill intent, I’d like them to think “Maybe I could get killed for this”. Unfortunately that’s as good a solution as I can think of.
Kilgore just wants to ban all guns and restrict all gun use….which has worked so well with Cocaine.
I’m sorry you saw that, Jason, but maybe you should think about things a bit more, and as a man of science, read some data and some studies. You’re well aware of the tricks people can use, and have openly used them yourself.
Right now you’re part of the problem. You’re pushing for ignorance, and removing of freedoms of good people….meanwhile the drunk punk in the car will STILL have his illegal gun. YOU ARE WRONG!
