OT (guns) Delete now; don't read...

From: John Lawson <jpl15_at_panix.com>
Date: Sun May 6 23:29:08 2001

 To further the response of Chris Kennedy: I too lived for many years in a
very rural area, where response time of any emergency organization was
seldom under 10 minutes average. many times more like 1/2 hour. That's
just the way it was.

  On a very US/California centric note... five years ago my friend and his
wife were awakened at 2:30 am by a person in their bedroom. When my friend
switched on the light, this person immediately attacked him with a 2'
long machete, luckily the first swing missed and it embedded itself in the
furniture. My friend pulled out his 9mm from the bedstand and fired once,
striking the individual in the right thigh, dropping him. Wife had called
911 (the American universal emergency number) and in under two minutes,
police were there. There very first thing the officer said to my
completely traumatized and shocked friend was "You shoulda plugged this
joker. If he lives, it's gonna get ugly."

   The 'joker' was/is a Guatemalan national, in this country
illegally,with a long string of arrests and deportations for drugs, theft,
and armed assaults, including one suspected murder which lacked conclusive
evidence. The individual was duly tried and convicted for attempted
muder, breaking and entering, and possession of narcotics in 'for sale'
quantities, and is now in the California correction system doing 25 years
minimum, more likey 40.

  He is also suing my friend for $5.5 Million dollars for shooting him and
shortening his leg by two inches. This individual is represented gratis
by a huge legal organization run by 'immigrant' lawyers who specialize in
aid to Hispanics. My friend is on the hook for hundreds of thousands of
dollars, just to *defend himself*, which he will never recover, and the
legal prognosis is very poor for him. The guy who tried to kill my friend
for PCP money is undoubdtedly going to win the judgement against the
'defendant', and even if he gets out of jail in California, and gets sent
back to Guatemala... I guess you could say he 'won'. 5 Mil goes a long
way in Central America.

  I hold all life sacred, and it's not up to me to judge another's life or
conduct. But I have also been in life-threatening situations, and a few of
those threats came directly from other humans who did not wish me well at
that particular moment. Those of you who decry the ownership of handguns
quite possible will feel differently, should (Ghod forbid!) you ever find
yourself in that horrible position.

  obClassiccmp: maybe thieves will break in to steal that Apple I you've
been advertising on eBay.... then what will you do?

   ;}

   Cheerz

Sheriff John
Received on Sun May 06 2001 - 23:29:08 BST