Too Much To Dream

Fucking pussies. I know a guy, he can get one with no serial # for peanuts...

Hmmm...

Of course, you could always live just over on the right side of the river--in Virginia.

I live in Maryland & I'm a member of the Republican Party. We have an official party meeting tonight. I'll be bringing this up. By the way, the fact that there are not standards for issuance of these concealed weapon permits means the whole program is unconstitutional as violative of procedural due process. The granting of the licenses is, in other words, "arbitrary and capricious" by definition (i.e., there are NO standards).

Nikita,

As a GOP expat from Massachusetts, I suspect I can feel your pain. But I have to say, I also think there's cause for optimism. Hey, if both states can elect Republican governors, almost anything's possible.

Anything's possible, brother. Anything's possible.

By the way, the meeting went well. It was full of the same organizational bullshit and hours of pointless bloviating that I'm sure typify such meetings in every political party.

He should go ahead and buy the gun, on the well-known theory that it's better to be judged by twelve than carried by six. Then if he has to shoot someone, the prosecutors can enjoy being ridiculed in the local papers for punishing a disabled man for trying to defend himself.

Although now that I think about it, that didn't work too well for Bernhard Goetz.

Yeah, but all his attorney has to do is have the guy come in court in a slow, painful way, and coach him to break down and cry a little bit on the witness stand. Cry more when he's being cross-examined by the DA.

It makes me burn with pleasure that KKT got her ass kicked.

Andrea,

Our new Republican governor was inaugurated last week, so there may be an attitidute adjustment at State Police HQ really soon.

I sure hope so.

Hello. Devil's Advocate here. I just don't get the whole "I'm crippled so I need a gun" thing. The guy is using two canes when he walks. How's he going to use the gun? Quick Draw McGraw he ain't. If he's in that bad a neighborhood, maybe he needs to move to place where he will feel safe. For once, the gun isn't the answer.

Well, gee, maybe, since he is crippled, he can't afford to move. A gun is a lot cheaper than moving costs, especially if you have to hire someone to pack up your things. And just because he has to use two canes to walk doesn't mean he can't shoot from a sitting position. They didn't say he had a problem with his hands. I could see a legitimate problem would be if he had some sort of palsy, but the article didn't mention that. I choose not to read things in it that aren't there. I'd kind of like to think I don't have to be built like Xena, Warrior princess to own a gun myself.

Andrea, I'm just having a tough time picturing a scenario where this guy would be better off packing heat. What's he going to do? Drop one cane and reach into his coat pocket for that snub-nose .38? And then what? He dropped his cane- he can't move! The whole situation would be comical- right before it went tragic. Guns pack a bit of a kick when they go off. What are the chances of him hitting the right person (seeing as how he's trying to balance there on just one cane)? And who is he to decide who should be shot? Nah, I got a bad feeling about this one. Anyone that WANTS to use a gun should probably not be allowed.

Well, Chip, I don't know the entire circumstances of the case, and neither do you. You are just making things up out of what you think might happen, based on -- what? (And didn't you read where I said there is no reason he can't fire a gun from a sitting position?) I prefer not to go the paternalistic route of assuming he can't handle a gun just because he can't walk. I don't have a hard time envisioning a situation where he might be able to use a gun. I would think that he has already worked out a method. Crippled people are always looking for ways to cope. If he is unable to handle a gun I doubt he would have gone shopping for one. After all, he could easily injure himself if that was the case. I refuse to treat people like fools or morons just because some part of their body doesn't work.

Oh -- forgot to add: what about that 79-year-old guy who had to walk with the aid of a walker, who shot those two criminals who tried to rob his store? That was all over the blogs lately. I'm surprised you missed that. Should he have not been allowed to own a gun?

Was the guy with the walker sitting down? I'm just saying that this guy's looking to a gun for an easy answer, and that might not be it. It's kind of like driving a car: Lots of people do it, but few do it well. (And some people shouldn't do it at all.) Is he buying a gun because of his disablity? Or because he feels threatened? (And is Maryland really that bad?) I'd hate to see this guy arm himself and then allow that to influence his judgement, getting him in to situations he might otherwise avoid.

And I say you are extrapolating all of these speculations from very thin data. You don't know that any of that is the case. And no, I don't believe the guy in the walker was sitting down. Maybe he was leaning against the counter at his store, or hanging from the ceiling from a wire.

Anyway, I have nothing more to say on this matter. I will just be repeating myself, which pisses me off, because then I start to think I am not making myself clear, and then I start to think that maybe I only think I am typing in English, maybe Chinese is appearing on other people's browsers.

Wait a sec.... You'd never live in the SF Bay Area, but you want to live in Baltimore? Now I know you must be nuts! ;) You must have been given one awful tour of SF.

Balitmore leads the country in murder and syphilis. I got a bit tired of watching drug busts on the way home from school at night. Or reading about another student attacked on campus. Baltimore is okay to visit -- I love the crabs, love the aquarium.... but living there is nuts!

Well, I did change my mind. So I guess there is a pretty good reason to own a gun in that town...

Chip:

The point is that this gentleman has a RIGHT to own a gun, provided by the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Just because you can come up with scenarios where he may not be able to drop a would-be robber or rapist immediately does not affect at all his RIGHT to own a gun.

Baltimore is a nice town to live in. I used to live there. Federal Hill is beautiful. So is Bolton Hill. The near-in suburbs are nice too, like Towson, Timonium. Baltimore County has lots of nice areas, like Owings Mills and Cockeysville. There's a beautful neighborhood right near the harbor and the ballpark called Otterbein. I think you'd like it there, Andrea.

"Although now that I think about it, that didn't work too well for Bernhard Goetz"

Goetz f**ked up bad. He was just fine and well within his rights until he started shooting them in the back as they ran away. No sympathy for the hoods, they only got what they brought on themselves, but Goetz had an obligation to stop when the danger was gone.

Not that it would have helped him anyway in New York.