It’s Too Bad the Guy Didn’t Just Let Them Hurt His Employees and Take His Property
August 16th, 2009
Here’s some slanted coverage of an event in New York:
2 suspects dead, 2 injured after 72-year-old opens fire in New York City
Sounds pretty sensational, no? Here’s the first few paragraphs of the AP story:
The sidewalk outside the Harlem store still was smeared with blood Friday, and the glass on the door still was blown out.
Above the entrance, someone had scribbled the words, “Abandon hope all ye who enter here.”
Less than 24 hours after a deadly showdown at the shop worthy of a Clint Eastwood script, Charles “Gus” Augusto Jr. entered his store — oblivious of the inscription taken from Dante’s “Inferno.”
Sounds simply brutal.
Four guys walked into a commercial restaurant equipment wholesaler and demanded “the money.” When there was no money, they pistol-whipped an employee and waved the gun at a cashier. When he sensed that the robbers were preparing to shoot, he pulled a 12-gauge and let them have it.
Here’s more neighborhood silliness:
Reactions to the shooting were mixed.
Frida Rodriguez called it “a sad day” for the neighborhood.
Augusto “was defending his work, his business, so you could perceive that as being heroic,” she said. “But on the other hand, these kids died.”
Uh, Frida, there is no “but.” He was defending his work and his business. No “but.”
If the bad guys had pistol-whipped everyone and gotten away clean with a few bucks, there would have been little or no new coverage. Little or no hand-wringing over “a sad day.” Little or no “mixed reaction.” Criminals pull this shit all the time every day.
Then suddenly someone defends himself and it’s a cause for worry.
Tags: NY
August 16th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
Yeah, what would you expect from the media though?
From what I have read of this prior, he pursued at least one of them briefly and shot one in the back. I’m not sure what laws there are on the escalation of the use of force, but from a strictly fire discipline point of view he probably used more than he had to to accomplish his own safety and that of his store. But then when your adrenaline is flowing and your life is potentially at risk, you don’t exactly have time to break out the calculator and note pad and add up all the pros and cons, then divide by the law.
Fact is, the man defended himself and his livelihood from thugs, and that should not be a tragedy anywhere. If there is any tragedy, its that a society like ours turns out so many criminals that this sort of action is even necessary. But that kind of introspection would mean that we all as a society have work to do to improve ourselves, not simply require others to disarm and submit. Clearly the less appealing alternative.
August 18th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
[...] DON’T FOLLOW THESE LINKS YET, but, GunPundit found a beauty of a story. over at [...]
August 19th, 2009 at 10:05 am
Here is the story from the opposite perspective. I am not sure which treatment is better or worse for the firearm community…
http://www.nypost.com/seven/08152009/news/regionalnews/id_shoot_again_if_i_had_to_184655.htm