Police say it all started when two men tried to hold up Sergio Jewelers in the 3100-block of West 63rd Street. They say the owner, Sergio Vazquez, pulled out his own gun--sparking a shootout with the suspects.I wonder if Sergio's gun is "legal"? If not, he's making us all look bad and deserves to have the book thrown at him, right?
The owner wounded the two suspects. One of those men is now hospitalized in critical condition.
I also think Father Pfleger ought to lead an indignant mob down to the store and threaten to snuff him out.
[Via Zachary G]
15 comments:
Just thinking about the violence disturbs Vazquez' son, he said.
"It's not going to be the same anymore. No, you have to be on alert with everybody," said Manuel Vazquez.
Sucks to have your "I'm perfectly safe here" delusion punctured, doesn't it?
In Birmingham, Alabama today, a store clerk was killed by a man who simply walked up to the counter and shot him, no preamble, no demands, nothing. He tried to take cover behind the counter that's topped with bullet-resistant glass, but he was killed anyway.
Carry, and be wary. Permission? Do killers ask permission? They have the luxury of time to think and, if they're caught, lawyers and a jury, and more time to make up lies. Victims have a few seconds before the oxygenated blood leaves their brain.
This stands a chance of being the first implementation of the so-called "Hale DelMar" law, which was enacted by the Illinois legislature after the Wilmette homeowner by that name shot a burglar in self-defense and was then charged with illegal gun possession. The law makes the defensive use of a gun illegally possessed an affirmative defense for the possession charge.
However, no local news reports have yet mentioned any charges against Vasquez.
"The same time I have the money, I have the gun in the same place. When I heard the shoot, I take the gun and we shoot together. I shoot this way and he shot me over here," Sergio Vazquez.
From this statement (and allowing that Mr. Vasquez does not seem to be a native English speaker), it sounds like if he hadn't started shooting, he'd be dead right now. "When I heard the shoot" sounds like either one cockroach told another to shoot Mr. Vasquez, or one did fire.
Good for Mr. Vasquez!
Pfleger can emulate Al 'Sharpie' Sharpton's '91 Crown Heights pogrom...
It depends what you mean by "legal". If you mean did he have a CCW I don't think anything should happen to him. A person shouldn't need a piece of paper to defend his own home or place of business, or themselves for that matter.
But if you mean "legal" as in did he purchase the gun on the black market, than yes he should have the book thrown at him.
Great blog here fyi. I enjoy it.
Anthony
The Hale De Mar law won't be tested here because they won't file charges for violating the ordinance.
This same story happens every now and again in Chicago and charges are never filed.
I wonder how long you guys are going to milk the whole 'prag' thing. Someone might get the idea you got your feelings hurt or something.
Well, gee, Melancton--I guess as long as the prags milk the whole SNBI thing.
Why is it you don't seem to have a problem with that?
I guess I must not be reading those forums.
I am going to play the prag thing until they quit telling me I should be as malleable as they are. When they quit demanding, suggesting, and hinting that if we just made it known that we would accept anything done to us as long as there was no immediate cost to us, excepting liberty of course, I will quit playing the prag thing.
I will quit playing the prag thing when they quit calling us Principles Freaks. I will quit playing the prag thing when they quit gettin all in an old ladies' sewing circle dither because our words are not courteous enough to those who abuse us..
Need more?
I prefer, when I think it appropriate, to avoid targeting such comments at any specific individual gun blogger, Melancton, because things could quickly result in inflammatory counterposts, and addressing that would take away from the limited time I have to work on the stuff I want to work on.
But we're dealing with the most important ideological divide in the "gun activist" community today, and if you're not reading those other blogs, you probably don't realize what a minority voice this is--and some don't even want us to have that.
I think it should be possible to discuss this divide without resulting to insults. Before 'prags' we were dubbed 'incrementalists'. Now, apparently, some are poking back.
I don't think it accomplishes anything positive to continue the insults. It places people on the defensive and shuts their minds to reasoned logic.
And that's why I many times do not name names. But "pragmatic" and "incrementalist" were labels they initially appended to themselves. There are at times two very different schools of thought on how we should proceed--one says there is no room for what I and like-minded folk sometimes do here--but here's the thing--we're painted as ONLY using that approach, which is patently untrue. I also pursue many of the same in-the-system tactics when I think it might be fruitful--I just don't shut out a more hard line approach as being a legitimate part of the overall toolkit to be used when other approaches aren't designed for the job at hand.
Well, there is a difference between saying "I'm pragmatic" and "I'm a filthy prag!" LOL.
I think those accusing others of only taking a hard line and not working to acheive X, etc. are making assumptions and might often be wrong.
However, you guys might want to consider that some of us that are pragmatic and/or incrementalists might also have a point at which we'll take a hard line.
"However, you guys might want to consider that some of us that are pragmatic and/or incrementalists might also have a point at which we'll take a hard line."
I would hope that to be true, but from reading those most vociferous on that side of the ledger, I am not encouraged. Not when they even object to straightforward verbiage if it "offends" those who would abuse us.
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