Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 12:05 pm
At last, true racial equality in South Carolina. A black vigilante can now kill with the same élan, casualness and freedom from prosecution as his white counterpart. In fact the black man can double down. Two for the price of one if you will. And if you’re a felon and some silly old law like the Federal Gun Control Act of 1968 prohibits you from possessing or acquiring a gun or ammo, not to worry. The local gun-nut sheriff and solicitor will let you ‘borrow’ your girlfriend’s gun from the glove compartment and blast away, no questions asked.
On April 7th Politicus published my piece entitled “Another Questionable Castle Doctrine Shooting in South Carolina”. I wrote of a recent double-killing involving two young black men who were clearly trying to break into an apartment around midnight. Everybody agrees they were up to no good. They also had records, though one could be best described as benign. The only charge he was convicted of was purchasing alcohol as a minor. His partner was more hard-core, having been sentenced on a burglary charge. A 6-year sentence that was reduced to 111 days in jail and three years probation. He was prohibited from carrying a gun.
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In my earlier story I wrote about the ease with which one can get away with killing another human being due to the ‘Stand Your Ground’ and Castle Doctrine’ laws that allow for killing another if you fear for your life or if you might suffer great bodily injury. In the case it is my opinion that this double-killing didn’t remotely rise to the ‘encourage to kill’ standards of South Carolina’s Castle Doctrine law. The initial details of the local incident were sketchy. Guy drives up and sees two dudes breaking into his apartment. Guy grabs gun, kills them both, shooting one in the head. The bodies were found near air conditioning units. No ID of shooter, though there were ID’s, pictures and police records of the victims. There was an unidentified woman in the car with the killer. An investigation was promised.
This is a follow-up of that investigation and its findings. You must know that the local sheriff wants every breathing human armed to the teeth, apparently even felons. He loves guns and thinks of himself as a modern-day Wyatt Earp. He calls an April 10th morning news conference. Here is the local print media account of what happened. The headline read “Man who shot 2 won’t face charges.” Notice it was the man who ‘shot’ 2, not the man who ‘killed’ 2. The sheriff was pictured wearing a snappy blue polo shirt with a sheriff’s star logo over the left pec.
The ‘man’ was finally identified. He was a 29-year-old black man. He had a felony conviction for forgery in 2008 as it turned out. A felon in possession of a gun that ‘shot’ (to death) 2 people. Not that it mattered in ‘anything goes as long as the victim is a minority’, South Carolina. As the newspaper article rightfully pointed out he is prohibited from possessing or acquiring a gun or ammunition. But posses a gun he did. Allegedly ‘acquired’ from the glove compartment of the car he was driving that night. The sheriff said it belonged to the girlfriend. “How convenient!” The sheriff and the solicitor each cited court cases that gave a felon the right to use a gun in self-defense, the feds be damned. “Just because someone makes a mistake doesn’t mean they can’t protect themselves,” is how the sheriff put it.
The basic story and they’re sticking to it, is that the 2 victims were trying to pry open a window to the shooter’s apartment. This story is like the first draft of a 20-draft novel. Man drives up on crime scene; grabs girlfriends gun. Runs up on perpetrators. They either duck or flee. In mortal fear of his life from the duckers and flee’ers, he shoots them both in the head from the front. How do you get shot in the front of the head when you’re running away? Both die. Not a word of a gun being brandished by either victim. Not a word of any physical contact or verbal threats from the victims. Let’s call this what it is. A cold-blooded execution. This may sound shallow, but I’ve seen a picture of the dude who did the shooting. He’s one bad looking cat.
The sheriff claims that there were only two shots fired when TV interviewed a neighbor who told of hearing “shot after shot after shot…”
A gun was supposedly found near one of the bodies. The sheriff refused to discuss the type or registration of the weapon used to kill the young men. That’s because, get this – the gun was being examined for possible use in other cases. He also promises to explain the other gun in the grass.
While I’m at it more gun lore from South Carolina. A Republican Senator has just introduced a bill that would change the state’s concealed carry law. He claims the 2nd amendment, (the gun-nut’s 11th commandment) says nothing about ‘concealed’ permit (nor is there much discussion of the Pulsar Recon 5x50mm Digital Night Vision Scope 78021). So he wants the gun-nut goobers to pack their heat openly. I guess that means slung over your shoulder, tucked into your pants or for the more civilized, nestled neatly into a holster on your hip. How John Wayneish! He’s run into opposition from a fellow Republican however. No, it’s not what you think. I’m sure this guy has a basement full of pet guns as well. He just wants to keep them hidden on his person. He says if you show your firearms openly the bad guys will just wait for somebody not obviously in possession of a 9mm.
Just for your information, the University of Pennsylvania conducted a 2 ½ year study of 677 shootings and determined that those carrying guns were 4.5 times as likely to be shot and 4.2 times more likely to be killed as the non-packer. How’s that for protection?
I’m thinking of starting an “I’m scared, I think I’ll kill the guy” Fantasy League. I’ll pick the local killer; you can start with George Zimmerman.
*Late breaking news – Zimmerman has been charged with 2nd degree murder. He is in custody. Please send Special Prosecutor Angela Corey to South Carolina!
Raised rural & small town, then lived in N.Y., Chicago & LA. Widely traveled. Returned from world wandering to pursue media life of anchorman/reporter and major, medium and small market talk radio. Highly active in politics. Once worked as orderly & security in Mens Lock Ward for the Criminally Insane at a state institution. Much more rational population than current Teapublicans. Great concern for country run by and for the extreme wealthy. The inhumane current running through this country has no precedent in modern history.
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