By Scott Benjamin
Arizona Daily Wildcat
September 18, 1997

Running away from fight could be dangerous

Editor:

Josh Schneyer's emotional diatribe against self-defense, "Riding Shotgun - Cajun Style"; Man... Where do I start! How about Josh's inability to differentiate between Colin Ferguson, who was convicted of engaging in a premeditated shooting spree of innocent disarmed and helpless (thanks to New York gun laws) victims on a commuter train, and a Louisiana man convicted for using a firearm to defend himself from personal attack by an admitted criminal? We'll get back to that one, but first, I also want to address Josh's conjecture that the easing of laws restricting legitimate self-defense will somehow lead to "rampant trigger-happiness" when data from the FBI Uniform Crime Report shows that the rate of innocent people mistakenly shot by armed citizens is but a bare fraction of the rate of innocent people mistakenly shot by the police.

The reason isn't too difficult to understand... Police usually arrive after the fact, and don't immediately know who's who, but when you are the one under attack, it's pretty easy to figure out who the "bad guy" is.

When quoting that claimed newspaper headline of "THREE KILLED ON FIRST NIGHT OF 'CARJACKER LAW' VALIDITY", Josh failed to clarify whether those three were innocent people killed by mistake, or (far more likely) three criminals killed in self defense while attacking innocent people. There IS a BIG difference, legally and morally, whether Josh chooses to accept it or not. And this brings us back to Josh's confusion, that those who refuse to be victimized, and fight back, whether it be from murderer, rapist, mugger, or "mere" carjacker, are somehow morally inferior to the very thugs and predators whom they thwart.

The recently popular attitude of just rolling over and offering your life, body, wallet, or car to any thug who demands it not only statistically places you at greater risk than if you defend yourself, but it also exacerbates the problem to society by insuring that crime is easy and safe.

Scott Benjamin
Senior Staff Technician
Optical Sciences