Allen_Raiford
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HERE IS HIS LATEST DRIVEL-
You'd never guess this isn't the wild west
By Jim Spencer.
Last Saturday's shootout in downtown Hampton came too close to Dodge City for comfort. Police say two groups of men and women got into an argument in the parking lot of the Miller Mart at the corner of Settlers Landing Road and Armistead Avenue around 8:45 p.m. Feb. 26.
They determined to settle the confrontation the Second Amendment way.
To establish the premise that might makes right, one man flashed a handgun at his verbal assailants, then hopped into a car with his friends.
Not to be outdone, a man police identify as 23-year-old Travis Bishop went to his own car, pulled out his own gun and opened fire on the Flashmaster and his pals.
Problem was, Bishop was a lousy shot and blew out the window of a Honda that just happened to be rolling into the parking lot at the time.
The 24-year-old driver of the Honda did what apparently came natural to him. He pulled out his gun and started spreading lead.
By this time, of course, the Flashmaster was also pumping rounds at Bishop.
Thank God no one was hurt. At the same time, I didn't realize Hampton had become a free-fire zone where everyone is locked and loaded.
A couple of weeks ago, I stopped at this very convenience store to pick up a sub sandwich on my way to a Hampton School Board meeting.
Today, I'm only half kidding when I say I feel lucky to have escaped with my life.
What happened at the Miller Mart was powerful testimony for gun control. Existing laws of this state and country let any number of loose cannons walk around armed and without accountability.
Police plan to arrest only one of the three shooters in this incident. That would be Bishop, the guy who went to his car after having a weapon flashed in his face and came out shooting. The cops intend to charge Bishop with two counts of attempted maiming, two counts of use of a firearm and one count of firing into an occupied vehicle. He's still at large.
So, too, is everyone else. But apparently they all get a pass from the law.
Police talked to the Honda driver and decided he acted in self-defense, a Hampton police spokesman said. The state code makes it a crime to purposely fire a gun inside city limits -- unless you're defending your life and/or property. That makes sense if you're going to let just about anybody carry a gun. It's the idea that it's OK for so many people to be walking around with weapons that's crazy.
Even the Honda driver, who owned his gun legally and is the least culpable person in the Miller Mart shootout, courted disaster with the shoot-first-ask-questions-later strategy. Police say one of his shots lodged in a parked car of someone uninvolved in the fracas. It was only blind luck that the bullet wasn't lodged in a bystander. The Honda driver put plenty of innocent people at deadly risk by playing vigilante in the parking lot of a busy convenience store on a Saturday night.
The cops are still trying to find the Flashmaster and his buddies. But the really depressing thing is that the cops probably won't be able to make any charges stick if they do.
Forget that Flash and friends started this whole thing by using a weapon to intimidate. Forget that one of them, presumably the Flashmaster himself, fired at Bishop. Forget that no one knows if the shooter was old enough to legally have the gun or how he got it or whether it had been stolen from someone else or if it had been used in a crime.
To make a firearm brandishing charge stick, said the police spokesman, Bishop would have to testify against the Flashmaster. Bishop's not likely to cooperate with prosecutors who are trying to put him in jail anyway. And prosecutors aren't going to make a deal to win a misdemeanor conviction by cutting an alleged felon slack.
Everything about this incident and the reaction to it leaves a knot in the stomach. The citizens of Hampton are so fearful or aggressive that they presume a need to carry weapons. Once equipped, they automatically rely on bullets to resolve conflicts. The legal system, driven by the right to keep and bear arms, ensures that the resulting gunfire is defensible and, therefore, inevitable.
The message is clear:
Head for the nearest gun shop, make a purchase and prepare to take the law into your own hands. The Old West has come East for the 21st century.
Jim Spencer can be reached at 247-4731 or by e-mail at jlspencer@dailypress.com or Talk Back to Jim Spencer at dailypress.com/spencerfeedback.htm
[This message has been edited by Allen_Raiford (edited March 06, 2000).]
HERE IS HIS LATEST DRIVEL-
You'd never guess this isn't the wild west
By Jim Spencer.
Last Saturday's shootout in downtown Hampton came too close to Dodge City for comfort. Police say two groups of men and women got into an argument in the parking lot of the Miller Mart at the corner of Settlers Landing Road and Armistead Avenue around 8:45 p.m. Feb. 26.
They determined to settle the confrontation the Second Amendment way.
To establish the premise that might makes right, one man flashed a handgun at his verbal assailants, then hopped into a car with his friends.
Not to be outdone, a man police identify as 23-year-old Travis Bishop went to his own car, pulled out his own gun and opened fire on the Flashmaster and his pals.
Problem was, Bishop was a lousy shot and blew out the window of a Honda that just happened to be rolling into the parking lot at the time.
The 24-year-old driver of the Honda did what apparently came natural to him. He pulled out his gun and started spreading lead.
By this time, of course, the Flashmaster was also pumping rounds at Bishop.
Thank God no one was hurt. At the same time, I didn't realize Hampton had become a free-fire zone where everyone is locked and loaded.
A couple of weeks ago, I stopped at this very convenience store to pick up a sub sandwich on my way to a Hampton School Board meeting.
Today, I'm only half kidding when I say I feel lucky to have escaped with my life.
What happened at the Miller Mart was powerful testimony for gun control. Existing laws of this state and country let any number of loose cannons walk around armed and without accountability.
Police plan to arrest only one of the three shooters in this incident. That would be Bishop, the guy who went to his car after having a weapon flashed in his face and came out shooting. The cops intend to charge Bishop with two counts of attempted maiming, two counts of use of a firearm and one count of firing into an occupied vehicle. He's still at large.
So, too, is everyone else. But apparently they all get a pass from the law.
Police talked to the Honda driver and decided he acted in self-defense, a Hampton police spokesman said. The state code makes it a crime to purposely fire a gun inside city limits -- unless you're defending your life and/or property. That makes sense if you're going to let just about anybody carry a gun. It's the idea that it's OK for so many people to be walking around with weapons that's crazy.
Even the Honda driver, who owned his gun legally and is the least culpable person in the Miller Mart shootout, courted disaster with the shoot-first-ask-questions-later strategy. Police say one of his shots lodged in a parked car of someone uninvolved in the fracas. It was only blind luck that the bullet wasn't lodged in a bystander. The Honda driver put plenty of innocent people at deadly risk by playing vigilante in the parking lot of a busy convenience store on a Saturday night.
The cops are still trying to find the Flashmaster and his buddies. But the really depressing thing is that the cops probably won't be able to make any charges stick if they do.
Forget that Flash and friends started this whole thing by using a weapon to intimidate. Forget that one of them, presumably the Flashmaster himself, fired at Bishop. Forget that no one knows if the shooter was old enough to legally have the gun or how he got it or whether it had been stolen from someone else or if it had been used in a crime.
To make a firearm brandishing charge stick, said the police spokesman, Bishop would have to testify against the Flashmaster. Bishop's not likely to cooperate with prosecutors who are trying to put him in jail anyway. And prosecutors aren't going to make a deal to win a misdemeanor conviction by cutting an alleged felon slack.
Everything about this incident and the reaction to it leaves a knot in the stomach. The citizens of Hampton are so fearful or aggressive that they presume a need to carry weapons. Once equipped, they automatically rely on bullets to resolve conflicts. The legal system, driven by the right to keep and bear arms, ensures that the resulting gunfire is defensible and, therefore, inevitable.
The message is clear:
Head for the nearest gun shop, make a purchase and prepare to take the law into your own hands. The Old West has come East for the 21st century.
Jim Spencer can be reached at 247-4731 or by e-mail at jlspencer@dailypress.com or Talk Back to Jim Spencer at dailypress.com/spencerfeedback.htm
[This message has been edited by Allen_Raiford (edited March 06, 2000).]