Road Rage Shooting in Alabama leaves one Mom dead

One of the best examples of boo-hoo journalism I've seen yet. We damn near got their whole life histories, plus the dog's.

It seems like two hot-headed yuppies got into a game of one-upmanship, one lost her head and one lost her life.

Neither one of them have my sympathy, and while the shooter's lawyer is taking the right path, I hope the state comes down hard on that trigger-happy gal. The husband and brother are at fault here also for not making sure she had training. This is what makes it bad for all of us -- a lot of these
people think it "cute" to have a toy, then lose their heads over a minor incident (The Pepsi Generation) and screw it up for everybody.

Since this happened in Alabama, why are the DC types upset? Evidently they are anti-gun to begin with and would have been upset no matter where the event happened. Do they evince much emotion when their disarmed comrades are killed by the rampaging BGs back there?

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If you can't fight City Hall, at least defecate on the steps.
 
Oatka

That's exactly what happened. They both lost their tempers on I-65, played car tag, and got off on an off-ramp, where the younger of the two women was shot after approaching the older woman's car while screaming.
 
Well, the drift of this article is clear. Here are two apple-pie mom's, just out to do right by their families, and now one is dead because of a gun. It could happen to anyone, they infer. This could be you or your wife - none of us can be trusted with guns, they're way too dangerous. This wasn't the fault of Henson or Foster - there are just toooooo many guns. The police chief is singing the tune they all sing - too bad they so seldom talk with their beat officers.

Now, as a lesson in self control, as an encouragement for training and knowledge, and as an example of the importance of maturity, then the story is fine. But, that isn't the tone of the story, is it?

This altercation went on for miles, and was fed by each of them. I don't buy the line that Foster approached Henson to 'straighten everything out', unless that includes verbally abusing Henson, at best. If Foster had anything in her hands, or made a furtive move, then Henson may have had a difficult decision. After all, she had stayed in her car, and was blocked by Foster. OTOH, it sounds like Henson didn't have enough training to think fast enough in this situation.

If we keep passing laws in the country to fit the lowest common denominator, then we'll all be treated like children. And, then we can all claim a defense for all of our actions like Henson probably will - I was scared, I didn't mean to, I didn't know the gun would go off, I'm just a nice mom, blah, blah, blah. What a pitiful waste. I'm sure the anti-self defense crowd has already added this one to their quiver.
 
Let me ask you two questions:

1) How many times have you gotten out of your car to approach another driver regarding their poor driving habits?

2) How many times have you fired your handgun at someone because of a traffic altercation?

I rest my case. They're both getting what they deserve. Act like animals and be treated like animals...
 
STOOPID....STOOPID....STOOPID!
Forget the gun, what the hell were these two idiots doing in 3000lbs of the deadliest device ever created my man? If they had decided to "tag" each other they could have caused an accident that could have killed alot of innocent people.
Look, life is tough and shot happens."Road rage" is just a fancy term for old fashioned "too pissed off to think". If you can't learn to curb your temper and stay in control, Darwin's law will remove you from the gene pool.
No sympathy here.
 
Gray fox I think you hit it on the head. A shoot out on an interstate is the most foolish thing that can happen. There is no way that you can shoot me if I see the gun. It may mean I have to roll you but your not going to get a shoot off. Its much better to move back and let the ass----- to go on down the road. If that doesn't take care of the altercation you may have to flip him but your not going to have to stay by his side and give him a shot or leave the highway where he can blow you away. That is the reason god gave you brains!
 
Well, when it's over, even if Mrs. Henson somehow beats the criminal charge, she and Mr. Henson can say goodbye to the two story white house with its white-railed front porch and high red shutters, the Jeep Cherokee, the Toyota 4-Runner, and the college education for their eighteen year old son.
 
Somebody posted on another thread that this incident happened in GA. I'm glad that it didn't. It'd be terrible if things like this happend in America. (Alabama's not a State, is it?)
 
Alabama is a state just like California and New York except we have the legal right to defend ourself. And if half the the citizens are armed that means the carjacker has a 50/50 chance of learing that statistic. Nuff said.
 
Clearly we need a ban on road rage.
Perhaps a 5 day wait and background checks before allowing a driver into rush hour traffic.
1 Suburban assualt vehicle per family.
 
Sigh. We've defeated polio & smallpox and put a man on the moon, but we can't overcome basic human stupidity.

I think this was probably compounded by cultural differences. By cultural differences, I mean differences in driving styles and confrontation styles. Every geographic region has it's own "road rules" (like whether you use a turn signal, how fast you drive, whether you tailgate, etc.), and every region has different standards for how confrontations are handled (e.g. how quickly people are ready to fight - in some areas, a lot of yelling & shouting settles a disagreement, in others it will be more likely to become violent).

I don't know about how they handle traffic altercations in San Diego, but in the south, don't get out of your car! It's just not worth it. The guideline I always use is I ask myself "Is this really something I'm prepared to kill or die over?" If the answer is no, let it go. If it is, then at least you've weighed the consequences.

My 2 cents.

[This message has been edited by Danger Dave (edited November 18, 1999).]
 
i have a theory of why we have this road rage today. Twenty five or even 20 years ago, people were not streesed nearly as much on the road to work. Less people were crowding the roads, most women didnt have to work around the clock and could stay home. All sexes, races, religions,and ehtnic groups are working more and enjoying it less in this new Global Plantation. like a bunch of mice in a maze. People are working like dogs to keep UNcle Scam happy with his huge tax haul of all these 2 and 3 jobs per family. Road rage is brought to you by Nafta , Gatt, and the corporations who destroyed the industrial base of this nation and left us low paying service jobs where people need 2 and 3 jobs to make up for that Steel job that is gone with the wind. So many stressed people on these crowded roads that I am surprised millions doont go nuts. You cant pack these roads with stressed out masses and not expect trouble.
 
The reason we have more roadrage today is that we have an entire culture involved in wanting to control other people and they cant stand it when someone violates their standards.
They want it their way because thay have been trained to expect it. It IS a tough world out there. If people get killing mad over minor stuff, they are nutz. Either one could have backed off at any time.
No pity here, either!

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Better days to be,

Ed
 
I just heard about this this a.m. and posted a full length question under the legal forum. My question (in brief) is about a similar incident in Texas. Just after Texas passed their CCW law, the anti's screamed that something like this would happen, and when it did they sreamed "I told you so". However, the news people never reported what happened in the trials. The shooter was found by a jury to have acted in self-defense and he also won a civil suit against the man he shot because he had been beaten so badly he lost vision and hearing plus broken bones and cuts. Can anyone verify if I have recalled this correctly?

My point is that we must keep an eye on this story to make sure that the entire story is reported truthfully because we know that the media will use it as an anti-gun piece regardless of the facts.

Jack
 
Agreed. An opportunity to add emotions, faces, character, and lifestyles to the gun issue. It could have all been said in a short paragraph.

Be interesting to find out how many people have been killed on the same roadways in traffic accidents. You'll never hear about them.
 
I spent the entire week-end in a Defensive Driving class. One fact they gave us jumped out at me:

Available highways in America have increased 1% in the last (I forgot the number) years.

Vehicle miles in America have increased 35% in the same time period.

More cars + more miles driven = heavier traffic = more impatience and feeling of impotence. Add less acceptance of personal responsibility = more road rage.

What do YOU think?
 
I think that America's motorists need to ask themselves a few questions:

1) Is driving aggressively to shorten your trip by a few minutes worth the risk of car damage, personal injury and legal costs and penalties?

2) If you chase after a rude driver and retaliate with your own rude driving, do you really think that will teach the offender "a lesson"?

3) If someone is too selfish and/or stupid to exercise common courtesy behind the wheel, do you really think that person will be receptive to your advice when you decide to get out of your car for a chat?

4) How is the target of your rage, however justified, supposed to know that you're just blowing off steam rather than preparing to inflict grave bodily harm?

I've been honked at, cut off, screamed at, and otherwise provoked in traffic, and I've felt the urge to retaliate, but I've always had enough sense to just let it go. Living well is the best revenge.
 
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