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Plain Dealer Supporting Self Defense Hero in Colorado Church Shooting |
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Written by Todd Coughlin
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Wednesday, 12 December 2007 |
For many years Pro-Gun groups have butted heads with the media on many
different fronts (literary works, television broadcast, etc.). Many times
the animosity comes from publishing Licensee names, distrust of "people who
own firearms", and by publishing outright lies.
Folks in the Northern Ohio area have been exposed to some real gems over the years. (Think back or use a web search engine for "Doug Clifton"). While remnants
of Mr. Clifton remain, it seems as if the Cleveland Plain Dealer may
be turning a corner.
By now you have read about newly crowned hero Jeanne Assam, the heroic woman that stopped a crazed killer that attacker her church in Colorado Springs, CO. What you might
not know is that some folks (continue) to see the light, while other folks
who publish news items may be seeing that same light a little clearer.
Recently, the Plain Dealer has published (somewhat) pro-gun
articles, but the newspaper showed up today with a very strong Pro-Gun-Rights message:
It's nice to see a gun even things up a bit
Kevin O'Brien
Plain Dealer Columnist
When the U.S. Supreme Court gets around to deciding what the Second Amendment means to Justice Anthony Kennedy - who, we are constantly reminded, is the guy who really matters - I hope it won't forget what happened on Sunday in Colorado Springs.
What started out as a perfect example of the dangers of allowing Americans to keep and bear arms - the fatal shooting of two teenage girls and the wounding of their father in a church parking lot - ended instead as a nearly perfect example of the wisdom of allowing Americans to keep and bear arms.
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I've got a perfect example of something else, though. It's what happens in a place full of innocent, unsuspecting people where no one is armed except the guy who decides to go on a rampage. That one played out at a shopping mall in Omaha last Wednesday.
No law-abiding person had a gun to stop the homicidal maniac who used his stepfather's semiautomatic rifle to blow away the mall's no-guns-allowed policy, then killed eight people.
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Four days later and 600 miles away, another guy with criminal intent walked into the foyer of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs with three guns, more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition and 7,000 human targets from whom to choose.
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He wasn't expecting armed resistance.
I'd be willing to bet that at the moment when church security guard Jeanne Assam pointed her pistol at him, his mind registered exactly the same thought he'd been planting in others' minds that day: Wow. A gun. And in church, no less! Who would have thought?
Assam, with admirable humility and without a flicker of emotion, told the crux of the story at a Monday meeting with reporters: "I saw him coming through the doors. . . . I took cover and I waited for him to get closer, and I came out of cover and identified myself and engaged him and took him down."
The reporters applauded, as should we all, including the U.S. Supreme Court.
It would be wonderful if the court issued a ruling that said, "Of course law-abiding Americans are allowed to own guns. Come on, ask us a harder one." Instead, we'll probably get the court's usual hair, carefully chosen and carefully split.
Either way, I hope that when Anthony Kennedy sits down to decide which way his vote will swing, he'll consider that when the shooting starts, an armed church is a safer place than a "gun-free" mall.
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