There Can Be Only One

I haven't commented on the whackjob who stabbed a guy to death and then cut him into convenient pieces--on a Greyhound bus full of passengers. In Canada. It's gruesome, but others have said it all better. There's just one thing: I carry a gun in accordance with Illinois law. That means I carry an unloaded pistole in a case; specifically, I carry a SIG-Sauer P220 and two magazines in a Maxpedition Versi-Pack. This is so slow on the draw as to be virtually useless for self-defense. I know; when I practice with the P220, I practice opening the compartment, drawing the gun and a magazine (moving laterally off the line of attack all the while) loading and charging the gun, putting all the rounds in a target and then drawing the next magazine and reloading. After over a year of practicing this way, I've got it down to such a science that, while the bad guys would have time to stop for a cup of coffee while waiting for me to draw and fire, they probably couldn't have dessert. I tried to time it once, but there was no calendar at the range.

I don't carry it for self-defense, really. I carry it because it pisses off politicians and busybodies. But then again, there are these incredibly rare freak occurrences when something terrible is being done to someone right in front of you, and it might be nice to be armed when you try to stop it. From the accounts, it doesn't sound like anyone tried to stop the MFIQ (it ends with "In Question), but we can't know from news reports. What's more, although I know such times are rare, the time my sister was nearly abducted on the street in broad daylight was another. Her assailant was never caught. If the guy who beat him off her had been armed, he may have been able to hold the attacker--and if she'd been armed in a fashion illegal here, but perfectly legal in Missouri, Iowa, Kentucky and Indiana, she may have been able to do it without him.

Anyway, Second City Cop had the best comment, upon noting that one witness said, and I quote, "While we were waiting on the side of the road, [the MFIQ] was taunting the police with the head in his hand."

"We don't know for sure, but if some guy is taunting us with a head, he's going to get lit up. We're pretty sure we could beat it in court somehow."

Well, one permits oneself to hope, gentlemen. For the record, I agree. If you're taunting the armed men with the head of your victim, well . . . . personally, I would simply say that I considered it necessary to stop him as quickly as possible in order to maximize the chance that the head could be reattached. Any prosecutor who would dare take that to a jury deserves to win.