Shoes, Ships, and Sealing Wax

Not worth it

We had no internet connection at work today. No web, no external e-mail. It was a mixed blessing...no distracting blogs, no annoying customers e-mailing requests...but I felt oddly out-of-touch. At lunch I had to read the news the old-fashioned way, in the actual paper.

I let my daily subscription to the paper go, because I found I was checking things online and half the time I recycled it unread. But I realized today that I miss quite a bit with the online version, because so many fewer things catch my eye since I'm not flipping pages.

One story was about a man who shot two people who were trying to steal his car.

Ellis, 37, a tow truck driver, said he grabbed his 9mm Ruger handgun and rushed outside. "Things just went crazy," he recalled. He said he opened fire on four young men who were near his SUV. Police said later that the four were in the process of stealing it. Two were standing next to the Tahoe and the other two were in it when Ellis pulled the trigger.

Ernest Sockwell, 16, was killed. A 23-year-old man, whom police declined to identify, was hospitalized in critical condition.

Here's the part of the story that struck me:

Late in the afternoon, he stood outside his apartment, in the 13800 block of Briarwood Drive. He stood not far from where the blood had spilled, and he spoke slowly, appearing to fight back tears.

"My biggest regret is for the families of the two kids," said Ellis, wearing pressed tan slacks and a brown dress shirt. Friends and supporters stood with him. "One is dead, and one is fighting for his life. If I could do things over again, I would."

On to the sports page. I was checking out tonight's Redskins-Jets matchup when I saw this story, inside and below the fold, about a high school football player who'd recovered from a gunshot wound.

Markoe Beachley III, a Marine Corps private first class, had been sitting a short distance away, cleaning his .50-caliber hunting rifle when it accidentally went off. The thick bullet and black gunpowder shot across the house, tearing into the right side of Shaun's chest, leaving an entrance wound the size of a softball.

Despite the fact that his "right collarbone was broken and he needed four surgeries -- one to repair a collapsed lung, one to remove debris and dead tissue and two to reconstruct muscles" the young man is a starting tailback this season.

So his, I guess, is a feel-good story.

Here's my problem with guns:

They kill people.

Yeah, yeah...people kill people. And when guns are used legally and responsibly by sportsmen etc etc etc...I know the arguments. In a gun debate in school once, I wrote both pro and con opening and closing statements for my group. I can argue both sides, and I have friends and relatives who hunt, shoot targets, and collect historic pieces.

But I have come to the conclusion that guns in the hands of private citizens hurt more people than they help, and the cost isn't worth it.

I understand Mr. Ellis' rage when he saw his car being stolen. I have a temper. That's one reason why I'll never own a gun. Because I'd never want to say "If I could do things over again, I would."

I'm sure the young Marine had been trained on how to clean a firearm. I'm sure you are supposed to unload a gun before you clean it. Accidents happen, and that guy almost killed his kid brother.

A gun that doesn't exist won't accidentally go off.

A childhood friend of mine shot himself when we were in college. He'd been a hunter and target shooter, had worked at a gun club. He'd been drinking the night he died, and it wasn't clear if he intentionally committed suicide or if it was an accident. Doesn't matter to me. If he'd just been drunk, he probably would have just been hung over the next day. But he had that gun, and there was no next day.

Not worth it.

Posted by Nic at September 4, 2003 05:48 PM