“Police say two teens assaulted 88-year-old Delbert Belton outside the Eagles Lodge in North Spokane Wednesday night around 8pm,” khq.com reports. “Belton was rushed to the hospital where he was placed in the intensive care unit but later died. Police are actively searching for two suspects. They are described to be 16-19 in age, black males & both wearing black clothing, one was wearing a black ‘Do-Rag’ police say.” On the radio this morning Glenn Beck called for Uncle Sam to pursue the attack as a hate crime, focusing on the assault’s black-on-white aspect in the wake of the recent Oklahoma shooting (where two blacks and a white teen shot an Australian college student). Nonsense . . .
Who cares what motivated the murderers? People without a moral compass who threaten, assault or kill fellow citizens should be punished for their actions not their intent. You get into that discussion—and I’m hearing endless “debates” over marriage, education, social welfare, religion, violent videogames, etc. in regards to the Oklahoma atrocity—and you miss the point. There will always be evil people. Always.
This heinous crime highlights the need for armed self-defense. How else could an 88-year-old man defend himself against murderous teens? If the thugs had gunned down Mr. Belton, a vet wounded during World War Two, there’d be immediate calls for gun control. The fact that the man known as “Shorty” was beaten to death while defenseless should trigger calls for easy access to armed self-defense for all Americans. As they have here.