Don Natale writes:
I was wondering how the press would spin the doctor DGU in Pennsylvania. Well today I found out, they’re reporting intentionally ambiguous headlines of the format, “Gunfight erupts between doctor and patient…why God, why?”. From sfgate.com: ‘Cause sought for gunfight between patient, doctor’ (since changed). From our friends north of the border: ‘Gunfight breaks out between patient, doctor at Philadelphia hospital.” Then there’s the reliably anti-gun Star Tribune: “Authorities seek motive for gunfight between patient, psychiatrist at Pennsylvania hospital.” The Strib’s editor must have gone to J-school with the Washington Post’s headline writer: “Authorities search for motive in gunfight between psychiatric patient and doctor.” That’s pretty clever huh? . . .
It makes it sound like a routine office visit between Dr. Lee Silverman and Richard Plotts — who were both law abiding citizens, until they weren’t — mysteriously broke out into a gunfight right in the middle of Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital. Because, you know, that’s naturally what happens when civilians decide to carry guns. They tend to shoot it out, just like the wild west. People who pack heat are just a bunch of rowdy cowboys looking for an excuse to pull the trigger.
What these headlines don’t say is anything along the lines of, “Motive sought for psychiatric patient’s murderous shooting spree.” That’s actually something people would like to know. The cause of the “gunfight” however, isn’t really a mystery at all. When Dr. Silverman returned fire — he engaged in a defensive gun use — it was motivated by watching his coworker get shot in the face. And by rounds fired at him by Plotts that grazed his head and hit his hand.
In short, Dr. Silverman made the wise decision to use his right to armed self defense to stop a would-be mass murderer before he could kill any more innocent people. Now, was that really so hard?