Back when I was in high school, my best friend (not shown) flipped off the driver of an enormous Lincoln Continental for cutting us off. The barge pilot — license plate “Johnny” — proceeded to ram us, trying to kill us. Even though I was in a Pinto station wagon (with Pirelli tires!), I managed to get enough distance to pull into someone’s garage undetected.
I’ve never flipped anyone off while driving, especially since I started carrying a firearm. I have no desire to engage in any confrontation with anyone who might turn violent. Because this can happen [via Texas’ star-telegram.com] . . .
On June 25, as Dylan Spaid merged from an entrance ramp onto Interstate 20 in south Arlington, he nearly collided with a black BMW 535i, setting off an unimaginable chain of deadly events.
Spaid, 19, was not happy and flipped off the driver of the BMW, Spaid’s girlfriend, Kristana Huggins, said. The driver sped up and pulled alongside Spaid. The passenger’s side window was rolled down and a single shot was fired, hitting Spaid in the head, killing him.
Huggins, who was in the front passenger seat, grabbed the wheel and tried to steer the pickup to safety before crashing into a tire shop. The killer sped off, heading east on I-20, and remains at large.
The author of this article wants readers to see this incident, and a less clear one which sounds an awful lot like a defensive gun use (over a door ding), as a reason to limit “access” to firearms.
What just happened was another frightening, seemingly random encounter involving impulsive rage that led to a deadly shooting, an incident that criminal justice experts and psychologists who study the causes of violence say is a sobering commentary on society and the accessibility of firearms.
I see it as a sobering commentary on the nature of man. Well, some men (and women), people who don’t value life. Their existence, which cannot be prevented by gun control, is an argument for firearms freedom.
What can be prevented: some violent encounters. To quote Rudyard Kipling, keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you. Or, as Lord Humongous advised, just walk away. If you can. If you can’t, well, keep calm and carry on.