In some small percentage of cases, a crime victim disarms their attacker. The attacker usually runs off. In one case, the bad guy even returned to ask for the gun back. My experience is that cases in which victims disarm attackers are considerably more common than the other way around. It’s not hard to understand why. The victim has a lot more to gain from snatching the bad guy’s gun, and the attacker more to lose if he continues the fight. Sometimes the victim turns the gun on the attacker, as happen in a recent case in Chicago. It happened in the 6600 block of South State Street, one of the most dangerous areas of the city.
After the victim handed over an undisclosed item, he made a move for the gun, Antonietti said. During a brief struggle, the gun went off and Esper was shot in his back, court records show.
Esper ran off, and the victim gave the gun, a .22-caliber Taurus Ultralight, to police. Antonietti said officers recovered six live rounds and two spent rounds.
In a science fiction novel, The Probability Broach, people who disarm their attackers get to keep the appropriated weapons. It seems reasonable enough, once it’s determined that the weapon wasn’t stolen or used in another crime. Certainly, there is no reason to destroy a finely crafted self defense tool like the little Taurus shown.
The victim took a serious risk in obtaining it. He accomplished a considerable amount of societal good by preventing further crimes that would likely have been committed by the attacker using it. It only seems just that he should have it, after due process, of course.
©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Gun Watch