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Fatal D.C. stabbing makes a case for handguns/"Never bring a knife to a gunfight"

1911 Enthusiast

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Fatal D.C. stabbing makes a case for handguns/"Never bring a knife to a gunfight"

Full article Click Here.

Abbreviated article by Courtland Milloy quoted below. Bolding mine.

Robert Leroy Wright, 37, was walking his dog Sunday morning in Southeast Washington when police say he was confronted by a knife-wielding neighbor about “allowing the dog near his yard.” A dispute ensued, and the neighbor, Ellsworth Colbert, 56, stabbed Wright to death, according to D.C. police.

Whether or not this story proves to be as insane as it sounds, the incident as reported does provide a textbook case for legalizing handguns in the District, as well as buttress a ruling Monday by a federal judge that declared significant parts of Maryland’s gun-control law unconstitutional.

To get a permit to carry a gun in Maryland, residents must prove that they have “good and substantial reason” to do so. Hogwash, says the judge. He might have noted that someone like Wright would never have been able to prove that he needed a gun to walk his dog — until Sunday, that is. By then, of course, it would have been too late.

To better understand the benefits of a “concealed carry” firearm, consider how the encounter between Wright and Colbert might have unfolded if Wright had been armed and followed a basic self-defense protocol:

According to police reports, Colbert comes out of his house with a knife in one hand and a stick in the other. Being alert to the approaching threat, an armed Wright would now have several options. He could pull his gun, say, a .40-caliber Glock semiautomatic, which speaks volumes without firing a shot: “Never bring a knife to a gunfight, pal.”

Or he could just wait until the assailant gets close enough to meet the legal definition of justifiable homicide.

In January, two men were pumping gas at a Sunoco station in Prince George’s County when a would-be robber approached with a knife and a can of Mace. Well, wouldn’t you know that the two men turned out to be off-duty D.C. police officers. And out came the Glocks.

Never bring a knife to a gunfight, pal.

Why Wright allowed Colbert to walk right up to him, allegedly with a knife, we may never know. Rule No. 1: If you see someone coming at you with a knife, run the other way. Forget macho. Scream, too.

Wright broke off the encounter and headed home with his dog. But Colbert followed, police said.

Now, if an armed Wright had not already shot Colbert, that would have been the time to do it. A man with a knife following you home? To your wife and children?

Instead, Colbert caught up to him, police said, and a “verbal altercation” ensued — then turned violent. The knife slashed at Wright, cutting his arm then opening up what witnesses described as a “large bleeding gash” on his neck. Apparently in shock, Wright went home and returned to confront Colbert with a shovel.

“You going to stab me?” Wright asked, according to police.

He was stabbed multiple times and died an hour later.

Say what you will about the perils of gun ownership, but nobody can doubt that Wright would be alive today if he’d had one.
 

Stanley

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It's southeast DC. This story is more than plausible. I won't even drive through there...

PG county is even worse.
 
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Marco

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Greene County
assault knives -WTF!!!!!

IMHO, it's a smoke screen to make D.C.'s knife laws more restrictive: a little nugget from that same article

"In some places, such as the District, the knife now surpasses the gun as the weapon most commonly used in reported assaults. In the past six months, from September to Feb. 26, there were 397 reported assaults with knives, compared with 278 with guns. This year, there have been more than 110 reported knife assaults and 73 with guns."

"There’s a service station at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Sheriff Road, at the District and Prince George’s line, that sells assault knives for about $10. The most popular is a spring-loaded Army-style tactical knife with a nasty, three-inch serrated blade curved like a raptor’s claw."
 
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user

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I generally watch a bit of the morning news-faces while the dog's outside chasing imaginary intruders. I use the antiquated roof-antenna to receive the analog broadcasts of now-digitally encoded signals from the D.C. stations (MUCH better than cable!). One thing I've noticed is that the robberies, home invasions, and random shootings pretty much all happen in Maryland (mainly Prince George's County) and D.C. And I always ask myself the same question: "How can this be? They have some of the strictest Gun Control in the country! The news people must be lying!"

And now, it's "assault knives"! Do they have a folding stock, high capacity magazines, and silencers? Tomorrow morning when I get up, I'll make myself some "assault tea", let the "assault dog" go out, sit on my "assault sofa", and watch some "assault tv" to see what the nice people in D.C. and Maryland have been up to.
 
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thebigsd

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Contrarian

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Seattle,WA, , USA
DC stabbing

Reading the comments is almost more informative than the article...

I realize that ''some pigs are more equal than others..."
But there are a lot of ostriches out there as well.
 

Marco

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Greene County
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/1/dcs-crime-solution-be-a-victim/

Mr. Portman asked officials why the city makes it so difficult for law-abiding residents to register guns and refuses to allow them to carry weapons outside of the home.As you can see in the video below, Paul Quander, the District’s deputy mayor for public safety and justice, responded that crime victims should give the criminals what they want. Mr. Portman protested, saying, “But how do you know you’re going live and survive? You’re completely at their mercy.”
Mr. Quander thinks victimhood is preferable to self-defense. “The problem is, if you are armed, it escalates the situation,” Mr. Quander told residents. “It is much better, in my opinion, to be scared, to be frightened, and even if you have to be, to be injured, but to walk away and survive. You’ll heal, and you can replace whatever was taken away.”

[video=youtube;FT8HjqkCWFo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FT8HjqkCWFo&feature=player_embedded[/video]




So, if a criminal threatens me and demands my children/wife I should hand them over without a fight.:banghead:

Just another reason never to be in the District, criminals should be protected from harm.
 
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Turbohugh

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Jan 23, 2014
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United States
Apparently in shock, Wright went home and returned to confront Colbert with a shovel.

Well, can't fix stupid. A guy like this would probably have a gun taken away from them and killed with their own pistol. A 37 yo gets killed by a 50+ Yo ?? Bad judgement all around. Losing your life over dog poop? Stupid.
 

Grapeshot

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May 21, 2006
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Valhalla
I generally watch a bit of the morning news-faces while the dog's outside chasing imaginary intruders. I use the antiquated roof-antenna to receive the analog broadcasts of now-digitally encoded signals from the D.C. stations (MUCH better than cable!). One thing I've noticed is that the robberies, home invasions, and random shootings pretty much all happen in Maryland (mainly Prince George's County) and D.C. And I always ask myself the same question: "How can this be? They have some of the strictest Gun Control in the country! The news people must be lying!"

And now, it's "assault knives"! Do they have a folding stock, high capacity magazines, and silencers? Tomorrow morning when I get up, I'll make myself some "assault tea", let the "assault dog" go out, sit on my "assault sofa", and watch some "assault tv" to see what the nice people in D.C. and Maryland have been up to.
Do not forget to assault and pepper your eggs - spicing the story is not just a Maryland thing.
 
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