TexasCHLforum.com

Soccerdad1995 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 27, 2018 5:12 pm

LTUME1978 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 27, 2018 4:30 pm

mojo84 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 27, 2018 9:28 am The video makes it pretty obvious what happened.

Yes, it sure does. Older gentleman gets forcefully shoved to the pavement by the boyfriend of the lady that parked illegally in a handicapped spot. Older gentleman did nothing wrong. If fact, we need more people to step up and speak out when the "privileged folks" break the law or those "privileged folks" will continue their behavior and escalate from there.

I am amazed at the people that are defending the behavior of the boyfriend. Go back and watch the video again. Look at the guy that came out of the store after the boyfriend and how fast and how far he went once he saw the gun coming out. If the boyfriend was truly afraid, he should have been back tracking just as fast. The fact that he did not move much while starring down the wrong end of a gun would lead a reasonable person think that he was not afraid for his safety and may very well intend to attack again.

Ecclesiastes 8:11 When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong.

I have to disagree with you on one point. The older gentleman definitely did something wrong, IMHO. I believe that a non-LEO should not initiate an altercation when they witness a traffic infraction that does not directly impact them. This is especially true when armed.

I also have not seen a single post in this 8 page thread saying that the boyfriend did nothing wrong. If there are such posts (that I missed) then I disagree with those posters. The boyfriend escalated the confrontation that had been initiated by the shooter, in a big way, by turning it physical. It may be understandable for him to instinctively come to the defense of his girlfriend and children, but a verbal response would have been better, IMHO. Something like communicating to the shooter that he needs to move away from the vehicle immediately (actual wording would violate forum policies in a big way).

But here's the key point, to me. As a LTC holder, when I choose to be armed, I believe that I have an increased responsibility to be a good citizen. This includes avoiding confrontations over traffic or parking infractions. Just this morning on my drive to work, I witnessed approximately 50 drivers who were speeding. I didn't initiate a confrontation with any of them, nor with the folks who failed to signal when making lane changes or who were following too closely. An untold number of tough use of force calls were avoided just because I decided not to play batman and initiate a confrontation when I saw someone breaking a law. The shooter in this case did the exact opposite.

Middle Age Russ wrote: ↑Mon Jul 23, 2018 11:05 am

If you were to walk out of the store and see some guy standing there chewing out your wife or girlfriend, how would you have responded? Would you not go into an immediate defend your loved one mode?

I would definitely come to a measured defense of my wife if someone was chewing her out. On the other hand, my wife would not be parked in a handicapped space -- even if the car was tagged appropriately -- unless she or a passenger in the car was significantly handicapped. I say a measured defense for a reason. Words are, generally speaking, no reason to inject force into a situation. My response would have likewise been verbal rather than a use of force.

This incident went off the rails when a thug used force to make his point. While I don't see anything "right" about the actions of the shooter, particularly when acting in a verbally aggressive manner to initiate this whole confrontation, he appeared to be escalating no further until force was introduced by the now-dead boyfriend. Like so many cases, this incident was preventable by either party. Neither of them, in that moment, acted in a measured manner that might have prevented this loss of life and the aftermath.