When a gun is pointed at you, even for a split second, the barrel seems a whole lot larger than it really is. I’ve been unfortunate enough to experience that due to someone’s unsafe gun handling, so I’m talking from first-hand experience. Because of that, I don’t get worked up when there’s an officer-involved shooting, and the person shot by the police has a BB gun. I hate that it happened, and I feel awful for the officer, because I know that’s got to screw with a person’s head.
They’re not going to measure the barrel diameter before acting because they can’t.
However, there’s another reason why officers shouldn’t be getting blasted by ignorant people when something like that happens. That reason is that BB guns aren’t harmless.
Initial information informed deputies that an adult male, later identified as 33-year-old Geovanni Malacara-Hernandez, had been injured from an accidental discharge of a pellet or BB gun involving a young child.
Once deputies, Othello EMS and Adams County Fire District 5 arrived on scene, they began performing life-saving efforts “for a prolonged period of time,” according to the Adams County Sheriff’s Office. Malacara-Hernandez was then transported to Othello Community Hospital where medical personnel continued performing life-saving measures.
Unfortunately, Malacara-Hernandez succumbed to his injuries and died.
Police are investigating.
Now, there’s not much more available in this story other than what I’ve just shared, so we don’t know the specifics of whether it was an actual BB gun, a pellet gun, or what the weapon was specifically. Pellet guns are useful for hunting small game, which means they’re capable of putting down things a bit larger than a squirrel or rabbit. BB guns typically aren’t, but there have been reports of fatal shootings with them.
These aren’t toys. Yes, we buy them for kids, but responsible parents tend to treat them like firearms, and for a very good reason. They can injure or kill someone.
No, they’re not as deadly as actual firearms, but that’s beside the point.
So, when you consider this, think about a police officer rolling up to a suspect, only for that suspect to produce a BB gun. Either the officer knows it’s a BB gun or he doesn’t. In most cases, he doesn’t, but let’s say he does this time. Should he just assume that he’ll be the rule rather than the exception who gets killed with an air pistol? Should he simply let himself get shot and pray that the odds are in his favor?
What about the armed citizen? We can find ourselves in the exact same position.
I’m not talking about the legality of anything, mind you. I’m not an attorney, and while I’m an opinionated cuss about all kinds of things I probably should remain silent on, I’m not trying to delve into what will happen in a court of law.
I’m talking about what should happen in that courtroom. What should happen is that, whether police officer or private citizen, anyone who points a BB gun at someone should be shot in self-defense, because it’s not a toy they were pointing at the good guy with a gun. It actually shouldn’t get to that courtroom, because like it or not, a BB gun is a lethal weapon, much like a skateboard or a baseball bat can be lethal weapons, even if we buy them for our kids.
Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
Help us continue to report on and expose the Democrats’ gun control policies and schemes. Join Bearing Arms VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Read the full article here
