Last week, my 75 year old father, for the first time in his life, had to shoot someone. He has been a gun owner and concealed carry permit holder for years and years. His office walls are plastered with shooting targets, among other things. They're riddled with bullet holes in tight groupings, the kind of accuracy you want someone who owns guns to have.
Outside on both entrances are signs that read:
The story goes like this: A homeless man who has been living in tent city, in S. Mpls, was asked by a guy renting out my dads basement to do some painting. He did one job and got paid. He showed up to my dads around 8 am one morning, banging on his front office door, asking for money he was owed for a new painting job he hadn't even done yet. The guy in the basement wasn't home, so my dads wife asked him to leave, as she wasn't inclined to pay him anything. But he refused, clearly on some type of drug. So she called 911.
My dad sat in his office waiting for the police to arrive and escort this man off the property. Then the man cranked things up and broke out the bottom partition to the front door. He then proceeded to crawl half way in and throw something at a glass partition shattering it.
At this point, it has been an hour and a half waiting for the cops to show up and my dad wasn't going to take it anymore. After asking the guy to leave a handful of times, after he entered my dads home and broke some glass, my dad pulled out his revolver and shot the guy in the leg. My dad said he jumped up like a jack rabbit and then proceeded to chase him half way down the block.
Thirty minutes later the police finally show up. Not before anything happened, as to prevent something bad happening, but after the fact that all the bad stuff has already happened.
A detective drove him downtown, got my dads statement, and drove him back home. The guy was picked up by an ambulance a few blocks from dads house, was taken to the hospital, and then jail.
I went to see my dad the next day, making sure he wasn't too shaken up from the incident. But he is a pretty tough guy, even at 75 with 2 new hips.
We had been having some really good conversations as of late relating to the differences between our current political system vs. anarchy. So I couldn't pass up this perfect opportunity to show him the blatant and obvious lack of responsibility and servitude the state police have for its citizens. Maybe you don't already know this, but in the US, the Supreme Court has ruled that the police have no obligation to protect you. Imagine buying a coffee at your local shop, and instead of a coffee, they hand you a thimble of left over watered down day old coffee. You'd surely ask for your money back, seeing as you didn't get what you paid for, but in the case of government policing, you don't have that option.
So I asked my dad as he was bitching about the ridiculous amount of time it took for them to show up: "Dad, how do you think a private security company would have handled this situation? Do you think they would have been here faster? More beholden to you as a customer? Wanting to be the best they can so you give them 5 stars and a raving review?" And if they did a crappy job, say they took two hours to show up ;) would you not want the option to switch to a more reputable protection company? One that would do whatever it took to retain your business?
His half crooked smile said it all.
I am glad he is okay and that fortunately he didn't end up taking this mans life. It could have ended much worse.
The saying "When seconds count, the police are minutes away" couldn't ring more true in this scenario. Pack heat my friends, it's the only way you can guarantee your own personal safety. I love you dad.