Let's get real on gun rights

I was just in Houston, and there was an amazing story circulating. Apparently, some guy was meeting his girlfriend for a date at a burger joint. Both parked their cars at a lot across the street, paying the attendant $20 each, which sure seems like a lot of money to park your car, doesn’t it? Well, the attendant assured these people that they would get a refund of the $40 if they showed a receipt from the burger restaurant, proving that they had eaten there. Sounds a little odd, but parking can be scarce in Houston and this seemed a good way to make sure only restaurant patrons used the restaurant’s parking lot, so the couple paid the attendant.

Once inside the burger joint, their waiter told them that she had watched the transaction and that it was a scam. Parking was free in that lot, she told them. The “attendant” was a scam artist who collected the fee and disappeared.

The man, angry at being made the fool, especially in front of a woman he was hoping to impress, became furious. He ran to his car, retrieved a gun, and confronted the “attendant,” chasing him down the street into an alley.

According to police and news reports, the shooter allegedly told his date “everything was fine” and that he just scared the man after returning to the restaurant. They started walking to a table but left to eat someplace else after the man looked uncomfortable, court records show.

His date contacted police two days later after police had released photos of the couple, who had been identified by tips to Crime Stoppers.

He neglected to tell his date that he had shot the man in the back and left him dying in the alley. The shooter has been charged with murder.

Some people call that a “well-regulated militia.”

We’ve all heard stories of gun violence where the shooter felt threatened or afraid, so they shot someone, even when it turns out it was a friend, spouse, or family member. I remember the time a guy in Rochester heard an intruder, took his gun to investigate, and ended up shooting his 16-year-old granddaughter who was staying at his house but stepped out onto the patio late in the evening. The guy saw a shadow outside and opened fire, striking the girl in the belly.

Some people want to call that “standing your ground.”

Can you see how crazy this blind adherence to gun rights has become?

If Minnesota had a “stand your ground” law, that girl’s shooter would face no legal consequences for his actions. In Texas, anyone can have a gun anywhere for just about any reason; and cheating an innocent restaurant patron out of $40 becomes a death sentence.

In Esko, if we allow our Second Amendment rights to quash any and all other rights we have in this country, delivering a pizza could be deadly — accidently driving up to the wrong house is trespassing and some poor kid, confused over Esko’s unclear fire number system in a subdivision with a shared driveway easement, can be shot dead by a nervous homeowner. Somehow, I don’t think that’s what our Founding Fathers intended.

A recent poll by a reputable news organization tells us that more than 80 percent of people polled nationwide support background checks, raising the minimum age to 21 to buy a gun, mental health checks for all gun buyers, and “red flag” laws. Well over 60 percent support waiting periods and assault weapon bans.

Legislation should not be passed simply based on a TV network poll. But it does show that people realize we need to address unnecessary gun violence. The state legislature seems poised to pass expanded background checks and extreme risk protection orders this session, despite intense lobbying by gun rights advocates. Time is getting tight, though, and we may not see any action this year.

There is a point where our right to use guns to protect us from an oppressive government crosses our desire to use guns for sport, hunting, and personal protection. I’d say we are at that point.

Pete Radosevich is the publisher of the Pine Knot News community newspaper and an attorney in Esko who hosts the cable access talk show Harry’s Gang on CAT-7. His opinions are his own. Contact him at [email protected].