Opponents of Minnesota’s carry laws have been jumping up and down with joy over the news that a permit holder was robbed with his own firearm:
Police said an adult male was walking home in the area when a man, later identified as Merriweather, was walking the other way and suddenly slammed the victim into a parked car.
The victim hurt his arm and wasn’t able to defend himself. Merriweather allegedly searched the victim, eventually finding a pistol, and put it to the victim’s head while demanding valuables. The victim lost the gun and his wallet during the attack, police said.
A minor detail should jump out at anybody reading this article, the victim was incapacitated and thus unable to defend himself. The attacker was searching the victim when he found his firearm, then put the firearm to the victim’s head. It seems to me that the victim wasn’t robbed with his own gun, he was already being robbed before the attacker even came across the firearm. As it’s being reported you would think the attacker was able to wrestle away the victim’s firearm and decided, after gaining control of the weapon, to rob the victim. What actually happened is the victim would have been robbed either way, the attacker had already incapacitated the victim before he came across the firearm.
Either way, opponents of carry laws are absolutely ecstatic. The only way they could be happier is if the attacker and executed the victim because then the headline would read, “Carry permit holder murdered with own gun.” To them it’s irrelevant that it’s taken almost a decade for this to finally happen or that it’s the only case out of 100,000 permit holders. They’re just happy that their claim, “If you carry a gun it’s just going to be taken from you!” finally has some form of validation, no matter how weak it is.
What this story does demonstrate is that firearms aren’t magical talismen. The mere act of carrying one won’t protect you if you’re taken out of the fight before you can utilize it. It won’t stop somebody from blindsiding you, nor will be prevent you from being incapacitated. It’s merely a tool that increases the amount of force you can use to protect yourself.