“No good deed goes unpunished.”
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
Take your pick. Do you get involved or do you take a pass when it comes to seeing asinine behavior in public?
You can mind your own business, and leave someone else to take care of it like a good sheeple. Or you can do the honorable and decent thing.
Ultimately, you and others may have to live (or die) with the consequences of your decision.
Take a guy in rural Lousiana last week, minding his own business going about life. He stopped at a convenience store, went inside and a nasty bit of ugliness greeted him. Minutes later, he’s got his back to the wall after having already been attacked once by a raving lunatic. Our gun guy has got his gun out. He’s explained the facts of life to Shawn Breland, 42.
Mr. Breland didn’t care. He continued focusing his rage and rampage on a good guy with a gun. The good Samaritan shot him once, and when Breland still continued to press his attack in his berserk frenzy, our good guy fired twice more, taking the fight out of the bully.
Yes, cops agree it was a damn fine righteous shoot.
But now the good guy has to live with the fallout from doing the right thing – for the rest of his life.
We’re glad he’s unhurt physically. We wish the best for him. Sometimes life gives you a crappy hand and you have to play it to the best outcome.
The good news is that our good guy potentially saved not only his life, but that of the clerk and who knows how many other innocents who might have come across Breland’s “highly agitated state” and wound up crippled or killed.
The only thing that stops a bad person with evil in their heart is a good guy with a gun.
(Times Picayune) – A customer carrying a holstered pistol on his side shot and killed a “highly agitated” Folsom man Monday (April 4) at a Mandeville convenience store store. The dead man had been berating the store clerk and also attacked the armed customer, police said.
No criminal charges have been filed against the shooter, whom the police did not publicly identify. Police identified the dead man as Shawn Breland, 42, who died at Lakeview Regional Medical Center.
Assistant Police Chief Ron Ruple released information about the 10 a.m. shooting after investigators interviewed witnesses, reviewed video recordings and talked to the shooter. He said the video supports several witnesses’ account of the incident at the Shell station at 3959 Louisiana 22, a busy commerical roadway just west of Causeway Boulevard.
Breland, who appeared to be in “a highly agitated state,” entered the store and made a purchase before berating the store clerk, using racial slurs, Ruple said. The clerk, who is of Middle Eastern descent, ordered Breland, who is white, to leave, and threatened to call police, authorities said.
He left but re-entered the store several times, becoming more aggressive each time, Ruple said. The clerk then called police.
The armed customer, who was inside the store trying to make a purchase, tried to calm the situation by telling Breland to leave, according to the police account. Breland left again but returned and threw what appeared to be potato chips at the clerk.
The customer followed Breland outside to get his license plate number for police, but Breland got out of the vehicle and attacked him, Ruple said. The man drew his weapon, ordered Breland back and tried to retreat into the store. Breland followed and continued the attack, grabbing for the gun, Ruple said.
The man warned he would shoot if Breland did not stop, and he retreated into a corner of the store while still under attack. He then fired one round, striking Breland, and fired twice more when Breland kept coming at him, Ruple said.
From what was printed about the encounter the man did what he could not to use deadly force.
The deceased began the altercation, and escalated the situation directly creating the situation and the end. He had multiple occasions to deescalate and to leave, alive.
The reality is the justified shooting will leave something on his soul. He is alive and he did no wrong. He could have hesitated or chose not to be involved, and lived with the guilt for not doing what was right. I chose a long time ago not to feel the guilt for doing what was right, for it is better than living with the guilt of doing nothing and someone innocent being harmed.
I’m with you. If I have to live with killing a violent criminal actor, I’ll bear that. I’m not sure I could sleep at night walking away from a VCA who later went on to kill others, especially innocent children, because I failed to act.
John
My Grandfather gave me sound advice when I enlisted so many years ago. He told me a soldier’s job is to promote and provide peace and may be called upon to fight. In that fight you may have to kill another soldier and as long as you did what was honorable you should never feel regret. He fought from Normandy at D Day to Berlin. He knew the reality of life.
What do you call someone that doesn’t feel bad about using justifiable lethal force to protect themselves and/or other innocents?
Well trained and mentally prepared.
I had never heard that Edmund Burke quote before. I wonder where that came from?
“You killed my poor such-and-such!”
“No Ma’am. He killed himself, I just carried the bullet for a little while.”
-Capt. Reynolds.
That’s how it is. The attacker made the decision to get shot – our Open Carrier just happened to be the one holding the gun.
I am on the opposite of that coin, I don’t get involved for several reason. First, this is a country of lawyers, and I don’t have enough money to pay for one. Second, I carry my gun for me, not you, but me. If you want protection carry your own gun. Third, I may not know what exactly is going on, but only have a perception of it, so it is better for the police to figure it out. Then again I am a noninterventionist.
So your the one we see in the videos watching people get beaten and just standing there doing nothing. You should be required to wear a sign around your neck saying your a “noninterventionist” so everyone knows not to come to your aid at any time for any reason. That attitude is the exact reason this country is going to crap. No one cares about anyone but themselves and is why the thugs run rampant.