30th May 2007, 5:42 PM
Dark Jaguar Wrote:There's plenty of room for debate I'm not about to get into about having self defense in the event of being attacked, but in this case, it was a mugging.
We all know how these things go down. Give them your money and nobody gets hurt. If they demand you go with them, THEN you fight back because your chances of survival are close nill if you go with them. In this case, acting the hero will just get you hurt, as this guy found out empirically. This guy had no reason to actually attack them at the moment he did and he wasn't just endangering himself. Escalating these situations is unwise, as any police officer will tell you.
That said, if an actual police officer was there, they have the training to escalate the situation in a way that is on average much safer for everyone involved, except maybe the muggers.
Had the person clearly shown intent to kill or seemed unstable enough to just lash out in violence at any moment, then I'd be all for this guy doing what he did. Anyway, that said, in these situations the guy probably didn't have much time to think about the nature of the situation. It happened, I'd say it was a mistake, but let's move on and learn from it.
I will say that in the case where a clear intent to kill is shown, having a weapon is clearly the best defense. However, many carrying them around are likely to use it in situations like this instead because they are scared, and thus escalate non-lethal encounters far too often.
None of us where there . We can be free to criticize but either way Id much rather live in a society of "heroes" , were strangers in distress will be given assistance. Then one were nobody is willing to take a risk to help another or even bother to inconvenience themselves for valor.
Even If his choice in actions were far from prudent, His intent was still in the right place unlike another certain group. I hope he doesn't die and fully recovers, Not mention his attackers should be brought in to justice and charged with attempted murder and not just theft and illegal gun use.
Some forget that it was the subway Vigilante that forced NYC to get serious about its failure to protect the public.