Every once in a while, I see a story about gun owners who are so unutterably stupid that I think my head will explode. But the one I saw earlier this week left me speechless. The headline said it all:
“Gun shop owner, son killed over $25 firearm repair fee, sheriff says”
According to local news station WLOX:
“Audy McCool, 52, and his son, Michael McCool, 29, went to the gun shop to pick up a weapon Saturday afternoon. The men were told the gun had not yet been repaired, and one of the men reportedly became angry that he had paid a $25 service charge but did not yet receive his firearm.”
The Sun Herald further explained:
“There was some sort of argument about a $25 fee, [Deputy Sheriff] Tucker said. The woman called her husband, who arrived with their son. An argument ensued and the shooting began.”
The store owner, Jason A. McLemore, 44, and his son, Jacob Edward McLemore, 17, both died of multiple gunshot wounds.
The two customers, Audy McCool and his son Michael McCool, both sustained what were described as “life-threatening injuries” but survived.
Obviously, the details will eventually come out. “During this argument, we believe there might have been some pushing and shoving,” Chief Deputy Shane Tucker told the Sun Herald.
But honestly, I don’t care who “started it” or who shot first. The damage to the rest of us who are responsible gun owners has been done. And it couldn’t have come at a worse time, with gun control once again rearing its ugly head—and with an extremely important election looming.
Think about it; this case is like a dream come true for the anti-gun fanatics: a shooting in a gun store. Worse, it gives the gun control zealots precisely the scenario they constantly predict will happen if concealed carry laws are passed: “Simple arguments will turn into gunfights.”
I’ve spent many years in the gun rights fight. I also have, among my circle of friends, people who have tirelessly invested virtually their entire lives protecting our ability to defend ourselves and our families.
So forgive me if I have absolutely no patience with absolute IDIOTS who allow their emotions to override what should be simple, common sense. Remember that as gun owners, we have a responsibility, not just to ourselves, but to our brothers and sisters whose rights can easily be put at risk by bad behavior by even one bad actor.
I shouldn’t have to remind you that the press is never, ever going to treat us with anything even approaching “objective” reporting. Most so-called journalists are not merely indifferent to our rights; they are openly opposed to the Second Amendment and everything it represents.
Not fair, you say? True. But so what? That’s the world we live in today. The bottom line is that if you are going to carry a gun, you simply cannot ever let anger get the best of you. Because losing your temper can not only get you killed, it can cost the rest of us our rights.
Remember when “Lone Survivor” Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, after capturing the scumbags who had just shot his beloved dog, simply called 911? Imagine the unbelievable anger he felt (he’d heard the men laughing as they did it), yet he held his emotions in check.
THAT is the mindset we all should seek to emulate.