Hard to get more Florida than this.
‘Two Crazy Drivers with a Gun’: Florida Men Allegedly Shot Each Other’s Daughters During Road Rage Incident
Two fathers in Florida were arrested following a road rage incident during which each man allegedly shot the other's young daughter.
lawandcrime.com
Meanwhile courts are blocking parts of NY's latest attempt to restore some control over permitting and carry of guns in places like
NYC proper, which has experienced a 54% spike in permit applications for concealed carry since a
SCOTUS ruling in June had struck down a city law that had been enforced since 1913.
A federal judge has temporarily blocked the enforcement of parts of a New York gun law that was enacted in the wake of a Supreme Court decision earlier this summer striking down certain protections.
www.cnn.com
Imagine these two Florida guys transformed into two characters in a NY subway car as it rattles along the tracks from lower Manhattan to the Bronx.
It's bad enough we've already seen some recent shootings in the trains in the city. Not sure that filling those train cars with self-described self-defenders (or self-designated keepers fo the peace??) is the way to go.
In the wayback of city history when I lived there, people eventually decided the Bernie Goetz model of vigilante style law'n'order in the trains was not what we wanted. The risk of high levels of human "collateral damage" was obvious. That there are now more illegal guns in the city does not lessen that risk.
And so how does bumping up the total gun count including newly legal concealed carry in places like the trains or Times Square help? I mean it's not like these two guys in Florida had previously described themselves as road rage warriors hell bent on avenging insults and the likes of pop bottles hurled by their respective passengers at each other. Surely they were originally just running an errand or coming back from dining out...
The challenge to the NY laws were brought by some upstate residents with support of groups that regard themselves sometimes as competitors of the NRA, and with at least the tacit support of some sheriffs who have indicated that enforcing the newer restrictions (where applicable) in their jurisdiction is a distinctly low priority.
But see this is why NYC's 1913 law had well served the public. It was crafted to apply to NYC where population density had always made it more dangerous for civilians to whip out a gun to settle a difference. I still think SCOTUS erred in not leaving well enough alone. The city is different to the countryside. Striking down laws meant to deter gun violence in cities is plain foolish, and the 2A clearly allows for some regulation.
Yes there are illegal guns out there and yes people get shot in the streets, just ask Philadelphia. There is NOTHING to say that adding more concealed carry to that mix can affect such behavior constructively. We need enforcement of existing laws seeking to mitigate effect of lax laws in neighboring states, enforcement of laws against selling finished 3D printed guns, enforcement of background check requirements and closing up loopholes that still let unvetted transactions take place.
And we need above all more engagement of citizens with city government to provide healthy outlets for young men in particular to engage in safe and social activities - yeah, basketball, boxing, chess matches, robot construction teams, photography clubs, hiking clubs, debate clubs, learning how to make friends and argue without coming to blows.
We don't need more law abiding guys carrying concealed guns and assuming they'd never ever flip their status from law abiding to felon in the blink of an eye on a moving subway car full of innocent bystanders.
What, do we think we have no "Florida man" prototype among us in the cities of the Northeast? Maybe run a search engine on the likes of 'fight breaks out on city train'... now add a couple concealed carry and go figure if it would have helped. Florida man is potentially everyman in the heat of an unexpected moment.
