Yoda
Member
Last night, my son-in-law told me how he was assaulted a few months ago at a junior high school during a track meet. He was sitting in the bleachers with his two youngest daughters (10 and 3) watching the oldest (12) compete. Some pre-teens and younger teens were running around in the bleachers and almost knocked his 3-year-old over, and he yelled at them to be careful.
A while later, a large man and 12 or more of his friends surrounded my son-in-law as he and the kids were walking away from the bleachers. The big guy said something like, "You think you can disrespect my girls?" My son-in-law started to say something back (he says he wanted to tell the guy that if he didn't want folks yelling at his kids, he should teach them how to behave), but he got "sucker punched" (his term) and ended up on the ground, semi-dazed, and he had trouble getting back up. When he did, he couldn't see his kids (the older daughter had grabbed the baby and ran), the thugs were taunting him, trying to get him to try to fight back, and some teachers were yelling that they were calling the cops.
The thugs dispersed, but the guy who punched my son-in-law was arrested in the parking lot for assault. Of course, all his friends say that their thug-friend was completely innocent and that my son-in-law (who, at the time he was hit, was carrying a camera in one hand and a three-year-old in the other) had been the aggressor.
My son-in-laws eyes were pretty wet as he was telling me all this. He works out every night and, despite having gotten a physical discharge from the air force (broken neck, now fused), he is in excellent physical shape. If it were one-on-one, he says that he would have fought back, but when surrounded by a crowd of animals and you don't know what happened to your kids, and you can hardly get back up, he says it's different. He said it's mostly degrading. He also says that the guys who surrounded him live in a different world. We relate to each other in a civil manner. They are not civilized. They are animals. I agree.
Court date is set for next month. My son-in-law is already pissed because he will also have to make another court date next month, when the people who broke into his house and stole everything they could find are sentenced. For the leader, this is his 17th conviction. They took the family computer, which had all the photos on it, then erased the hard drive and tried to pawn it. There went a whole marriage full of memories.
My son-in-law also now lives in fear that this thug and his thug friends will look him up and take revenge... but who has a justified claim on revenge?
He's now in the process of applying for his concealed carry permit, but as you all know, he's behind the power curve. He's also very, very bitter that his self-image and his life have been so messed up, simply because one father and all his fellow gang members would rather punch a guy than discipline his own kids.
I've advised him that, before he gets his permit, he needs to do more than read the CCW package. He needs a thorough foundation in justifiable use of force. He also needs to understand that he cannot use the CCW to take out his frustrations, during any future altercation, for what's just happened to him. In fact, he will have an even greater obligation to just walk away, if he can (yes, I know Florida law now allows you to "stand your ground," but escaping from a situation, if you can, is almost always better than having to engage in social work). In this case, it didn't look like he could have walked away. Since this happened on school property, a CCW would have done him no good.
- - - Yoda
A while later, a large man and 12 or more of his friends surrounded my son-in-law as he and the kids were walking away from the bleachers. The big guy said something like, "You think you can disrespect my girls?" My son-in-law started to say something back (he says he wanted to tell the guy that if he didn't want folks yelling at his kids, he should teach them how to behave), but he got "sucker punched" (his term) and ended up on the ground, semi-dazed, and he had trouble getting back up. When he did, he couldn't see his kids (the older daughter had grabbed the baby and ran), the thugs were taunting him, trying to get him to try to fight back, and some teachers were yelling that they were calling the cops.
The thugs dispersed, but the guy who punched my son-in-law was arrested in the parking lot for assault. Of course, all his friends say that their thug-friend was completely innocent and that my son-in-law (who, at the time he was hit, was carrying a camera in one hand and a three-year-old in the other) had been the aggressor.
My son-in-laws eyes were pretty wet as he was telling me all this. He works out every night and, despite having gotten a physical discharge from the air force (broken neck, now fused), he is in excellent physical shape. If it were one-on-one, he says that he would have fought back, but when surrounded by a crowd of animals and you don't know what happened to your kids, and you can hardly get back up, he says it's different. He said it's mostly degrading. He also says that the guys who surrounded him live in a different world. We relate to each other in a civil manner. They are not civilized. They are animals. I agree.
Court date is set for next month. My son-in-law is already pissed because he will also have to make another court date next month, when the people who broke into his house and stole everything they could find are sentenced. For the leader, this is his 17th conviction. They took the family computer, which had all the photos on it, then erased the hard drive and tried to pawn it. There went a whole marriage full of memories.
My son-in-law also now lives in fear that this thug and his thug friends will look him up and take revenge... but who has a justified claim on revenge?
He's now in the process of applying for his concealed carry permit, but as you all know, he's behind the power curve. He's also very, very bitter that his self-image and his life have been so messed up, simply because one father and all his fellow gang members would rather punch a guy than discipline his own kids.
I've advised him that, before he gets his permit, he needs to do more than read the CCW package. He needs a thorough foundation in justifiable use of force. He also needs to understand that he cannot use the CCW to take out his frustrations, during any future altercation, for what's just happened to him. In fact, he will have an even greater obligation to just walk away, if he can (yes, I know Florida law now allows you to "stand your ground," but escaping from a situation, if you can, is almost always better than having to engage in social work). In this case, it didn't look like he could have walked away. Since this happened on school property, a CCW would have done him no good.
- - - Yoda