Good Guy With Gun Kills Bad Guy With Fake One
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun, goes Wayne LaPierre’s axiom, is a good guy with a gun. What if the bad guy’s gun is fake? Another shopworn motto for gun-lovers applies: kill ‘em all, and let god sort ‘em out.
In Chicago, 55-year-old Reginald Gildersleeve died Saturday night while allegedly attempting to hold up a store. Gildersleeve had a gun, and so did the unnamed bystander who allegedly fired multiple shots at him during the stickup, killing him. A nice illustrative case for the quote—which NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre first trotted out in the wake of the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting—except that, according to law enforcement sources, Gildersleeve’s weapon was a toy or a paintball gun.
The shooter, who is licensed to carry a weapon, will likely not be charged, the Chicago Tribune reports. A man who fired one shot at alleged shoplifters outside an Indiana farm supply store days later has so far similarly avoided charges.*
Robbery with a fake weapon is not punishable by the death penalty in Illinois or anywhere else, and a yokel with a handgun and a messiah complex is not a substitute for the police, judge, jury, and executioner.
