"The suspect, a 42-year-old Michigan man, is in custody following a swift response by both law enforcement and brave civilians — including an armed citizen who confronted the attacker inside the store."
The article quotes a witness as describing the stabber as a "foreign man" and the armed bystander who drew on him causing to remember an urgent appointment elsewhere.
She described the bystander as an African-American being a hero. There are two elements to this.
One, looking out for the safety of others is indeed heroic. Concern for others.
Two, African-American. Thirty years ago, an African-American licensed to carry a gun would have slightly hard to imagine. When NRA flew me to Michigan to testify in support of a shall issue license law in the 1990s, I spent some time reading up on the history of their license law. It was adopted in 1911 and only required a license to carry in Detroit. Every county created a discretionary licensing authority. It takes littlmme imagination to figure out who the Legislature feares might be carrying concealed in Detroit.
UPDATE: This is also a reminder of my rule rhat an inadequate gun with you matters more than the one so heavy or clumsy that you do not carry it. Yes, .380, .32, or .25 or .22 are not one-shot stops but often enough they cause a bad guy to leave immediately. That is wat better than nothing.
"Another bystander, who Kolakowski later learned is also a Marine, drew a gun on the attacker.
“The other Marine told me that he just went shooting at a range, and he forgot to take his pistol off his hip,” Kolakowski said. “That’s what it all came down to.”
A commenter pojnts out that Detroit was not very black in 1911. It was rich in foreigners who were also often targets of restrictive gun laws. See People v. Zerillo (Mich. 1922) among many cases.
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Very well done, Mr. Perry.
ReplyDeleteLikely no relation to Daniel Perry, but coincidence none the less.
Thirty years ago, an African-American licensed to carry a gun would have slightly hard to imagine... their license law... was adopted in 1911 and only required a license to carry in Detroit... It takes little imagination to figure out who the Legislature fears might be carrying concealed in Detroit.
ReplyDeleteThis was well before the Great Migration of blacks from the South to northern industrial cities. Per the 1910 Census, there were only 6,585 blacks in Wayne County, out of 531,591 total population.
However, there were 171,649 foreign-born residents there, and an additional 212,033 of foreign or mixed parentage. Among the latter were the four Bernstein brothers, founders of the infamous Purple Gang. There were also Italian and Irish gangsters, and German and Russian anarchists.
So I would very much doubt that the Michigan license law was directed at blacks.
It might have been those pesky furriners. A lot of gun laws in this period are aimed at non-citizens. People v. Zerillo
Delete(Mich. 1922). https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/people-v-zerillo-no-890488760