By: José Niño
Anti-Second Amendment figures tend to occupy high economic status, which makes them disconnected to the circumstances of America’s middle and lower classes.
While America’s well-off usually enjoy advanced security systems and private security guards, most Americans have to rely on local law enforcement or their legally owned firearms to deal with criminal threats.
On a given day, scores of lawful gun owners must exercise their right to self-defense against assailants, something that civilian disarmament proponents don’t quite grasp. A recent case in Melbourne, Florida illustrates yet again how responsible gun owners can handle criminal threats in the absence of law enforcement.
According to a report by Florida Today, a Melbourne barbershop owner shot and wounded a masked assailant who entered his establishment in late August. The would-be criminal pointed his firearm at several patrons of the barbershop, which prompted the barbershop owner to open fire and wound the masked gunman.
Police identified the gunman as 24-year-old Marlon Mascoe. He was shot in the hip and quickly disarmed and apprehended by patrons and employees of the New York Hair Barber Shop.
Melbourne Police Lt. Ryan Schorer provided details to the nature of this attack:
“The investigation revealed that it wasn’t related to a robbery. It was actually related to a prior haircut transaction he was unhappy with, or an interaction inside the business.”
Mascoe has been charged with aggravated assault with a firearm.
What took place at the New York Hair Barber Shop is no isolated incident. According to criminologists Dr. Gary Kleck and Dr. Marc Gertz, there are approximately 2.2 to 2.5 million cases of firearms used in self-defense in a given year.
Florida is a relatively decent state when it comes to gun rights. According to Guns & Ammo magazine, Florida is ranked in 25th place in its Best States for Gun Owners rankings. Its concealed carry policies could use some improvements, but its laws still generally allow for law-abiding Floridians to defend themselves against criminals.
For many people, the right to bear arms is a pragmatic way of defending themselves and their property from very real criminal threats in rough neighborhoods. Sadly, members of America’s detached ruling class, by virtue of their luxurious lifestyles, will never comprehend that.
José Niño is a freelance writer based in Austin, Texas. Sign up for his mailing list here. Contact him via Facebook, Twitter, or email him at [email protected]. Get his e-book, The 10 Myths of Gun Control, here.