The 'gun-control freak' gets trigger-happy
Friday, October 18, 2002
Tony Norman
I'm a gun-control freak," my wife said, skinning chicken at the kitchen counter the other night, "but I'm glad that woman shot him. He got what he deserved, and I think it's very funny."
The "that woman" my wife was referring to is Charmaine Dunbar of Homewood. The "he" Dunbar shot with her .38 is Daniel Wesley, the prime suspect in a recent string of violent sexual assaults in the East End.
So what did my wife mean when she said she thought Daniel Wesley getting shot was "very funny?" Did she mean "ha-ha" funny? Or funny in an ironic, detached way? When I asked her to clarify, she made no bones about where she was coming from.
Wesley's shooting struck her as "funny" because she thinks it's amusing that a woman packing heat got the jump on a rifle-toting predator. As far as my wife is concerned, ironic laughter has no place in the equation. It's strictly "ha-ha-ha-ha-ha."
Given her rabid anti-gun views, I asked my wife if she would have been able to put two slugs into Daniel Wesley's belly with the same poise and conviction as Charmaine Dunbar. After all, it was only a few years ago that she and thousands of other women descended on Washington for one of the nation's largest gun-control rallies.
I can't remember her exact words, but "in a heartbeat" figured into the answer. It doesn't mean my wife wants to bring guns into our home, but it represents a mellowing of a formerly militant stance about gun ownership by others.
Women inclined to take early-morning strolls when a violent sex fiend is afoot in the city have my wife's permission to squint like Dirty Harry before dispatching the perp to the next world -- or the nearest hospital, whatever is easiest.
My wife was quick to affirm that "this doesn't mean I've bought into NRA propaganda." But she recognizes that Charmaine Dunbar was licensed to carry her gun and is trained in how to use it. Obviously, restrictive gun control laws didn't impede her, but they can stop creeps like the guy she shot from buying guns legally. "It's not her fault that the streets are flooded with weapons."
I wasn't churlish enough to point out that the streets are flooded with weapons routinely stolen from the homes of law-abiding people like Charmaine Dunbar. It's impossible to win an argument with a woman who's breathing a sigh of relief that a man picked out of a photo lineup by six women and girls is not only off the streets, but feeling a whole lot of pain.
"Maybe the next guy will think twice about jumping a woman walking down the street," my wife said. I mumbled something under my breath about whether she was sure she hadn't bought into NRA propaganda. She, in turn, wondered aloud about whether the death penalty, a punishment she favors, should be considered in the case of serial rapists.
Over the years, I've learned to accept the fact that we disagree on a lot of things. We're both appalled by abortion, but she's hawkish on war, the ultimate abortion/euthanasia/murder trip as far as I'm concerned.
Covert assassination of foreign leaders is fine with her, too. She thinks the Tribune-Review let me off easy last winter when an anonymous "Whispers" columnist nicknamed me "Tony 'Taliban' Norman" because of my skepticism about the war in Afghanistan. "You and John Walker Lindh deserve each other," she said once.
Yesterday morning, she woke up smiling. "I dreamed I helped catch the Washington sniper," she said. After a long chase through a shadowy labyrinth of cars, she and an enraged posse finally cornered the sniper. It was her job to watch him until the police arrived.
I asked if she took advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to torture him.
"In a way, I did," she said. "Whenever he asked for a drink of water or for something to eat, I said, 'Let me think about it.' Then I said, 'No, you're a serial killer. You don't get anything.'"
Ah, there's a little bit of darkness in even the sweetest soul.
http://www.post-gazette.com/columnists/20021018tonyp2.asp
I've heard about people just not getting it...... I've seen people just not getting it.... but I've never heard anything like this guy
Friday, October 18, 2002
Tony Norman
I'm a gun-control freak," my wife said, skinning chicken at the kitchen counter the other night, "but I'm glad that woman shot him. He got what he deserved, and I think it's very funny."
The "that woman" my wife was referring to is Charmaine Dunbar of Homewood. The "he" Dunbar shot with her .38 is Daniel Wesley, the prime suspect in a recent string of violent sexual assaults in the East End.
So what did my wife mean when she said she thought Daniel Wesley getting shot was "very funny?" Did she mean "ha-ha" funny? Or funny in an ironic, detached way? When I asked her to clarify, she made no bones about where she was coming from.
Wesley's shooting struck her as "funny" because she thinks it's amusing that a woman packing heat got the jump on a rifle-toting predator. As far as my wife is concerned, ironic laughter has no place in the equation. It's strictly "ha-ha-ha-ha-ha."
Given her rabid anti-gun views, I asked my wife if she would have been able to put two slugs into Daniel Wesley's belly with the same poise and conviction as Charmaine Dunbar. After all, it was only a few years ago that she and thousands of other women descended on Washington for one of the nation's largest gun-control rallies.
I can't remember her exact words, but "in a heartbeat" figured into the answer. It doesn't mean my wife wants to bring guns into our home, but it represents a mellowing of a formerly militant stance about gun ownership by others.
Women inclined to take early-morning strolls when a violent sex fiend is afoot in the city have my wife's permission to squint like Dirty Harry before dispatching the perp to the next world -- or the nearest hospital, whatever is easiest.
My wife was quick to affirm that "this doesn't mean I've bought into NRA propaganda." But she recognizes that Charmaine Dunbar was licensed to carry her gun and is trained in how to use it. Obviously, restrictive gun control laws didn't impede her, but they can stop creeps like the guy she shot from buying guns legally. "It's not her fault that the streets are flooded with weapons."
I wasn't churlish enough to point out that the streets are flooded with weapons routinely stolen from the homes of law-abiding people like Charmaine Dunbar. It's impossible to win an argument with a woman who's breathing a sigh of relief that a man picked out of a photo lineup by six women and girls is not only off the streets, but feeling a whole lot of pain.
"Maybe the next guy will think twice about jumping a woman walking down the street," my wife said. I mumbled something under my breath about whether she was sure she hadn't bought into NRA propaganda. She, in turn, wondered aloud about whether the death penalty, a punishment she favors, should be considered in the case of serial rapists.
Over the years, I've learned to accept the fact that we disagree on a lot of things. We're both appalled by abortion, but she's hawkish on war, the ultimate abortion/euthanasia/murder trip as far as I'm concerned.
Covert assassination of foreign leaders is fine with her, too. She thinks the Tribune-Review let me off easy last winter when an anonymous "Whispers" columnist nicknamed me "Tony 'Taliban' Norman" because of my skepticism about the war in Afghanistan. "You and John Walker Lindh deserve each other," she said once.
Yesterday morning, she woke up smiling. "I dreamed I helped catch the Washington sniper," she said. After a long chase through a shadowy labyrinth of cars, she and an enraged posse finally cornered the sniper. It was her job to watch him until the police arrived.
I asked if she took advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to torture him.
"In a way, I did," she said. "Whenever he asked for a drink of water or for something to eat, I said, 'Let me think about it.' Then I said, 'No, you're a serial killer. You don't get anything.'"
Ah, there's a little bit of darkness in even the sweetest soul.
http://www.post-gazette.com/columnists/20021018tonyp2.asp
I've heard about people just not getting it...... I've seen people just not getting it.... but I've never heard anything like this guy