Statue of the figure of Justice holding scales

There Is Only One “Law”

Yesterday’s commentary on the Justin Bourque story created quite the stir. In case you haven’t read my thoughts on the matter, I’ll summarize by saying that Bourque was basically walking down the street with rifles, and since police had come to disarm and kidnap him, he was rightfully defending himself by killing them. Now of course, the commentary that comes in response to such a statement runs the gamut, but for now I want to focus on one particular subset. People who support “gun rights” but not the forceful defense thereof.

People would say “It’s against the law to open carry rifles there! Of course the police came after him!”. I agree with this statement, of course. If the issue were that Justin acted surprised, I’d also say he had no right to act surprised. No more than if he knowingly walked through some gang neighborhood wearing the colors of the gang’s rivals. There are neighborhoods like that in New York, where you don’t dare wear blue or red while walking through some places, for fear of being attacked.

There’s a big difference between knowing that something will happen, and having no right to defend yourself against it, however. If somebody decided to knowingly walk through a neighborhood controlled by Bloods while wearing blue, we might call that person stupid, we might advise him against it, but we don’t tend to think it’s okay for the Bloods to assault him just for wearing blue.

This content is for Monthly Premium Membership and Yearly Premium Membership members only.
Login Join Now
Skip to toolbar