Run-in changes lawmaker's stance (about guns)

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

It's funny how a gun can in stantly change your perspec tive on things, make you wish you could rewrite history.

State Rep. Michael DeBose, a southside Cleveland Democrat, discovered this lesson the night of May 1, when he thought he was going to die. That's the night he wished he had that gun vote back.

DeBose, who had just returned from Columbus, where he had spent the day in committee hearings, decided to take a short walk up Holly Hill, the street where he has lived with his wife for the past 27 years.

t was late, but DeBose, 51, was restless. The ordained Baptist minister knew his Lee-Harvard neighborhood was changing, but he wasn't scared. The idle, young men who sometimes hang out on his and adjacent streets didn't threaten him.

He is a big man and, besides, he had run the same streets before he found Jesus - and a wife. That night, he just needed a walk.

The loud muffler on a car that slowly passed as he was finishing the walk caught his attention, though. When the car stopped directly in front of his house - three houses from where he stood - he knew there was going to be a problem.

"There was a tall one and a short one," DeBose said, sipping on a McDonald's milkshake and recounting the experience Friday.

"The tall one reached in his pocket and pulled out a silver gun. And they both started running towards me."

"At first I just backed up, but then I turned around and started running and screaming."

"When I started running, the short boy stopped chasing and went back to the car. But the tall boy with the gun kept following me. I ran to the corner house and started banging on Mrs. Jones' door."

It was at that point that the would-be robbers realized that their prey wasn't worth the trouble. Besides, Cheryl, DeBose's wife, and a daughter had heard his screams and had raced out to investigate. Other porch lights began to flicker on.

The loud muffler sped off, and DeBose started rethinking his gun vote.

DeBose twice voted against a measure to allow Ohioans to carry concealed weapons. It became law in 2004.

DeBose voted his conscience. He feared that CCW permits would lead to a massive influx of new guns in the streets and a jump in gun violence. He feared that Cleveland would become the O.K. Corral, patrolled by legions of freshly minted permit holders.

"I was wrong," he said Friday.

"I'm going to get a permit and so is my wife.

"I've changed my mind. You need a way to protect yourself and your family.

"I don't want to hurt anyone. But I never again want to be in the position where I'm approached by someone with a gun and I don't have one."

DeBose said he knows that a gun doesn't solve Cleveland's violence problem; it's merely a street equalizer.

"There are too many people who are just evil and mean-spirited. They will hurt you for no reason. If more people were packing guns, it might serve as a deterrent.

"But there obviously are far deeper problems that we need to address," he added, as he suddenly seemed to realize he sounded like a gun enthusiast.

They say the definition of a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged. DeBose's CCW application will bear some witness to that notion.

http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=187318

[reach449 2]

Good for him!

[Oath 0]

Word.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

DeBose said he knows that a gun doesn't solve Cleveland's violence problem; it's merely a street equalizer.

"There are too many people who are just evil and mean-spirited. They will hurt you for no reason. If more people were packing guns, it might serve as a deterrent.

And it might not.

More guns = more deaths. Like it or not, that equation stands.

Just compare the US with comparable countries with less gun proliferation.

The good minister might pack a piece. Next time around, when he pulls it in a similar situation, the mugger who apparently used the piece to intimidate more than anything in the described scenario (otherwise, I suppose he would have let one crack) might just feel threatened and pull the trigger. Not sure that the minister would be better off.

[Scott & Lai 12]

A strong dose of reality has a way of changing idealists' views.

More guns = more deaths. Like it or not, that equation stands.

No, it depends whose hands the guns are in. Would you prefer only criminals have guns? If your statement is true, doesn't that also apply to police having guns?

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

A strong dose of reality has a way of changing idealists' views.

More guns = more deaths. Like it or not, that equation stands.

No, it depends whose hands the guns are in. Would you prefer only criminals have guns? If your statement is true, doesn't that also apply to police having guns?

yup

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

More guns = more deaths. Like it or not, that equation stands.

No, it depends whose hands the guns are in. Would you prefer only criminals have guns? If your statement is true, doesn't that also apply to police having guns?

The easier the access to firearms, the wider the proliferation. The guns that can be purchased at every street corner somehow find their way to the bad guys, don't they? Or are we saying that all the crooks have smuggled their guns into the country?

[Ban Hammer 13,625]

More guns = more deaths. Like it or not, that equation stands.

No, it depends whose hands the guns are in. Would you prefer only criminals have guns? If your statement is true, doesn't that also apply to police having guns?

The easier the access to firearms, the wider the proliferation. The guns that can be purchased at every street corner somehow find their way to the bad guys, don't they? Or are we saying that all the crooks have smuggled their guns into the country?

legal guns are not usually sold on the street corner

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

More guns = more deaths. Like it or not, that equation stands.

No, it depends whose hands the guns are in. Would you prefer only criminals have guns? If your statement is true, doesn't that also apply to police having guns?

The easier the access to firearms, the wider the proliferation. The guns that can be purchased at every street corner somehow find their way to the bad guys, don't they? Or are we saying that all the crooks have smuggled their guns into the country?

legal guns are not usually sold on the street corner

I've seen gun stores on the corner. In some areas on every corner. I thought that was where guns were sold legally. Or are the stores on the corner the one's that sell them illegally? If so, then I don't understand why those corner stores don't just get shut down. That would then solve the problem with them illegally obtained guns, yes?

Edited May 20, 2007 by ET-US2004

[Ban Hammer 13,625]

More guns = more deaths. Like it or not, that equation stands.

No, it depends whose hands the guns are in. Would you prefer only criminals have guns? If your statement is true, doesn't that also apply to police having guns?

The easier the access to firearms, the wider the proliferation. The guns that can be purchased at every street corner somehow find their way to the bad guys, don't they? Or are we saying that all the crooks have smuggled their guns into the country?

legal guns are not usually sold on the street corner

I've seen gun stores on the corner. In some areas on every corner. I thought that was where guns were sold legally. Or are the stores on the corner the one's that sell them illegally? If so, then I don't understand why those corner stores don't just get shut down. That would then solve the problem with them illegally obtained guns, yes?

maybe you missed the word "street" which implies someone standing on the street selling them

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

More guns = more deaths. Like it or not, that equation stands.

No, it depends whose hands the guns are in. Would you prefer only criminals have guns? If your statement is true, doesn't that also apply to police having guns?

The easier the access to firearms, the wider the proliferation. The guns that can be purchased at every street corner somehow find their way to the bad guys, don't they? Or are we saying that all the crooks have smuggled their guns into the country?

legal guns are not usually sold on the street corner

I've seen gun stores on the corner. In some areas on every corner. I thought that was where guns were sold legally. Or are the stores on the corner the one's that sell them illegally? If so, then I don't understand why those corner stores don't just get shut down. That would then solve the problem with them illegally obtained guns, yes?

maybe you missed the word "street" which implies someone standing on the street selling them

Better now?

[Leney 0]

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

It's funny how a gun can instantly change your perspective on things, make you wish you could rewrite history.

Yeah - make people give into fear.

[Scott & Lai 12]

Better that than giving into someone's intent to kill you.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Better that than giving into someone's intent to kill you.

Sure. Because maximum violence is the way to solving all of life's problems