Preserve the right to protect ourselves
In her July 21 column, Kathleen Parker tries to “split the baby,” finally coming down, as almost all the Fourth Estate have, against Zimmerman. Her question is, in effect, “Do we want to live in a world where people carry firearms”?
The unfortunate answer is a resounding “yes.” The left has so removed personal responsibility from behavior, enabled the pathological in the name of “tolerance” and enshrined a perpetual double standard that no other alternatives remain. Even Illinois, the irrational last bastion of defenseless victimhood, has finally passed stringent conceal and carry laws.
Do people have a right to protect life and property? That was the very principle the nation was founded upon. Should they be allowed to live in gated communities with the expectation that their privacy is respected? How much violence are they required to accept until they act? Should your brains be bashed out on a sidewalk because in retrospect maybe you should have remained in your car? Who initiated the actual fatal confrontation? The jury ruled.
Ms. Parker takes exception to the word “tragedy.” As a professional wordsmith, what would she substitute? A young man is dead. A racially charged circus trial was conducted after a prosecutor determined there was not enough evidence to convict. Now, in swoop the vultures of race-baiting and animus to feed on the corpse. Is this the kind of nation we want to live in? That, Ms. Parker, is the real question.
Steve Quick
Arlington Heights