I am not yet a senior citizen although at times I do feel like I am. I wake up with mysterious back problems and every now and then one of my knees doesn't want to cooperate with me on job sites. I know this is just the beginning stages but I don't play on cashing in a disability check just yet. Another thing I am not planning on doing is getting randomly murdered by some teenagers for whatever reason. If you are going to try to take my life, well, you better be ready for a fight.
I have had a conceal-carry permit since the mid 90's and I am always packing heat. People can go ahead and call me a gun nut because of this if they want to, I really do not care. Most of the people I associate with do the same and they all do so legally. The only issue with this in my mind is the fact that we have to get a license for it in the first place. I am more along the lines of the type of person that doesn't like the idea behind having my freedom taken away from me and then sold back to me by the government, but until we have Libertarian leadership (and I don't think that will happen in my lifetime) this is what we have and I am just fortunate and happy to live in a state that has where people can both open carry (no license required for this) and also conceal carry (license required.)
Recently a horrible beating death with no apparent motive happened in Raleigh, North Carolina over the Memorial Day weekend where a cowardly group of 3 people in their teens overpowered and beat a 69 year old man to death in a cemetery.
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James Taylor was known by his friends and neighbors as being extremely generous and kind and was an avid fan of flying model airplanes and helicopters with his pals on the weekends. He is not connected to any criminal activity, has no criminal record, and by all accounts was just a hard working dude who was enjoying his golden years doing things that he enjoyed after a lifetime of work.... all to be cut down in such a horrible way.
Two people have been captured and charged, and a third perpetrator, who is only 16 years old has not been identified because they are a minor, but is also in custody.
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Maria Echeverria and Johnathan Daniel Villanueva-Galer have been charged with murder and that is all we know at this point. Officials described finding latex gloves at the scene as well as discarded and bloody clothes. If this trio of murderers were trying to get "away with it" they are not very good at being criminals because they left all the evidence behind that resulted in their speedy capture.
I know that tattoos are a personal choice, but if you are 18 years old and you have neck and face tattoos and are not a millionaire athlete or musician, you are probably headed towards a life of crime.
James Taylor was still alive when rescuers arrived but later died at the hospital. How he was wounded has not yet been released to the public.
I mourn this man's death even though I did not know him. I do, on the other hand, know many people that are like him. Jovial people who worked their entire lives and are enjoying a modest retirement that isn't filled with opulence but with budget-oriented hobbies such as fishing, golf, or in the case of James Taylor, remote controlled aircraft.
James did not have a weapon on him at the time and I really wish he had. Situations like these can be prevented without law enforcement and I am sad to see this happen anywhere, but in this particular case it was just a few hours from where I live. One thing to understand about Raleigh though, is that it is not like the rest of the state. It is, once again, a liberal stronghold where things like gun ownership are at its lowest in the state and there are tons of restrictions on where someone can carry a firearm. Where I live, there are virtually no restrictions on this. You can open carry a rifle into a bank if you want to and there hasn't been a shooting death in my county for as long as I have lived in it.
I have no idea what the motivation of these teens was but the type of people that would target an old man and then leave him for dead after you ganged up on him 3 to 1 are the worst type of people on the planet and I hope the court system puts them away for a very long time.
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cry me a river, scumbag
If this had happened to me there would be no need for a trial because unless they knocked me out cold on the first strike, they would all be getting taken away in either an ambulance or body bag. It is a shame that there are people out there like this, but there ARE people out there like this and this is why I carry all the time. I have never pulled my guns on another person but trust me when I say that if the time comes for me to choose between them and me, it isn't going to be me that is going to the hospital.