Sometimes a gun comes in handy.

Date published: 8/16/2005

Victims not

SINCE MARCH, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports, three residents of that city have killed criminal attackers. Authorities will press no charges against at least two of the shooters. One dispatched former NFL football player Mike Brim with a single shot after an armed Brim had followed the man, apparently a romantic rival, to a house and opened fire on him. The other self-defender was a pizza deliveryman who killed a robber.

Our enthusiasm for firearms is middling, and we are not suggesting that readers begin routinely packing a rod. But the bearing of arms by the law-abiding cited above brings an obvious thought: Had the intended victims in Richmond dwelt in Washington or New York City, whose laws all but bar possession of a pistol, they likely would have joined many of those cities' other crime victims on a slab.

Does anyone not prefer the other outcome?

Date published: 8/16/2005