In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. And in the neighborhood where cops won’t (or can’t) protect the public from violence, to the armed citizen defender goes the throne.

In South Philadelphia Tuesday, a business owner shot a man as a group of burglars made their way into his store.

The 67-year-old is the proprietor of Firing Line, Inc. — a firing range and gun shop.

According to Philly’s NBC10, the man was staying the night inside due to break-in attempts over the previous evenings.

Around 4:15 a.m., as he monitored the situation with cameras, the proprietor watched a group of three or four men take bolt cutters to his gate.

They then bashed the back door, broke glass, and made it upstairs — where he was sitting with a Bushmaster M-4 rifle.

The owner fired, and one shot met a man in his 20’s who subsequently dropped his handgun.

That looter, struck in the head, passed away at the scene.

The rest decided to make an exit.

As reported by WCAU-TV, investigators believe an injured male who turned up at Jefferson University may have been part of the crew.

He bore a bullet wound to the shoulder.

The business owner wasn’t harmed.

It seems we’re currently living in a Last Days-style Hollywood horror.

From NBC10:

Police have been getting thousands of more 911 calls in recent days, many for burglaries, looting, vandalism and large crowds, Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said. “We understand why.”

The mayor responded to the Firing Line incident:

The city’s mayor and police commissioner said later Tuesday they supported the rights of individuals to protect themselves and their property. But Mayor Jim Kenney said he was “deeply troubled at the ease with which another life has been taken amidst this chaos.”

Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said officials don’t endorse “vigilante justice or taking the law into one’s own hands” and encouraged people to protect themselves through “safe, nonviolent” methods if possible. But, she said, “there are very clear laws that allow us to protect ourselves and our property from harm.”

Kenney said that “looting has consequences.”

I wouldn’t imagine “nonviolent” methods being effective against a pistol, and the owner protected his business in a lawful way; however, he shouldn’t have had to. And a young man is dead who might’ve turned around his life. All because of what is rising in the streets. It’s terror. It’s madness.

America is, as of late, an ugly place. Violence has overwhelmed major cities. So has vitriol. And all of it, under the flag of “justice.”

George Floyd’s death is ghastly. The man was murdered by an officer of the law — a public employee hired to protect him.

How is Mr. Floyd honored by anarchists creating more victims?

From all the rioting and looting, the smoke in the sky is symbolic — the dark cloud of mayhem has billowed, obscuring the focus on George. On his fate. On his family’s loss.

And on anything that might be done for the sake of true justice, in the way of making the nation better.

So far, plumes of the aftermath have only made things worse.

-ALEX

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