The Armed Citizen

Been reading about Meleanie Hain of Lebanon Pennsylvania, the pistol-packing soccer mom who last week was shot to death by her corrections officer husband Scott Hain, who then turned his gun on himself, leaving three orphaned children.

Meleanie’s mother, Jenny Stanley of Lancaster Pennsylvania told The Philadelphia Enquirer that Scott Hain was upset because Melanie was leaving him.

Meleanie made the news in 2008 for carrying her Glock handgun to her five-year-old daughter’s soccer games. She said she carried despite requests from other spectators and league officials because ‘there is low-income housing on the other side of the field,’ ‘to keep pedophiles away from the children,’ and ‘because her husband’s line of work made her a greater than average target.’

The Lebanon County Sheriff then acted upon complaints by revoking her License to Carry Firearms. A judge later restored her license, and she sued the Sheriff for emotional distress and loss of customers to her home childcare business.

According to city-data.com, no drinking water stations with addresses in Lebanon Pennsylvania have violations reported…

I read a comment in a libertarian site saying that statistically, most people are better off never knowing a gun, but that collectively, we are safer in our homes if some of our neighbors are armed. This writer went on to suggest that statists ought to favor laws requiring all citizens to be armed in the interest of public safety.

This made me think of Israel, where all (but yeshiva students) are required to serve in the military. Maybe there’s an Uzi in every house, but at least they’re in the hands of people with some training. Mrs. Hoarse responded saying that we’d be even safer if none of the houses had guns in them. True but..

This reminded me that at the company health fair last month, after the labwork and the weights and measures, they had lifestyle questions to alert me to other risk factors besides the usual diet and exercise. The questionnaire asked if I wore seat belts, a bicycle helmet, and if there were any guns in my house..