Seattle Times finds victim it doesn't like

Now this, dear readers, is going to cause liberal heartburn. As of last report, it appears a man was violently attacked for no reason, and he had the gall to defend himself. Rather permanently. He had a gun, a concealed carry permit, definitely had reason to think he was in physical danger, and he shot his attacker. If you read the Seattle Times article you can feel the angst reverberating. My bet is this little snippet took a lot of rewrite and editorial meeting energy, and they still aren't happy with it. I mean, they actually had to concede it might be a case of justifiable homicide. Still, there is work to be done before Mr. Jonathan Martin, Seattle Times Staff Reporter, can truly be considered impartial. My suggestions below:

- "a fight between two men" implies the gun owner was participating in some way. Change to "attack"

-"the confessed shooter was allowed to walk out of a police station". Gee, I sense some judgemental thinking going on there. How about, "Police, convinced the man had broken absolutely no laws, had no reason to extend their hospitality beyond the usual report-filing time, curiously failing to take the opportunity to prove the existence of the oft-touted eeeeeevil Republican police state, damn their black hearts." Ok, maybe that was a big judgemental too. Sigh. "Given the circumstances--an unprovoked violent assault, a valid concealed-carry permit for the legal gun--no charges were filed." Howzat?

-(I particularly admire this one) "It looked to me like he shot him in self-defense," said Linda Vu, who was across the street from the shooting, handing out fliers for political activist Lyndon LaRouche. "It's kind of crazy." Get it? Crazy? LaRouche? Because only deranged LaRouche supporters would think it was shooting in self-defense. I mean, balding lunch-eating guys who don't even take the time to open a dialogue with someone who is punching, kicking, and threatening to kill them are just contributing to the cycle of violence. Right? Editorial suggestion, remove the phrase about handing out LaRouche fliers. Or talk to someone else there who isn't connected to a documented nutcase. Westlake Plaza at that hour on a Saturday would be full of people, several of whom probably aren't drugged-out homeless people.

-"The shooting stunned Jim and Edith Welsh, tourists from Australia" Introduces the meme of gun-toting Americans behaving badly in front of foreign guests. Too bad the intrepid reporter didn't bother to ask them why they were stunned by the shooting. Was it perhaps that they weren't expecting homicidal maniacs to attack random strangers, necessitating a shooting? Given that they are Aussies, were they stunned that the man didn't use a larger caliber weapon? Were they heading back to their hotel to pick up their own carry pieces, which they had thoughtlessly left behind? Research, people! Get the facts!

Note to deranged individuals in Seattle: Guess who else has a concealed carry permit?