You’ve all heard the phrase from the pro-gun crowd: “guns don’t kill people; people kill people.” True statement which I agree with in principle, but there was an incident in Jeffersontown, KY (a sub-city of Louisville) where a retired J-Town cop (Richard Koenig) and a citizen (Darren Pickerill) got into a bit of a road rage battle over a 4-way stop sign that makes you wonder.
To make a long story short, Pickerill, the citizen, is in the hospital in critical condition as a result of six to eight shots fired by Koenig, the retired cop. Apparently, Pickerill went out of turn at the 4-way intersection that incited a verbal exchange that quickly escalated into a shooting spree. Unconfirmed initial reports suggest that Pickerill possibly showed a gun as the two were arguing over the 4-way stop, and that propelled Koenig to open fire. Pickerill allegedly never fired a shot. All of this over a stupid 4-way stop sign? Amazing!
Yes, the guns in this case are not to blame, but would either of these people be in the position they are in today if neither of them had a gun? The worst that could have resulted is the two might have gotten into a physical confrontation where one or both got roughed up a bit, but they’d both live to talk about it and possibly even laugh about it one day. No one is laughing now, and I’d imagine Koenig is going to have some legal battles to wage as a result of his quick trigger. Pickerill is in pretty dire shape all because of the threat of showing a gun that caused another to flip out and shoot first.
I can’t say what I would have done in the exact situation because I’ve never been in it, and I hope I never am. I can say that I’ve been furious at 4-way stops several times because they really aren’t that hard to navigate, yet some people seem to think they are like solving a Rubik’s cube or something. It deeply concerns me that there are seemingly more and more people out there hunting for situations like this so they can shoot first then cry “self defense” (as Koenig is in this case) if something bad happens.
There are way more dumb drivers roaming the earth than any of us would prefer, but it’s not the end of the world when you encounter one. Flip them off, yell a little, maybe even stand on the gas to get around them, but let it go just as quickly as you blew up. You never know who might be packing heat looking for any reason to unload some rounds to compensate for some pitiful insecurity they have.
The moral of the story for me is nothing good comes from carrying a gun around even if you never plan to use it. The sheer fact that it’s there is a threat that it COULD be used, and people don’t tend to act rationally when they experience a little road (or instant) rage. The gun itself provides zero protection–using it does. Why tempt yourself and fate?