Here is some interesting news, from the Ironic Justice Division of the interweb.
Two men are dead in Ionia, Michigan after a road rage incident escalated into a shootout Wednesday. Police say that James Pullum, 43, and Robert Taylor, 56 apparently argued after Taylor became enraged over something that occurred while driving though the details are not clear as to exactly what precipitated the incident.
Witnesses say that Pullum who had his wife and mother in the vehicle with him pulled into the parking lot of a car wash and Taylor who was at the time tailgating him followed him in. Both men exited their vehicles and began to argue as the argument escalated, Taylor pulled his gun and began to fire. Pullum, who was also carrying a gun, drew his and returned fire. Both men apparently died at the scene.
I suppose one of them was relatively innocent. They're both dead.
Why "ironic justice"? Well, road rage means that an individual has done three things: decided what the rules of driving are; judged an infraction of those rules; and executed a sentence on the guilty party. Sound familiar? Right--the three branches of government. And it seems to me that if you walk (or drive) around with a concealed carry permit for a handgun, you've already decided that there just might be times when you'll have to be legislator, judge, and executive all at once and in a great hurry.
To paraphrase Montesquieu, putting all three functions of government into the same hands is your basic definition of tyranny.
One of these guys may have been, as his mother in law says, a "great person, a great family man, and a great businessman," and he may have been in this particular instance the party who was the subject of, not the perpetrator of, road rage, but his concealed carry permit says he was ready to be an anarchist tyrant at any moment.
