The right to keep and bear arms matters. It matters because there is always the possibility, no matter how slim, that a bad guy somewhere wants to harm you and yours.
And for country star Spencer Hatcher, that came to pass.
Hatcher's mother was brutally murdered by a knife-wielding madman, his father was attacked, all before the father could retrieve his gun and kill the attacker.
This incident is horrible, but because of the relationship with a rising country star, it also highlights the dangers of our world, as the Citizens Committee on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms noted.
From a press release:
The horrible slaying of Virginia resident Holly Hatcher, 62—mother of rising country star Spencer Hatcher—and the subsequent fatal shooting of the suspect by her husband, Michael, is a reminder that good people everywhere should never be deprived of their right of self-defense, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said.
“Our deepest sympathy goes out to the Hatcher family, and we join the nation in mourning this terrible loss,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “At the same time, we offer our sincere support to Mr. Hatcher who was able to retrieve a handgun from his parked vehicle to fatally shoot the attacker. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family as they cope with this tragedy.
“This inexplicable act underscores the importance of every citizen’s right to self-defense, and to possess the means to immediately stop a violent attack,” he observed. “This case illustrates the fact that violent crime is unpredictable, and that nobody is immune, no matter who they are or where they may live.
“The fact that this tragedy happened to a prominent family reminds us that violent crime can, and does, happen to anybody,” Gottlieb continued. “Yet today in America, we see efforts to disarm honest citizens, leaving them vulnerable to violent and deadly assault.”
Gottlieb noted that the attacker used a knife. He said this only reinforces the importance of being prepared, which includes exercising the right to own firearms for personal protection.
“We will perhaps never know why the man who killed Mrs. Hatcher did this terrible thing,” Gottlieb said. “What we do know is that her husband was able to stop the killer from committing further violence because he had a firearm with which he was able to fight back. No words can ever fully heal this kind of tragic loss, but we are grateful Mr. Hatcher was able to defend himself and survive, and that he had a gun when he needed it.”
The only real shame here is that Michael Hatcher didn't have the gun on his person when the attack took place.
No, that's not criticism. I honestly don't know enough about what all was happening to even remotely try to offer a critique of whatever decisions were made regarding where the gun was at the time. I'm only commenting that it's just too bad it wasn't more readily available to allow the Good Lord to deal with this scumbag a few minutes sooner, before Holly was killed.
Besides, I'm sure Michael will be questioning every decision he made for years to come, but I don't think he should. It's easy to look back and play Monday morning quarterback, but you can only make the best decisions you can in the moment with the information available to you. Yes, we should carry everywhere we can because we don't know what will happen when, but you can't beat yourself up because you did something different in that one moment for what probably seemed like a good reason at the time.
Yet it's a reminder to the rest of us of just how important our rights are. Michael Hatcher is alive today because he had a gun. Yes, it's a shame anyone but the bad guy died, but it could have been worse, and we shouldn't lose sight of that.
Our right to keep and bear arms matters because stuff like this doesn't just happen here in the United States. It happens everywhere. Our knife homicide rate is higher than the total homicide rate of most other developed nations, but those other nations see plenty of stabbing murders, too.
And while we may have issues, we have the means to protect ourselves, which matters so much more.
I'm very sorry that the Hatcher family is dealing with this awful tragedy right now. There's no reason they should be in this situation, but the right to fight back matters, and they're not dealing with a worse one because one of them did.
