Thursday, February 18, 2010

the myth of safe places

On any given day, a mother will drop their child off at a library to find books for a report, to play games on a computer, or just because she needs an hour to herself. Under ideal circumstances, this wouldn't be a problem - the stacks are full of new, exciting ideas to be discovered and there is comfort in the notion that everyone in the building is there for the same wholesome reasons of self education and quiet entertainment.

Except public libraries are open to everyone - mixed in with the retirees, college students, and your happy little family are registered sex offenders, homeless perverts, and monsters like Nigel Mandela Harper, who beat and stomped on a librarian after she asked him to be quiet. The librarian was saved by six patrons who tackled the assailant and held him down until help arrived.

I'm sure the police were just minutes away.
____________________

postscript: Harper received 140 days in a plea deal, with credit for time served, for misdemeanor assault.

My friend GayCynic is trying to encourage his own library to be a Liberty Zone, where people are free to defend themselves and exercise their Second Amendment rights.

11 comments:

Joanna said...

OT, but: WTF is up with the last sentence in that article?

"The librarian is recovering at her home, her physical wounds perhaps not as severe as the emotional ones."

Whoever wrote that should be slapped with a herring and put on obituary duty for a month. "Perhaps" is not a word in straight reporting.

/rant off.

On topic: You're absolutely right about letting kids roam. Although I'd like to meet the guys who tackled the assailant. Someone should buy them beer.

Joanna said...

Check that: Slap the editor who let it through, instead.

James said...

Our local library in not a gun free zone thanks to Michigan law and MCRGO lawsuits. I am sure we have such scum in our public buildings, but except for courthouses and police stations, the violent are at risk.

B Smith said...

Like the case of the eunuch-bomber, I have to wonder why the patrons let the guy live to see the inside of a courtroom. I am getting damned tired of warrantless attacks on U.S. citizens, and I am cultivating quite a "just-kill-the-stupid-bastard" mentality.

Heath J said...

Words cannot describe the rage. WTF is wrong with that culture in general??

Some people NEED to die violent, painful deaths..... Which he would have, if I were a library patron at that time and place.

Anonymous said...

heck that: Slap the editor who let it through, too.

There, fixed that for you.

As for the offender, there are worse things a man can do, but not many.

Jim

chris horton said...

I would hope all people,regardless of "library policy," would be prepared to defend themselves and others around them. Gun free zones don't work. And it really WOULD be for the children,right?!

CIII

Anonymous said...

Sigh....who exactly are they protecting with these "gun free zones"?
I'm thinking to bad someone did not grab a large heavy object and drop(slam) it(once or twice) on the scum sickers head!!
Inadvertantly of course...

Glenn B said...

Way to go to the library patrons who helped the librarian. Many people would do nothing but thankfulkly that has been changing some over about the past 7 years or so.

Justthisguy said...

Some people just can't control their violent passions. Hey, I get right angry whenever I think about "weeding" and how it amounts to The Memory Hole (so angry I didn't dare comment on the Weeding post), but it never occurred to me to beat down a librarian over it.

Justthisguy said...

P.s. Some people think of violence as first resort, not last. (See the writings of Rory Miller at chirontraining.blogspot.com)

The only thing that works on those folks is violating right back at them, with compound interest, and maybe compound fractures.