Run-in changes lawmaker's stance

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by E.L., May 21, 2007.


  1. E.L.

    E.L. Moderator of Lead Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    Run-in changes lawmaker's stance


    Tuesday, May 15, 2007 Phillip Morris
    Plain Dealer Columnist

    http://www.cleveland.com/news/plain...ssf?/base/opinion/1179218274175560.xml&coll=2

    It's funny how a gun can in stantly change your perspec tive on things, make you wish you could rewrite history.
    State Rep. Michael DeBose, a southside Cleveland Democrat, discovered this lesson the night of May 1, when he thought he was going to die. That's the night he wished he had that gun vote back.
    DeBose, who had just returned from Columbus, where he had spent the day in committee hearings, decided to take a short walk up Holly Hill, the street where he has lived with his wife for the past 27 years.

    <SCRIPT language=JavaScript1.1 src="http://ads.cleveland.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_jx.ads/www.cleveland.com/xml/story/oc/ocmor/@StoryAd"></SCRIPT><SCRIPT language=JavaScript1.1>//Be Sure to change Click & Image Link in Both Placesvar FlashClickthru="http://www.dollarbank.com/pays";var SWFFilename="250x250e_CL.swf";var ImageName="250x250e_CL.gif";var CodeVersion="Flash_1.1";var TFSMFlash_VERSION=6;var TFSMFlash_WMODE="opaque";var TFSMFlash_OASCLICK="http://ads.advance.net/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/www.cleveland.com/xml/story/oc/ocmor/794266552/StoryAd/CLEVELANDLIVE/DollarBank_08CL25/546349B.html/34616330353237383436353232306630";var TFSMFlash_SWFCLICKVARIABLE="?clickTAG=http://ads.advance.net/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/www.cleveland.com/xml/story/oc/ocmor/794266552/StoryAd/CLEVELANDLIVE/DollarBank_08CL25/546349B.html/34616330353237383436353232306630?" + escape(FlashClickthru);var TFSMFlash_SWFFILE="http://ads.advance.net/RealMedia/ads/Creatives/CLEVELANDLIVE/DollarBank_Creatives_03/"+SWFFilename+TFSMFlash_SWFCLICKVARIABLE;var TFSMFlash_IMAGEALTERNATE="http://ads.advance.net/RealMedia/ads/Creatives/CLEVELANDLIVE/DollarBank_Creatives_03/"+ImageName;var TFSMFlash_OASALTTEXT="Click here!";var TFSMFlash_OASTARGET="_blank";var TFSMFlash_OASPROTOCOL="http://";var TFSMFlash_OASDIM="WIDTH=250 HEIGHT=250";var TFSMFlash_OASADID="ad_banner";document.write('<scr'+ 'ipt src="http://ads.advance.net/RealMedia/ads/Upload/js_wrappers/FlashStory.js"></scr'+'ipt>');</SCRIPT><SCRIPT src="http://ads.advance.net/RealMedia/ads/Upload/js_wrappers/FlashStory.js"></SCRIPT><NOSCRIPT></NOSCRIPT>[​IMG]
    <SCRIPT language=JavaScript><!--if (parseFloat(navigator.appVersion) == 0) {document.write('<IFRAME WIDTH=468 HEIGHT=60 MARGINWIDTH=0 MARGINHEIGHT=0 HSPACE=0 VSPACE=0 FRAMEBORDER=0 SCROLLING=no BORDERCOLOR="#000000" SRC="http://ads.cleveland.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_sx.ads/www.cleveland.com/xml/story/oc/ocmor/@StoryAd"></IFRAME>');}--></SCRIPT><NOSCRIPT>[​IMG]</NOSCRIPT>It was late, but DeBose, 51, was restless. The ordained Baptist minister knew his Lee-Harvard neighborhood was changing, but he wasn't scared. The idle, young men who sometimes hang out on his and adjacent streets didn't threaten him.
    He is a big man and, besides, he had run the same streets before he found Jesus - and a wife. That night, he just needed a walk.
    The loud muffler on a car that slowly passed as he was finishing the walk caught his attention, though. When the car stopped directly in front of his house - three houses from where he stood - he knew there was going to be a problem.
    "There was a tall one and a short one," DeBose said, sipping on a McDonald's milkshake and recounting the experience Friday.
    "The tall one reached in his pocket and pulled out a silver gun. And they both started running towards me."
    "At first I just backed up, but then I turned around and started running and screaming."
    "When I started running, the short boy stopped chasing and went back to the car. But the tall boy with the gun kept following me. I ran to the corner house and started banging on Mrs. Jones' door."


    It was at that point that the would-be robbers realized that their prey wasn't worth the trouble. Besides, Cheryl, DeBose's wife, and a daughter had heard his screams and had raced out to investigate. Other porch lights began to flicker on.
    The loud muffler sped off, and DeBose started rethinking his gun vote.
    DeBose twice voted against a measure to allow Ohioans to carry concealed weapons. It became law in 2004.<SCRIPT language=JavaScript1.1 src="http://ads.cleveland.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_jx.ads/www.cleveland.com/xml/story/oc/ocmor/@StoryAd"></SCRIPT>
    [​IMG]
    <SCRIPT language=JavaScript><!--if (parseFloat(navigator.appVersion) == 0) {document.write('<IFRAME WIDTH=468 HEIGHT=60 MARGINWIDTH=0 MARGINHEIGHT=0 HSPACE=0 VSPACE=0 FRAMEBORDER=0 SCROLLING=no BORDERCOLOR="#000000" SRC="http://ads.cleveland.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_sx.ads/www.cleveland.com/xml/story/oc/ocmor/@StoryAd"></IFRAME>');}--></SCRIPT><NOSCRIPT>[​IMG]</NOSCRIPT>DeBose voted his conscience. He feared that CCW permits would lead to a massive influx of new guns in the streets and a jump in gun violence. He feared that Cleveland would become the O.K. Corral, patrolled by legions of freshly minted permit holders.
    "I was wrong," he said Friday.
    "I'm going to get a permit and so is my wife.
    "I've changed my mind. You need a way to protect yourself and your family.
    "I don't want to hurt anyone. But I never again want to be in the position where I'm approached by someone with a gun and I don't have one."
    DeBose said he knows that a gun doesn't solve Cleveland's violence problem; it's merely a street equalizer.
    "There are too many people who are just evil and mean-spirited. They will hurt you for no reason. If more people were packing guns, it might serve as a deterrent.
    "But there obviously are far deeper problems that we need to address," he added, as he suddenly seemed to realize he sounded like a gun enthusiast.
    They say the definition of a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged. DeBose's CCW application will bear some witness to that notion.
     
  2. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    Well, now, one convertee at a time is better than none at all. And in Cleveland, yet.
     
  3. poacher

    poacher Monkey+++ Founding Member

    It would seem that someone out there, some piece of trash did that which the NRA, GOA, and all the other groups combined couldn't. The human pukes presented a case that made all other worries seem very small. Now we have a person who has changed his mind and his wife as well. I'm only sorry that he had to face somthing like that to understand what the 2nd Amendment is truly about.
    Take care Be safe Poacher.
     
  4. E.L.

    E.L. Moderator of Lead Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    Amen brother!
     
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