The Good News

The wheels of justice are supposed to turn more slowly than this. Last Monday, Joseph Bruzzese Jr was headed to work when he was ambushed by a gunman waiting outside his place of employment: The Jefferson County Courthouse. Mister Bruzzese is a judge. It is alarming to think about what sort of concealed weapons permit a guy who wears a big black robe might have. Rocket launcher. Anti-tank weapons. T-shirt cannon.
So, as it turns out, Judge Joseph pulled up to work on Monday morning and a gentleman who had been witnessed waiting in a car outside for some time opened fire. The judge was wounded, hit in the stomach and chest, but still managed to return fire with his own weapon. 
A nearby probation officer, seeing this attack, started firing too. The suspect was shot and killed. Another man who was also in the car with the assailant was not wounded. Or charged. He's the guy who will spend the next few years trying to figure out what went wrong.
So we have a real and true "good guy with a gun story." This should make our friends at the Second Amendment Headquarters very happy. The fact that a civil servant could be attacked in broad daylight in front of a courthouse makes everyone nervous. 
For some, it will make them want to have more guns. It will legitimize the well-armed militia of civilians we feel should have the right to protect themselves from all those bad guys who also seem to have guns. Which brings us back to the other guy in the car. "Hey Brad, I've got to stop by the courthouse to drop some things off. You mind stopping by there before I drive you to work?"
"Sure. No problem."
Except for that little annoyance we always forget in these situations: Crossfire. The good news would be that this took place at eight in the morning. Passersby are fewer and far between. A couple of hours later and this would be a different story. 
In this version, two people got shot. Two people were wounded. The good guy lived. No innocent bystanders were maimed or killed. Bad guy dead? Okay. People walking by lived? Better. 
Maybe this whole thing would be better if there had been no guns at all involved.
But I guess that's not a discussion we'll be having anytime soon.