In recent days, a 20-year-old Saratoga County woman was fatally shot after her friend pulled into the driveway of a home that they mistakenly believed belonged to another friend, two cheerleaders in Texas were shot after one of them mistakenly got into the wrong car and a 16-year-old boy was shot by an 84-year-old man after the former rang the wrong doorbell while going to pick up his younger brothers.
Meanwhile, a toddler squeezed through a fence at the White House triggering a Secret Service response.
No one seems to have picked up on a common thread here, namely that there were three incidents in less than a week in which someone was shot while approaching a person they apparently did not know.
In other words, all three were cases of “shoot first… ask questions later,” a phrase with usage that can be traced back to the Topeka State Journal of February 26, 1902 in a story about the performance of a play, “Jesse James. A Bandit Hero,” in which the author wrote, “It was a direct insult to the brave cut-throats who were wont to shoot anyone who looked suspicious and ask questions later.
There are variations, such as “Shoot first… ask questions afterwards” which appeared as early as 1882 in the November 8 issue of Our Continent. a British journal. To wit, “There is a general impression, however, that in these days, when the cheap revolver sheds its blessings on burglar as well as on householder, the average Englishman will not wait to cross-question a suspected robber as to his intentions. He will rather – as his American cousin would certainly do under like circumstances – shoot first and ask questions afterward.”
I would be remiss in not mentioning the 1975 spaghetti western “Il bianco, il giallo, il nero,” also known as “Shoot First… Ask Questions Later,” but a discussion of the genre is beyond the scope of this article.
Hence, there are two takeaways:
1.) There are a lot of trigger-happy people out there with a short-fuse as well as a gun. Perhaps the coverage of the spate of headline grabbing criminal activity has conditioned the populace to overreact to what they may perceive as life-threatening acts.
2.) People aren’t paying attention as to where they are going (or what their child is doing) or how their actions may be misconstrued by a frightened and overly sensitive homeowner or driver.
Walking around Manhattan, both before the pandemic and now, I’ve stopped people who were hyperfocused on their iPhones from walking against the “Don’t Walk” sign into moving traffic. A few have even looked up from their devices and thanked me.
No one should have gotten shot in any of these instances – and thank goodness the Secret Service has a toddler exception – but getting in the wrong car has proven near-fatal in the past (I’m referencing several cases of someone getting into a car he or she thought was a waiting car-service vehicle and getting assaulted).
In addition, I have no proof that any of these people who were shot were hyperfocused on their iPhones (especially in the instance where the 65-year-old owner of the house starting firing at the driveway invaders) but the takeaway here is to be far more aware of your surroundings
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
All Rights Reserved Travel