rules of the game

In the WSJ, I read about a new game for the children called the “knockout game”:

Reports of the game have surfaced in states, such as Massachusetts, New Jersey and Illinois. In Missouri, a special police squad and prosecutor were assigned to battle the problem. The game there has been characterized in news reports as “almost contagious,” with endings that mirror the incident in Syracuse on May 23.

That night, a group of teenagers attempting to knock Michael Daniels out with a single punch wound up beating and stomping him to death, according to police. A 15-year-old and a 13-year-old have been arrested and charged with first-degree manslaughter, and Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler said more arrests may come.

The 15-year-old will be prosecuted in criminal court. The 13-year-old will be dealt with during closed proceedings in Onondaga County Family Court. The Associated Press is withholding the names of the accused because they are juveniles.

Fowler said his department was currently investigating at least four other instances of people being attacked in a similar manner.

While this appears to be the first “knockout game” killing in Syracuse, other reports of the “knockout game” phenomenon detail much of the same: The perpetrators are usually teens, the attacks are random, and the goal is to knock a victim unconscious with a single punch.

If one player doesn’t succeed in knocking out the victim, others join in to finish the job.

This is most unfortunate, and it bodes ill for the future sanity of the country, for the simple reason that law-abiding adults are not going to tolerate being knocked out at random. Being knocked out is not only unpleasant, it is dangerous, and can easily be fatal. And even a person who is temporarily knocked out can die later of internal bleeding, such as what occurs from a subdural hematoma:

Subdural hematomas are divided into acute, subacute, and chronic, depending on the speed of their onset.^[1] Acute subdural hematomas that are due to trauma are the most lethal of all head injuries and have a high mortality rate if they are not rapidly treated with surgical decompression.^[2]

Acute bleeds often develop after high speed acceleration or deceleration injuries and are increasingly severe with larger hematomas. They are most severe if associated with cerebral contusions.^[3] Though much faster than chronic subdural bleeds, acute subdural bleeding is usually venous and therefore slower than the typically arterial bleeding of an epidural hemorrhage. Acute subdural bleeds have a high mortality rate, higher even than epidural hematomas and diffuse brain injuries, because the force (acceleration/deceleration) required to cause them causes other severe injuries as well.^[4] The mortality rate associated with acute subdural hematoma is around 60 to 80%.^[5]

Chronic subdural bleeds develop over a period of days to weeks, often after minor head trauma, though such a cause is not identifiable in 50% of patients.^[6] They may not be discovered until they present clinically months or years after a head injury.^[7]

Lovely. Not the sort of game which many people want to “play,” as the immediate and long term risks are far too great.

The reason I say this doesn’t bode well for the future sanity of the country is that more and more law-abiding citizens are acquiring concealed carry permits. The number of citizens with concealed carry licenses is skyrocketing, and here in liberal Ann Arbor, officials can barely stay on top of the paperwork:

In the first quarter of this year, there have been nearly double the number of applications during the first quarter of last year.

Washtenaw County’s Elections and Administration Division processes the CPL permit applications. Staff is requesting the Board of Commissioners approve turn a part-time administrative coordinator into a full-time position to handle the influx of paperwork.

The office anticipates this year will be a busy one for another reason because of permit renewals as well.

[…]

• July 1, 2006 – June 30, 2007: 620 applications received; 546 permits issued
• July 1, 2007 – June 30, 2008: 722 applications received; 605 permits issued
• July 1, 2008 – June 30, 2009: 1,853 applications received; 1,563 permits issued
• July 1, 2009 – June 30, 2010: 2,360 applications received; 2,425 permits issued
• July 1, 2010 – June 30, 2011: 1,957 applications received; 1,999 permits issued

Shooting a person (regardless of age) who is trying to cripple or kill you (whether for “fun” or not) is the essence of self defense, and it is certain to become a risk of this “game.”

So, I think it is quite predictable that there will be growing numbers of “children” shot in self defense.

What is equally predictable will be a huge growth of the war against self defense.

Yes war.

In a strange irony, self-proclaimed pacifists who claim to hate guns and want law-abiding citizens to be defenseless actually want to wage war to disarm law-abiding citizens, and take away their right to self defense.

Naturally, they want to have and deploy guns and lethal force to do it.

Not a very fair game.