Huh. You can teach an old dog new tricks.
Some people just don't believe in evil. It's a common liberal affliction. Criminals are just good folks who've made a mistake, or who have been driven to crime by poverty or some other misfortune. It's a very common delusion. abz6598 just made a post about how that attitude is promoted in the Spider-Man movies and comics. It's the individual equivalent to the libertarian belief that if the U.S. would just stop provoking other nations by its interventionist policies, there would be no aggression in the world.
The thing is, it's really hard to shake that belief. Those who hold it will grasp at any excuse to explain away evil behavior, no matter how weak. If a rapist is basically a good boy, the bitch must have lead him on. If a terrorist is basically a decent man, he must be motivated by intolerable U.S. foreign policy rather than the doctrines of a religion he was raised in from birth.
So imagine my surprise to find a 50-year-old Cleveland liberal who gets mugged, and rather than coming up with excuses, makes a clear statement about the nature of human evil.
DeBose twice voted against a measure to allow Ohioans to carry concealed weapons. It became law in 2004.
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."
I think the preacher just had a come-to-Jesus moment.