Armed Amputee Defends Himself Against Brutal Attack, Prosecutor Rules Shooting Justified

The right to keep and bear arms applies to we the people, but I’d argue that’s of greater significance to the underdogs in our society. Firearms are a great equalizer, whether we’re talking about individuals holding a mob at bay or someone with physical limitations who can still protect themselves from attacks by those who are stronger, more mobile, and able-bodied. 

A Tennessee man learned that lesson the hard way after assaulting someone earlier this year. Authorities say that 24-year-old Dalton Spaulding was shot and killed back in August, and they’ve officially determined that the shooter will not face any charges because he was acting in self-defense. 

“An investigation by the Johnson City Police Department revealed that Spaulding was the primary aggressor in an altercation between the two men which started after Spaulding accused [individual] of looking in a disrespectful manner at his grandfather, who was waiting in the parking lot,” the release states.

“The altercation turned physical when Spaulding violently threw [individual] to the ground causing a prosthetic leg worn by [individual] to become detached. Spaulding then continued the assault against [individual] at which time [he] fired four rounds from a .38 caliber revolver, striking Spaulding three times in the chest and arm.”

My sympathies go out to Spaulding’s family, who not only have to deal with the pain and grief of losing a loved one, but the heartache of knowing that his death was the direct result of some stupid decisions on his part. 

Let’s assume for the sake of argument that the gun owner really was looking at Spaulding’s grandfather in a “disrespectful manner.” So what? You get your grandpa and you go on your way. Maybe you give the guy a dirty look of your own as you drive by. There was no reason for Spaulding to confront the man, and there was certainly no justification in him grabbing the armed citizen and throwing him to the ground. 

Tennessee is a “Stand Your Ground” state, so the gun owner wasn’t required to try to run away from Spaulding instead of defending himself. So long as he reasonably believed he was in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury, he was justified in using lethal force. 

This gun owner had been minding his own business when Spaulding came up to him and accused him of disrespecting his granddad. He then immediately escalated the situation by grabbing the gun owner and throwing him to the ground. After that, he continued to assault the man until the shot stopped him dead in his tracks. 

It’s hard to argue that this man didn’t have a legitimate reason to believe his life was in jeopardy.  

With his prosthetic leg knocked off, he was in no position to make a quick getaway. He couldn’t simply get back on his feet and run, and he was already at a considerable disadvantage in a physical confrontation. How much more punishment would he have endured before Spaulding decided he’d made his point? Would he have survived the beating at all?

We can’t know the answers to those questions, but we do know that his revolver gave him a fighting chance at survival. 

Gun control activists seem to believe that almost everyone can outrun an attacker, but we know that’s just not the case. The elderly, the disabled, and those who are smaller or physically weaker than their attackers have just as much right to defend their lives as anyone else, because self-defense is a human right. 

Owning a gun doesn’t guarantee your safety, but in this case, it allowed a man who had been knocked off his feet to stop a violent assault before he suffered even more serious injuries, or even death. I’m not sure why it took two months for prosecutors to determine he was acting in self-defense, but I’m glad that they eventually reached the right decision. 

Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their extreme gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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