Holidaying Scot shot in the leg

[Keevan_Colton]

The sister of a Scotsman who was shot in the leg after attempting to foil a robbery while holidaying in the US has spoken of her shock.

Thomas Quay, 50, from Biggar, South Lanarkshire, was injured after tackling the robber outside his hotel in Orlando, Florida.

Ruth Quay said she was not surprised her brother had reacted as he did.

Taxi driver Mr Quay was shot after he refused to hand over money to two men in a car.

The incident happened as the 50-year-old and his companion Annette Wilkins were returning to their hotel.

Mr Quay grabbed the gun, which was held by one of the men.

Ms Wilkins ran over and began striking the suspect in the hand with their car keys.

The pair then ran towards a stairwell as they were chased by the two suspects.

Mr Quay was struck in the upper right leg with a bullet as he began running up a stairwell.

He was taken to a local hospital with a non-life threatening wound. The suspects then fled.

'Won't take rubbish'

Mr Quay's sister, Ruth, from West Lothian, said: "I just can't believe this has happened, it would be just like him to have a go.

"I can't decide if he's stupid or brave trying to grab a robber's gun! He's got a heart of gold and is a really good-natured person but he won't take any rubbish."

She added: "He works as a taxi driver in Glasgow and he's seen it all so I suppose he wasn't particularly fazed by a couple of robbers with a gun."

Meanwhile, Michael Pingston, general manager of the Travelodge, where Mr Quay was staying, said he had doubled security at the hotel "to make sure this is an isolated incident".

BBC

Such a lovely place, having guns sure does make everyone good and safe.

[Crown]

I loved the 'won't take any rubbish' quote ... the hotel should refund his money and let him stay as long as he needs.

[Crown]

Such a lovely place, having guns sure does make everyone good and safe.

Now, now Keevan ... everybody knows that if he had a gun too, none of this would have happened!

[Keevan_Colton]

Such a lovely place, having guns sure does make everyone good and safe.

Now, now Keevan ... everybody knows that if he had a gun too, none of this would have happened!

Surely you dont think I was being sarcastic?

[Mobiboros]

Such a lovely place, having guns sure does make everyone good and safe.

Who is this 'everyone' you speak of? I don't own any firearms myself.

[Admiral Valdemar]

I remember the time two British tourists were going around houses at night ringing the doors to find someone who could phone them a cab to get to their hotel. One of them was killed as a guy with a shotgun blasted him through the letterbox. Truly a sad case, but at least one Florida resident was safe that night.

[aerius]

The moral of this story: Don't vacation in Florida if you're British.

[Keevan_Colton]

I remember the time two British tourists were going around houses at night ringing the doors to find someone who could phone them a cab to get to their hotel. One of them was killed as a guy with a shotgun blasted him through the letterbox. Truly a sad case, but at least one Florida resident was safe that night.

Actually, I'm fairly certain that was a case in Texas.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Actually, I'm fairly certain that was a case in Texas.

I recall Florida, but this was years ago and it may have been another couple of tourists. Needless to say, someone got shot without any reason and died because some paranoid looney locked and loaded.

[Keevan_Colton]

Actually, I'm fairly certain that was a case in Texas.

I recall Florida, but this was years ago and it may have been another couple of tourists. Needless to say, someone got shot without any reason and died because some paranoid looney locked and loaded.

I know there was definetly a case where that happened in Texas, it was ruled to be prefectly fine aswell which made me feel quite ill.

[Chmee]

Life is an intelligence test.

Trying to grab a gun away from an assailant because you "won't take rubbish" ..... failing grade.

[Keevan_Colton]

Life is an intelligence test.

Trying to grab a gun away from an assailant because you "won't take rubbish" ..... failing grade.

Giving guns to the entire class then is what....extra credit?

[Chmee]

Life is an intelligence test.

Trying to grab a gun away from an assailant because you "won't take rubbish" ..... failing grade.

Giving guns to the entire class then is what....extra credit?

The gun is really almost irrelevant to my comment ... if Lawrence Taylor had approached Mr. Quay wielding an aluminum softball bat and demanded his money, and Mr. Quay had tried to grab it away from him, I'd have had the same opinion .... sometimes you are better served not letting your ego over-ride common sense.

[Howedar]

BBC

Such a lovely place, having guns sure does make everyone good and safe.

Go ahead and get back to us if that gun was legally owned, Keevan.

[Perinquus]

Such a lovely place, having guns sure does make everyone good and safe.

Wow, you come up with one incident so unusual in it's nature that it makes the news where thousands of other shootings throughout the country do not, and conclude that people who think the issue is just not as simple as "fewer guns = less crime" are idiots.

Of course, Florida has had "shall issue" concealed carry laws since 1987, and not only saw a drop in it's homicide rates (as have all other states who followed Florida's lead, and adopted similar laws), there was also no explosion of handgun related violence, as the gun control advocates predicted, with concealed handgun carriers losing their tempers and shooting each other at traffic accidents and so on. In fact, Florida's homicide rate fell 21% in the 6 years after the law went into effect, while the U.S. rate has rose 12% during the same period. Moreover, of all the permits issued during those six years, only 17 (0.008%) were revoked because permittees later committed crimes (but not necessarily violent) in which guns were present (but not necessarily used). That's probably a lower percentage than the percentage of driver's licenses that got revoked. So there is abundant evidence that not only does access to firearms not automatically lead to more violent crime, but that access to firearms by law abiding citizens does have a deterrent effect on criminals.

But never mind all that evidence. This story clearly trumps that, and indicates that we should ban handguns at once!

[Chmee]

Such a lovely place, having guns sure does make everyone good and safe.

Wow, you come up with one incident so unusual in it's nature that it makes the news where thousands of other shootings throughout the country do not, and conclude that people who think the issue is just not as simple as "fewer guns = less crime" are idiots.

Of course, Florida has had "shall issue" concealed carry laws since 1987, and not only saw a drop in it's homicide rates (as have all other states who followed Florida's lead, and adopted similar laws), there was also no explosion of handgun related violence, as the gun control advocates predicted, with concealed handgun carriers losing their tempers and shooting each other at traffic accidents and so on. In fact, Florida's homicide rate fell 21% in the 6 years after the law went into effect, while the U.S. rate has rose 12% during the same period. Moreover, of all the permits issued during those six years, only 17 (0.008%) were revoked because permittees later committed crimes (but not necessarily violent) in which guns were present (but not necessarily used). That's probably a lower percentage than the percentage of driver's licenses that got revoked. So there is abundant evidence that not only does access to firearms not automatically lead to more violent crime, but that access to firearms by law abiding citizens does have a deterrent effect on criminals.<snip>

Ouch ... as a gun owner who favors some forms of control, I find that kind of statistical argument very discomfiting, whether it's pro- or anti-control. Those numbers don't make ANY argument showing a relationship between permit issuance and violence rates. Two statistics occurring in the same period is not a demonstration of cause and effect. Global warming occurred in the 12 years following 1987 too, but I wouldn't argue that issuing more carry permits in Florida causes global warming.

There's a lot of numbers I'd want to know before I'd argue there's a causal relationship. How many of the people issued permits ALREADY owned guns? Did the permit law result in more people carrying, or just more people carrying legally? Did crime drop because of economic factors, reporting methodology changes, other police initiatives .... hell, it could be global warming causing crime to drop for all I know from these stats.

You could make the argument from those stats that requiring permitting and registration of firearms causes crime to drop ... but I have a feeling the boys over at RKBA, etc., would argue that it doesn't show any such thing because of the lack of a proven relationship between the two statistics.

[Glocksman]

There's a lot of numbers I'd want to know before I'd argue there's a causal relationship. How many of the people issued permits ALREADY owned guns? Did the permit law result in more people carrying, or just more people carrying legally? Did crime drop because of economic factors, reporting methodology changes, other police initiatives .... hell, it could be global warming causing crime to drop for all I know from these stats.

I agree.

Personally I think the relationship between guns and crime is more cultural and regional than anything else. If you look at the crime data, you'll find that there are states that have the tightest gun controls and states that have the loosest controls ranked right next to each other on the lists.

It's much more complex than 'Allow/Ban guns'.

And as far as Keevan's blatant troll goes, right back at you, bud.

January 13, 2005

A home invasion Wednesday night ended up landing three suspects in the hospital.

Police say three men entered a home on Whites Creek Pike around 8:00pm. Officers say they assaulted the husband and wife, but the woman managed to escape to a neighbor's house.

The neighbor returned and shot all three suspects. One man was found with a gunshot to the neck at the scene.

Two others managed to drive themselves to Skyline Medical Center.

Moral of the story: Don't do home invasions unless you want to get shot.

[Perinquus]

Ouch ... as a gun owner who favors some forms of control, I find that kind of statistical argument very discomfiting, whether it's pro- or anti-control. Those numbers don't make ANY argument showing a relationship between permit issuance and violence rates. Two statistics occurring in the same period is not a demonstration of cause and effect. Global warming occurred in the 12 years following 1987 too, but I wouldn't argue that issuing more carry permits in Florida causes global warming.

There's a lot of numbers I'd want to know before I'd argue there's a causal relationship. How many of the people issued permits ALREADY owned guns? Did the permit law result in more people carrying, or just more people carrying legally? Did crime drop because of economic factors, reporting methodology changes, other police initiatives .... hell, it could be global warming causing crime to drop for all I know from these stats.

You could make the argument from those stats that requiring permitting and registration of firearms causes crime to drop ... but I have a feeling the boys over at RKBA, etc., would argue that it doesn't show any such thing because of the lack of a proven relationship between the two statistics.

I do see your point. These are hardly laboratory experiments where you can control for all of the variables. But when Florida enacts such a law, and sees a rather precipitous drop in its homicide rates (and some other violent crimes), and no tendency whatever for the overwhelming majority of permit holders to abuse their right to carry, and then, subsequent to Florida's experience, 36 other states enact "shall issue" CCW laws over the next decade or so, and also subsequently see their homicide rates drop as well, and also no tendency for the overwhelming majority of permit holders to abuse their right to carry...

Well, I think it's just a little hard to deny there's a correlation here. I think it certainly provides enough evidence to thoroughly refute the assertion that matters are as simple as "ban guns and watch the homicide rates fall", and also to refute the notion that mere access to guns automatically makes people more likely to engage in violent behavior.

[MKSheppard]

Such a lovely place, having guns sure does make everyone good and safe.

Such a lovely place where Britons will fight back and resist, unlike
taking it up the ass like they do back home

[aerius]

Such a lovely place where Britons will fight back and resist, unlike
taking it up the ass like they do back home

Yup, funny part is if this happened in Britain, both he and the woman would most likely be facing various assault charges for defending themselves.

[Jade Falcon]

Yup, funny part is if this happened in Britain, both he and the woman would most likely be facing various assault charges for defending themselves.

That is the really sad part, and our government in its infinite wisdom has decided that it will stay that way.

[TheDarkling]

Yup, funny part is if this happened in Britain, both he and the woman would most likely be facing various assault charges for defending themselves.

I doubt it.

[Perinquus]

Yup, funny part is if this happened in Britain, both he and the woman would most likely be facing various assault charges for defending themselves.

I doubt it.

Why should you? It wouldn't be the first time something like that has happened over there.

[Glocksman]

Yup, funny part is if this happened in Britain, both he and the woman would most likely be facing various assault charges for defending themselves.

I doubt it.

Why should you? It wouldn't be the first time something like that has happened over there.

As a cop in Virginia, what do you think would have happened to Tony Martin if he'd shot those two gypsies in his house outside of Richmond instead of in rural England?

From all of the reports I've read, in a lot of states Martin wouldn't have been charged with shit since they both broke in the home.

Contrast that to what happened to Martin in the UK.
Not only was he imprisoned, the surviving burglar got legal aid to sue him.

[Jade Falcon]

As a cop in Virginia, what do you think would have happened to Tony Martin if he'd shot those two gypsies in his house outside of Richmond instead of in rural England?

From all of the reports I've read, in a lot of states Martin wouldn't have been charged with shit since they both broke in the home.

Contrast that to what happened to Martin in the UK.
Not only was he imprisoned, the surviving burglar got legal aid to sue him.

Add to that, that this wasn't the first time those particular kids had broken into Martins house which I think further contributed to the shooting.