This week saw a few red-letter moments in history: a Pizza Hut driver in Des Moines shoots a guy trying to rob him; a 12-year-old boy sees his mother getting attacked and knifes the guy (to death). I’m sure there are more, but I want to focus on these.

It looks to me like someone came to his senses. Maybe it was the kid, maybe it was the driver, I don’t know. Maybe I don’t care. I’m looking around me and seeing that people making more money than either of these guys is looking for an excuse to waste a bunch of time calling their actions into some kind of question. And since it’s slightly harder, we’ll start with the Pizza Hut driver.

At 38 years old, a man knows himself and what is right and wrong with him (if he’s paying attention). According to the papers, this driver passed a bunch of background checks and got a permit to carry a gun. And in the face of two robbers that thought they were Bonnie and Clyde, he responded to a threat of deadly force in kind. I’ve never been shot before, apart from a paintball that hit awfully close to home (and I didn’t put a lot into playing after that day), but those who have been shot have told me that it sucks, in ways I can’t even begin to imagine.

According to Wikipedia’s article entitled "Ballistic trauma," "As a rule, all gunshot wounds are medical emergencies which require immediate hospital treatment." These friends of mine ask me what it would take to get me to draw my weapon; the only answer I can give is "something pretty serious." There’s a reason for that. Guns are used to kill people. They are the equalizer of force that effectively ends all discussions, leaving no option but violence.

Some dumbasses would say these words in such a fashion as to indicate that violence is a bad thing. But some words Gordon Gekko* said bring the point into focus: "It’s not a question of enough, pal. It’s a Zero Sum game - somebody wins, somebody loses. Money itself isn’t lost or made, it’s simply transferred - from one perception to another. Like magic." A Zero Sum Game. Gunfights have a single lingering outcome, one with clear winners and clear losers (sometimes more than one apiece). Good, or bad, the consequences are the same. Die today or die of old age, having outrun a bullet, you’re going to die and you can’t stop it. Guns don’t change that much, save only the dates.

So let’s give a hand to you, delivery guy. Pizza Hut will probably fire you for violating their "give-them-what-they-want-