Every once in a while, justice is served

Way back in January, I wrote about Michael Mah, a resident of Oklahoma, and possessor of an Oklahoma-issued concealed carry permit. What prompted me to write about him was that while in Kansas he was present at an attempted armed robbery, and shot one of the suspects. Even this isn't especially earth-shattering, of course--that's the sort of bad-news-for-the-bad-guys/good-news-
for-the-good-guys thing that happens when the Constitutionally guaranteed fundamental human right of the individual to keep and bear arms is respected (well, sort of respected--the fact that any kind of permit was required indicates that the level of respect is still woefully inadequate).

What made it especially interesting to me was the fact that Mr. Mah's defensive shooting occurred on the very first day that Kansas started honoring Oklahoma concealed carry permits. I also worried that despite the fact that his permit was honored by Kansas at the time of the shooting, and despite the obvious fact that this was a clear-cut case of legitimate self-defense, that he still might face legal problems manufactured by the obviously anti-self-defense district attorney of the county in which the shooting occurred, Robert Hecht.

Why do I bring all this up again now? Because Mr. Mah was kind enough to get in touch with me recently, and provide me with some updates. First, the good news is that even Mr. Hecht was apparently unable to come up with grounds for prosecuting Mr. Mah. He did get some rather intimidating official visits and phone calls, but in the end, the obviously defensive nature of the shooting was enough to protect him from prosecution (or persecution, perhaps), and his firearm, hoster, and ammunition have been returned to him.

Interestingly, young Mr. Thug (whom Mr. Mah had shot, and who, Mr. Mah tells me, had been on the lam at the time of the robbery attempt) apparently (after healing up and escaping custody) came to Mr. Mah's house, looking for revenge. Mr. Mah was not home at the time, and Mr. Thug was caught and is now back in jail.

That might have been the best thing for Mr. Thug (his real name wasn't released, because he is a juvenile), as Mr. Mah is a personal safety/self-defense instructor (and Marine combat veteran)--although perhaps not the best thing for the gene pool.

Anyway, being a sucker for happy endings, I thought this update was worth a blog post.