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To: webstersII; Ditto
Having said that, I think he should live by his own rules and turned himself in for a jail term.

Only if they have a refrigerated lockup. He died on Sept. 23, 2000

Regarding the "skinny-dipping defense", from Wikipedia (yeah, yeah, but it seems to be lifted from established sources, and it's consistent with what I recall having read at the time of the incident):


Rowan gained public notoriety on June 14, 1988, when he shot a teenage tresspasser, Neil Smith, who was taking a dip in Rowan's swimming pool in Washington, D.C.. Rowan used an unregistered .22 LR pistol. Critics charged hypocrisy, since Rowan was a strict gun control advocate.

Now, what gets me about this whole incident is not the "merits" of the shooting, but rather, the "above the law" aspect that was enjoyed by Rowan and his son, an FBI agent, who illegally gave him the illegal gun (and that is not a redundancy).

Clearly, there's one set of rules for the "inner circle", and another set of rules for the rubes.

1,011 posted on 03/11/2007 3:06:40 AM PDT by Don Joe (We've traded the Rule of Law for the Law of Rule.)
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To: Don Joe

The Wikipedia story is a poor summary, and doesn't include what I recall about the event.

Here's more detail:
"In 1988, Rowan shot and wounded in the wrist an intruder who had trespassed on his property in Washington and used his swimming pool. Rowan said he had fired because the youth was trying to break into his house and refused to stop when ordered to do so. He also said the pistol he used was exempt from the District's strict gun-control laws because it belonged to his older son, a former FBI agent. District officials disagreed and charged the columnist with violating those laws. A highly publicized trial ended with a hung jury." Source: "Columnist Carl Rowan Dies at 75", The Washington Post, 24 September 2000

Initial press reports (IIRC) were that the kid had actually broken the patio door window and was inside the house when Rowan came downstairs. Later I think the story came out that the kid was trying to break into the house and he kept telling him to get away or he would shoot.

Of course, given all the politics of the situation, he knew they wouldn't be able to convict him. I was surprised it even went to trial. But this didn't change any of his stance on gun control; he was a good liberal and didn't let the facts get in the way of his opinion.


1,029 posted on 03/11/2007 8:35:25 AM PDT by webstersII
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