Replies

If he’d stayed inside like a good boy everything woulda been fine?

Depends on your definition of "everything being fine".

He wouldn't be in jail for this as well as possibly up to the next fifteen Christmases.
He would still have his guns available to him to properly use in a time of actual need, unlike this situation, because unless the mob began to break down his door he would never have even needed to make it known that he owned multiple (illegal in Long Island) guns.
He would be the cause-celebre for the "black community" and would be asked to appear on the TV talk show circuit and Larry King, and would speak at length of "the resurgence of the Klan" and how he and his family narrowly escaped the "racist wrath of George Bush's White America"
The drunk punks would either be in jail or paying off heavy fines for their multiple infractions. (and would most likely garner zero FReeper sympathies)
If the mob had tried to break his door down and he had cut them in half with his shotgun, he would have been the poster boy for the NRA and gun law reform throughout America. A black man using a (locally illegal) gun to fight off a mob of drunken whites who were placing him and his family in imminent danger (without him having to go outside and needlessly create the danger) would be an utterly compelling story that would supercharge the gun lobby (which I consider myself to be a part of) for the next twenty years. The story as it is now is useless to the gun lobby because he acted irresponsibly and created the danger to begin with.

A black man using a (locally illegal) gun

Shotguns are illegal on Long Island? According to the NRA/ILA site(PDF), no permit is required for long guns in New York state, nor are they registered nor do they require a permit/license to carry. New York City, yes, but not New York State. Only handguns require all of the above in NY state. Do the various jurisdictions on Long Island all follow NY City practice?