This is a story out of Capitola. A teenage criminal knifed an elderly female local artist, just for the thrill of it. Killed her in cold blood. He’d initially selected an Asian man, but decided against it because he thought the guy might resist, so he kept looking until he found a frail old woman.

While these incidents are rare, the fact they happen at all is reason enough to carry a gun.

Here’s another example from just today. Two young men get into a fight, one gets knifed and bleeds out.

Another example from Southern California over the weekend. In this one a guy with a knife who’d slit his own throat ran into a local restaurant and started chasing customers around before being confronted by a man with a permit to carry a handgun. This man gave commands to drop the knife, and when the drugged out manic advanced on him, the permit holder shot him dead.

The irony? A witness who observed the incident and shooting was an off duty cop, who for one reason or another didn’t intervene at all – underscoring my point that you really cannot rely on anyone else to step up when you’re staring into the eyes of a crazed killer even if there is a cop within striking distance.