European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 30, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes columns Carl Rowan columnist defends action in shooting intruder yes i be Given the headline writers and the pro gun zealots a Field Day. Rowan shoots to can age intruder blares the front Page headline in the Washington times. Columnist shoots teen Skinny dip per screams the headline in the new York Post. Rambo Rowan a disk jockey Calls me. The Jacuzzi gunman is the Label put on me by a columnist who leaves readers to think that i ran out and shot someone for taking an uninvited dip in my hot tub. The irresponsible headlines and provocative labels do not bother me because i know that the newspapers could be carrying something worse my obituary i am appalled that so Many people Are so eager to spread their propaganda about gun Laws thai they ignore the first overriding fact that my Home was Vio lated my family was threatened by strangers who came in the darkness. Who dares to ignore the fact that i who have received More than a few death threats which i chose not to make Public was awakened at 1 5 5 . By someone testing my bedroom window that is a frightening experience. When someone has scaled an eight foot Fence and is testing a Way to enter my House. I assume he is not coming to get my Auto graph. When i heard a woman scream then saw four peo ple dashing in the darkness i knew that i had to Call the police and in the seemingly interminable 10 min utes or so of waiting for the lawmen be prepared to protect my sleeping wife and myself. So i found and loaded a revolver that my son a former Fri agent had meet our newest left at my Home when death threats were coming Al most daily. My son had assured me the gun was properly registered. I awakened my Wile and when we saw a police car arriving she went to the Northeast room of the House and i went to the Southwest area each of us poised to unlock a Gate to let the police in when i opened a sliding door to unlock a Southwest Gate that is some 60 Yards from the Jacuzzi and out of View from the Pool area and i thought the intruders. I was suddenly confronted in the darkness by a tall Man smoking marijuana. 1 was t inclined to ask him to show proof that he was a teen Ager he being much Lallcer than i. I had no time to ask if he was a Nice kid from Chevy Chase or what one of my critics called Street scum from a ghetto area i just wanted to be sure that he did not run into my House getting into a wrestling match for my gun Imp riling me and my wife. So 1 jumped into the open doorway shouted to the intruder to Slop and warned him that i had a gun. When he kept Canning i figured that he must be stoned on marijuana which police reportedly found around the Jacuzzi that he was a threat to my life. After a third warning with this Man perhaps six feet from me and the door he lunged toward me. 1 fired a shot at his feel. The Bullet hit him in his left wrist which was near l he ground because of his lunge. I turned on the outdoor lights walked the 60 Yards or Solo Tell the police what had happened and watched the wounded intruder walk Back to the Pool area and again gel into my Jacuzzi. Lei the National Rifle association or others Call me a hypocrite because i fired a gun in a moment of per Sonal peril. I shall still be for strict gun control. But As Long As police and prosecutors Tell people that they can scale my Fence in the darkness bring their drugs and Beer party around my Pool rattle my bedroom win Dows All with impunity i la never know which Druggie also has brought a gun. A lot of theoretical ideological crap is being written by people who have not been threatened have not had a stranger at their bedroom window at 2 . And have not been confronted by a doped up Ini Ruder just out Side their door. Let my political enemies Crow. But let them know that As Long As authorities leave this society awash in drugs and guns i will protect my family c Notti a Twita by Rudic a i. Inc Mary Mcgrory Rowan should t have had firearm in his Home the other night ventured to say at a dinner attended by Liberal journalists and their political co Horts that i was sorry for Carl Rowan. Ten pairs of shocked eyes swivel cd around and zeroed in on me. What about the kid Well i said he had no business being in Carl s Pool Al 2 o clock in the morning the Standard one sue fits All Washington retort was immediately brought out. Everybody does it. All kids sneak Over fences into other people s swimming pools. Should you be shot for that no 1 said but he was intruding mind you. Carl should t have had the gun this miserable Story of two wrongs has Washington by the Throat. Sure people Are dutifully speculating about which of the Doles George Bush will choose As his running mate or whether Michael Duka Kis has actually chosen John Glenn for his and of course about the futures of attorney general de Meuse and House speaker Jim Wright. Will either step aside none of these subjects conies close to stirring the intensity that the episode in Carl Rowan s Back Yard brings to the surface Many Washin lonians Are All too familiar with break ins so there is much educated Dis Cussion about what should have been done. Some peo ple think Rowan should not have fired the gun some myself among them think he should t have had in in the first place. 1 would naturally relate to Rowan. He is a col league a columnist a Liberal. He and i Are As one on gun control my first reaction on hearing what happened was disbelief that he had a gun. Like me he s had his property invaded although my intruders were thoughtful enough to do their dirty work when i was away. Now he is enduring the hoots and jibes of the gun nuts mockingly hailed As one of us by members of the National ride association sent an honorary membership by sen. Steve Symms of Idaho the most impassioned gun enthusiast in the Senate. His enemies Are dancing in the streets big lib exposed As hypocrite. The .22 Rowan used to shoot the intruder belonged to his son a former Fri agent. It was not registered As is required by the District of Columbia which forbids the Sale and ownership of handguns. Rowan has also received sympathy Calls from his friends including Jesse Jackson a gun control advocate. Jackson expanded his views at a breakfast at the Washington Post and went to the racism that is at the heart of much of the furious reaction. Jackson said Carl is portrayed As this Guy who used a gun against this 17-year-old actually he is 18 innocent kid. And in Many circles the kid was More believable. Which is very suggestive. If there had been four kids from u Street there would have been the presumption of guilt and if Pat Buchanan the conservative columnist had shot a Black boy who was smoking marijuana and Gam Boling in his Jacuzzi he might be saluted As a hero defending his Home. Buchanan of course grew up in a Well ordered Washington where Only Whites owned swimming pools in cushy areas of the City and Only Black boys scaled fences at 2 . Rowan s night visitor was a White boy from Chevy Chase md., where the living is easy. Rowan who wrote his own version of the events in a column to above says he still believes in handgun control. He said he kept his son s gun to guard himself and his wife against death threats and fired a warning shot because when he confronted the boy the youth kept coming toward him. The combination of dope and darkness and sounds of intrusion would have been enough to unglued the most collected columnist. Rowan s fear was reason Able. So was his outrage. There was no time to inquire politely of the half naked youth if he was a recreational user or an addict. And if there is marijuana about there could be pc a drug that makes its takers prone to soil throats or casually Bash skulls. But the fact is thai what Rowan did by tiring a warning shot which hit the privileged Playboy in the wrist was to make a More powerful Case against the Possession of guns than All his years of Pund iting Ever could. Inadvertently he demonstrated what handgun control advocates have contended All along that if you have a gun you arc going to fire in Ana at a moment when panic and rage Are in charge of your head. Rowan who grew up poor and Black in the South Learned All there is to know about intimidation. He spends his time writing to help the unlucky and his Leisure time singing in the Gridiron club. Now he s seen As a wealthy ogre who drilled a kid for having a Little fun. All because he kept a gun. He might redeem the whole miserable business by saying he knows now to his infinite Chagrin the awful dangers of having a gun in the House and will never keep another. I sync Tail
