Evidence that guns deter: “Knockout game” attacker asks victim if he is armed before hitting him

The Florida Times-Union points to how guns deter in an attack on a man on Neptune Beach.

The victim told police that he believed the boys were playing the “knockout game.” He said he was approached on the beach by one of the boys who asked him if he had a “Glock.” The man was punched after admitting that he was unarmed.

Fearing that the boy would continue to hit him until he was unconscious, the man grabbed at a folding knife that he had tucked into his waistband and pretended to have a gun. The boys fled, and the man enlisted the help of his neighbor to search for the boys.

The man positively identified one of the boys, a 15-year-old from Atlantic Beach, as the one who had struck him. At headquarters, the boy initially denied involvement, then confessed. Police tried to call the boy’s mother but could not reach her. He was taken to the county jail and booked on battery charges. . . .

With 1.1 million active permits issued to Floridians by Florida today, it is understandable that the criminal would ask if the man was armed. (There are about 1.3 million total permits and 178,523 from out of state.) So with an adult population of 15,176,520, that implies about 7.2 percent of the adult Floridian population with concealed handgun permit from Florida.