Why I carry a handgun for protection, Vol. 19

So that if myself and my loved ones happen to be standing outside a friend's home after watching fireworks on July 4, just like this family of four (including two teenagers) in Akron, Ohio happened to be doing, and we are assaulted by "dozens of teenage boys" (up to 50, the story reports) who are shouting things such as "This is our world'' and ''This is a black world", we will be able to successfully defend ourselves from such an unprovoked brutal attack.

"Akron police say they aren't ready to call it a hate crime"

Hmm. A large number of feral youths suddenly attack a family of a different race for no apparent reason, all the while chanting racist slogans.

Those circumstances sure sound like what our betters in government insist on labeling a "hate crime" to us, and which undoubtedly would have happened here as well had the racial makeup of the involved parties simply been reversed.

We here at the Muckraker don't believe in the concept of hate crime legislation, in which people are given harsher penalties for the exact same crime based on what they may or may not have been thinking at the time that crime is committed.

If one is going to insist on charging people in such a manner, however, this Ohio incident would certainly seem to obviously fit the criteria.

We'll see if the "authorities" end up seeing it the same way.