Good Guy with a Gun #117: Margate, FL (free post)
Original incident: February 26, 2024. Exactly how many "knife to a gunfight" jokes do I have to make in this job?
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Margate is part of the neverending suburbia of Florida, about an hour north of Miami and 10 miles north of Fort Lauderdale as the crow flies. It was founded in the 1950s. Lots of trees, lots of parks, and apparently lots of canals — over 30 miles of them. The name comes from its founder, Jack Marqusee, and “gateway,” because it was seen as a gateway to western Broward County.
The whole idea seems rather quaint now, given the look of the area.
Anyway: A handyman was working in someone’s house in Margate when someone stabbed him. You can see the bandages on the handyman’s hand in the Local10.com video.
Owner? Invader? Don’t know. There’s almost no actual information about this incident.
We do know that the handyman shot his attacker, which apparently put an end to the fight. The handyman was treated at the scene, while the attacker took a trip to the hospital.
It’s always amazing to me that there’s so little information about what happened in situations like this.
Getting rid of guns won’t stop the violence, but good guys being armed can tip the balance away from severe injury or death.
Sources
I can only find one source that gives a more-or-less complete picture of this story as a defensive gun use: Local10.com. It’s from here that we discover that the person who was stabbed is the victim and that the person who was shot may face charges.
CBS Miami, NBC 6, and Margate Talk all covered the story at the outset, but all they talk about is an “altercation” or the like, and there’s no indication of the shooting being in self-defense.