They cling to their guns

Here's a brilliant gunclinger for you, name of Phoebe Copas.  Pheebs is from Tompkinsville, Kentucky, she is 48, and she recently found herself "out in the West Texas town of El Paso," as that old song said it.

She hopped into an Uber to meet her boyfriend in El Paso.  As any geography student knows, El Paso is right on the Mexican border across from Juarez. 

So it was kind of natural that she would see signs reading “Juarez, Mexico,” am I wrong? I mean, if the signs had said DETROIT 15 MILES or BUFFALO NEXT RIGHT, that would have been cause for concern.  

But Phoebe figured that seeing a sign pointing the way to Juarez was proof positive that the Uber driver had kidnapped her and was taking her to Mexico.

Now, you know how we Americans are lately. Faced with the (incorrect) notion that she was being Shanghaied to Mexico, did she: 

a) ask the driver to stop and let her out?

b) phone 911 from her cell phone and say that she feared for her life?

c) pull a gun out of her purse and shoot the driver in his head?

 If you chose "c," well, winner winner, prison dinner! 

Now Phoebe sits jailed in El Paso, charged with murder in the death of 52-year-old Daniel Piedra García .

Mr. Piedra-García 

According to charging documents, the area where all this took place was “not in close proximity of a bridge, port of entry or other area with immediate access to travel into Mexico.” 

“The investigation does not support that a kidnapping took place or that Piedra was veering from Copas’ destination,” police added.They also said that before she even called 911 after the shooting, Copas took a photo of Piedra and texted it to her boyfriend.

Piedra clung to life for several days before doctors told his family he would not recover.

“I wish she would’ve spoken up, asked questions, not acted on impulse and make a reckless decision, because not only did she ruin our lives, but she ruined her life, too,” Piedra’s niece, Didi Lopez said. “We just want justice for him. That’s all we’re asking.”

Is this the country we want for ourselves, one where people shoot at hurricanes and drivers and people who dare step foot on our property? 

I need to know.