Kalamazoo Police Officer Walt Wawra went on vacation with his wife to Calgary, where Wawra claims the couple barely escaped with their lives after encountering two local toughs. So Wawra wrote a letter to the Calgary Herald to point out that if he was carrying his off-duty weapon, like he does in the good old U.S. of A, things would have ended very differently.
And we can all totally understand where Wawra is coming from here, right? Someone threatens your wife and you want to do whatever necessary to protect her. It's a natural, almost evolutionary, response. What exactly happened to the Wawras while in Calgary? Why don't we letter Officer Walt explain it in his own words.
Calgary Herald: Recently, while out for a walk in Nose Hill Park, in broad daylight on a paved trail, two young men approached my wife and me. The men stepped in front of us, then said in a very aggressive tone: "Been to the Stampede yet?"
We ignored them. The two moved closer, repeating: "Hey, you been to the Stampede yet?"
I quickly moved between these two and my wife, replying, "Gentle-men, I have no need to talk with you, goodbye." They looked bewildered, and we then walked past them.
I speculate they did not have good intentions when they approached in such an aggressive, disrespectful and menacing manner. I thank the Lord Jesus Christ they did not pull a weapon of some sort, but rather concluded it was in their best interest to leave us alone.
Bewildered inquisitors about one's attendance at the Calgary Stampede, is their any greater threat to the safety of law-abiding citizens? I mean, besides actual legitimate threats to the safety of law-abiding citizens? If only Officer Wawra had a gun to defend himself.
Some might be tempted to use this situation as a case study on the need for more or less restrictions on gun rights or about the differences between American and Canadian cultural perspectives on guns, but really this isn't about any of that. The only thing we can possibly take away from this story is that a certain Kalamazoo police officer might benefit from an occasional Xanax and a better understanding of the legal definition of menacing.
Whatever else one might say about Wawra's description of what happened in Calgary, it's impossible to conclude the facts, as he laid them out, constitute a menacing situation, legally defined as when someone "intentionally places or attempts to place another person in fear of death, imminent serious physical injury or physical injury." Usually with a weapon.
Somewhere in the ether, John Wayne is laughing at the sort of sissy who needs a gun to protect himself from Canadians asking questions. -- JTW
Insta-update: According to Twitter, the agressive men asking if people had been to the Stampede were probably handing out free tickets to the event.
Yep, 2 readers now confirm #NoseHillGentlemen were handing out free #Stampede park passes in Nose Hill. Officer Wawra, you're an idiot.
— Jenn Lutz (@JennLutz) August 8, 2012
Fantastic.
