But fighting with police, running from them, and pulling a gun (whether Brown pulled it so that he could try to dispose of it, or if it was pulled to fire at the officers) on police officers (who were told that you were carrying a weapon) — well, that is grounds for being shot.

Now, the 4:00 a.m. thing?

Well, maybe if Brown had been home in bed, rather than out at a club notorious for trouble — home in bed getting a good night sleep so that he could get up in the morning and go look for a real job that doesn’t involve pistol whipping people during drug deals gone bad; at home taking care of his child so that his parents don’t have to — if Brown had been home at 4:00 a.m. rather than out doing all those other illegal things he was doing….well, he wouldn’t have gotten shot.

You do acknowledge that Brown was 1) resisting arrest, 2) running from the police, and 3) a gun was found a few feet from his body — right? And you acknowledge that all of those things are illegal? And that Brown, at the very least is pretty damned-responsible for his own fate that night?

Because not being able to acknowledge all of those things shows a serious lack of moral honesty.

I’ve always just kept in mind what a cop friend of mine told me back in those days: There’s nothing to do at 4:00 a.m. but get into trouble.

It’s not an absolute rule, but a pretty good rule of thumb.

Generally, I agree with what you’re saying: if you want to avoid being murdered being home by 11:00 is probably a good place to start. But that’s the opinion of a guy who has to be at work by 9. Back in my younger days staying out till 12:00 was the rule, 2:00 was common; and 4:00 was not unheard of. -and there wasn’t a single murder plotted during that whole time.