Moral Dilemma- "Good Samaritan"

A middle-aged man, Tom, who lives in New York City takes the subway to and from work each day. Tom is married with two children. He works hard each day to provide for his family. When on the subway Tom sticks to himself and reads the sports page of the "New York Times". Tom takes the subway each day because he cannot afford to buy a car.

Tom works daily construction work. He gets paid cash at the end of each day. Because of his financial situation Tom and his family live in a very rough section of town that is dominated by gangs and drug dealers. Tom hates the fact that his family lives there and hopes to move them to a better neighborhood. To try and accomplish this Tom works at least 14 hours a day and accepts all the overtime that he can get.

One day on his way home from work Tom was approached by a local neighborhood gang. They beat Tom up and took his dally wages. While Tom was not badly hurt the loss of wages meant that his family went hungry for a short time and he could not afford to pay his rent. Tom and his family were threatened with eviction.

Determined to not let this happen again, Tom purchased a gun from a guy on the street. Tom did not have a permit for the gun and worse Tom was convicted of a felony for a non-violent drug arrest he had when he was much younger. In the state of New York, it is illegal for a convicted felon to carry a gun. Tom knew that purchasing the gun could lead to a long prison sentence for him. While he did not want this, Tom had to make sure that he could always provide for his family. He was determined to not get robbed again, even if that meant he would pull the illegal gun to protect himself.

One day, Tom was riding home on the subway after a very long day at work. He was minding his own business and looking forward to seeing his wife and kids. As the train stopped, to let people off, Tom noticed that a group of dangerous looking thugs got on the train. They were wearing gang colors and were pushing and abusing other subway passengers. At some point the thugs turned their attention to a young lady. They started harassing her. They were touching her and acting as if their harassment was going to go to a sexual level. The young lady asked the thugs to leave her alone. When she said this one of the thugs hit her in the face knocking her to the ground.

At this point Tom realized that he had to do something to help the young lady. He stood up from his seat and yelled for them to leave her alone. One of the gang members pulled a knife and approached Tom. Tom pulled his gun and pointed it at the thug and threatened to shoot all of them if they did not leave the lady alone. The subway stopped at another stop and the thugs ran off the train. Everyone was safe!

Tom helped the young lady off the ground and returned to his seat obviously shaken from the experience. One of the passengers on the train had dialed 911.

When the train arrived at the next stop a group of police officers entered the train and began and investigation. Everyone on the train, including the police were congratulating Tom for his bravery. During this investigation it was revealed that Tom had a gun and that he was a convicted felon. Tom was arrested on the spot and is now facing a twenty-year prison sentence.

As a result of his arrest, Tom’s wife and kids were evicted and are currently staying in a shelter. If Tom would not have helped the young lady none of this would have ever happened.

What would you have done if you were Tom?

Remember: I am looking for detailed explanations to your logic!!!