From: cantrell@seqp4.sequoia.com (Paul Cantrell)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Killing burglars.
Date: 18 Aug 92 16:53:45 GMT
Organization: Sequoia Computer Systems



Subject: Re: Killing burglars.
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house

In article <1992Aug13.132030.28884@edwards-vax.af.mil>, becker@edwards-vax.af.mil writes:
> going to stand around asking questions.  I will shoot to kill.  I have
> my family to protect as well as myself.  The more society cowers down
> the more these guys will get away with, the braver they'll become and
> crime will esscalate.

Here's where I get labeled a whining pinko criminal lover :-(

However, I'm not, really. I've owned guns, shot competition on my college
pistol team, etc. And I wouldn't think twice about shooting a intruder who
I really thought was threatening my family. BUT...

Keep in mind that most of the people killed by guns at home are family
members. Either through domestic arguments that get out of hand, or cases
of mistaken identity where a family member gets mistaken for a burgler.

2 quick stories that I'm sure I'll get flamed about.

Story #1:	I'm asleep at home with my girlfriend. About 2 AM we
		get woken up to somebody stumbling around in the
		apartment. I know it's not my roomate, because he's
		on a trip with his girlfriend. No guns in the apartment,
		so I grab a baseball bat.

		It's dark, and someone is tripping over stuff in the
		living room. I'm pretty damn scared, and ready to use
		the bat. Luckilly, my roomate (who has come back early
		from his trip) identifies himself before I bat him into
		obvlivion. Would I have shot him in the dark without
		a clear view of a weapon? Maybe, if it was dark enough
		that I could have been convinced he *might* have a
		weapon. I'm glad I didn't have a gun in that apartment.

Story #2:	(not quite as germane) My  dad gets a call from the teenage
		girl next door. She's home alone, and she thinks there's a
		prowler around, perhaps in the garage. My father agrees to
		take a look around the house. Meanwhile, she's still scared
		and calls another neighbor who happens to be a demonstration/
		test shooter for Winchester (always has *lots* of neat
		weapons around). So now this guy shows up with his rifle
		to check out the house, totally unaware that the girl has
		asked my dad to check it out also. Luckilly the guy tells
		my dad to halt before he shoots him. Pretty scary.

		By the way, just so you don't think my dad is overly
		paranoid - he almost died in his 20's when a friend
		shot him by mistake. He's not paranoid about guns, but
		he's got a lot of respect for them too.


> Number two is  it is true our system of justice sucks.  If you are
> guility of a crime against society you should loose all rights.  Why
> should you keep them when you violated someone elses.

Give me a break. I should lose *all* rights if I'm guilty of a crime?
It's great to make sweeping statements like this, but think through
the implications if being guilty of a crime makes you a non-person
with no more rights. Then try to make a constructive suggestion, or
just admit that it's a difficult problem to solve, and you don't have
the answers either.

Sheesh.

Paul Cantrell
-- 
cantrell@sequoia.com
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house