<p>How do you know they will or will not attack and why should you have to wait to find out? They chose a risky line of work–they get to deal with it. And I second taking a class and learning how to use the weapon under stress. The tough part is if you just get him to surrender and call the cops you have to worry about them coming back after serving their usually short jail time.</p>
<p>The people whom I’ve read about who accidentally killed their spouse, kids, etc. after mistaking them for intruders heard sounds in their house, took their weapon and then went to the source of the sounds and shot whom they thought was an intruder.</p>
<p>If the person had grabbed their weapon and called police without trying to track down the intruder themselves, their loved ones probably would have still been alive.</p>
<p>What they did was very different than shooting someone during a home invasion robbery, the kind of kick-down-the door situation in which it’s obvious that someone has come to do harm.</p>
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<p>I should have every right to protect my property in the sanctity of my own home.</p>
<p>Obviously, confirm the identity of whoever you think is intruding first. I’m actually a pretty cautious person. I lived in a low-class blue-collar area – once I had to fend off an unwelcome visitor with a knife (I was very friendly at first) and wished I had a firearm.</p>
<p>"Obviously, confirm the identity of whoever you think is intruding first. "</p>
<p>But why kill them? If you’ve got a gun pointed at them, unless the person tries to assault you, why not just hold them until the police come?</p>
<p>I mean, you should have the <em>right</em> to kill them, in order to threaten to kill them if they try to escape. If a suspected thief is running off with your stuff, your hard-earned stuff, your hard-earned PS2/laptop, etc. you should have every right to kill the thief before he escapes, in order to save your property.</p>
<p>That you have a right, doesn’t mean you exercise that right all the time. (Kinda like abortion.)</p>
<p>I’m not like all, “yeah always kill the thief if you catch him omglol!!11” But having that right allows you to assert control of the situation in your own house.</p>
<p>It would be a lot easier to catch thieves (I’ve had to chase a few snatch thieves before) if you could have the option to use lethal force against them. It also makes it easier for bystanders to be less passive.</p>
<p>WuTang - when do you feel you earned the right to decide that your hard earned stuff is more important than a life - any life?</p>
<p>Because thieves’ lives are worthless and my property is more important to me?</p>
<p>John Locke, anyone?</p>
<p>If you can’t do anything (but wait for ineffective police who almost never solve the case) to stop a thief before he escapes, then how am I supposed to protect my property?</p>
<p>Maybe you’re too rich to understand how much my property means to me? That’s my hard-earned money. I come from a low-income family. From where I come from (and I suspect that’s how it is in Baltimore), police are almost useless at solving petty crimes. Laptops (which I need for school) don’t drop from the sky every day.</p>
<p>I suspect if you’re a poor med student with lots of loans, that’s how you’d feel too. Why does the thief have the right to run off with my property and expect the law to protect his life? Why do thieves enjoy more legal protection than hardworking citizens?</p>
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<p>They must be so proud that they taught you to value your stuff over life.</p>
<p>I value the lives of productive citizens, not parasites. I’ve learnt to disregard the value of all riff-raff (they are irredeemable) and instead concentrate on building positive relationships with hard workers.</p>
<p>The perp previously committed 29 burglaries – it was no big loss to society that he died.</p>
<p>When an intruder is in your house, you just don’t stand there having a rational conversation with yourself. You just don’t stop and debate with yourself over things like, gee, am I actually in a threatening situation, or do I just think I am, because he’s in my house for some strange reason, or hmm, which is more important, my stuff or this guy, or gosh, I know, I can just hold him here while I wait for the police. </p>
<p>This isn’t a situation that most people encounter so often that they know exactly what to do in the moment. On the other hand, the intruder does this all time. He knows exactly what he’s going to do. He has a serious advantage over you. And he knows it. </p>
<p>You can say you shoulda, woulda, coulda all day long, but until you are in that place, you have no idea what you will actually do.</p>
<p>I’m with Wu Tang…people are getting a little tired of playing the passive role in this whole thing…placing their very lives in the hands of the criminals (hoping they will be merciful), the police (hoping they’ll come right away), and the courts (hoping they will be just).</p>
<p>I’m also with whoever mentioned that they don’t dust for fingerprints, etc. People who watch a lot of TV seem to expect that the police take all sorts of crime seriously, and put considerable time and effort into solving all crimes. You’re on your own a lot more than you think you are.</p>
<p>See today’s Washington Post article. The intruder died due to shoddy police work. The intruder was in the students’ home earlier. They realized a game system and 2 laptops were gone and called the police. The police came and looked around, said there was no forced entry, noted that items were missing and left. The theft of items was from the home not the garage. The student grabbed his sword and decided to look around more. Seems maybe the police did not take the theft seriously, but the students were uncomfortable that the burglar could still be there. So the student went looking. The thief WAS still there, and lunged at the student. In a defensive mode the student used his sword. The student was hiding in an area between the home and the detached garage.</p>
<p>This would have never happened if the police had done a thorough search, and taken the students loss seriously. The officers were still close enough to the home that they heard the screams. Warnings had been issued to the neighborhood. The students were uneasy. If the police had found the guy hiding on the property, this would have never happened. Sad. Now they are trying to blame the student. Seems they have some explaining to do. <a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/17/AR2009091701986.html[/url]”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/17/AR2009091701986.html</a></p>
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<p>Thanks you student. Good riddance Rice, you were a dirty scumbag criminal. You can’t steal from anyone else now.</p>
<p>Sounds like he had some training.</p>
<p>Luckily…</p>
<p>I cannot believe how many of you think of your garage is no different from the place you live with your family. </p>
<p>I keep the mammals in the house and the stuff in the garage. I would not risk a broken nail over anything in my garage, including the car. I simply cannot relate, on any level, to be willing to risk your own life over camping gear and a freezer. </p>
<p>As for whoever claimed that the chance of getting shot was so small, do you live in the United States of America? Have you ever seen the police train, or actually, go into a building they suspect someone armed may be in? They don’t just stroll up to the building and open the door. Not to mention military training for entering such a building.</p>
<p>The person in the building had a huge tactical advantadge. And the odds that they are carrying a gun in the United States? Pretty darn high.</p>
<p>Sunny Florida, That is terrible. The police should have searched the outside and the garage. Having said that, it would have been far safer for the student to stay in the house and let the burgler leave.</p>
<p>I really don’t care how many potshots I get for allegedly being soft on crime or any other ridiculous charges, it is not pathetic or revolting or anything else to call the police and let them do their job. In this case, the police did not do their job well but that does not change that leaving the house so soon after the police left was not smart in terms of personal safety. </p>
<p>I just think of this student and what he is going through and it’s horrible. I can barely stand to think of this student’s parents should things have gone differently.</p>
<p>cartera posted:
“WuTang - when do you feel you earned the right to decide that your hard earned stuff is more important than a life - any life?” </p>
<p>cartera:
When do you feel YOU earned the right to decide that the life of a 28-time convicted criminal was worth as much as or more than the life of an innocent 20-year-old college student who was victimized in his own home? Ludicrous. :rolleyes: My concern lies with the young student who will now have to live with the legacy of this traumatic event. As far as the criminal goes–good riddance.</p>
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<p>Where did I say this?</p>
<p>^^It is implied in several of your posts. And the way you addressed WuTang was offensive and off-putting.</p>