# Can we shoot back?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-shoot-back/542596
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [June 10, 2010, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-shoot-back/542596 "2010-06-10T00:31:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2010, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-shoot-back/542596/21 "2010-06-10T05:56:31Z")
> [@Duckster](#):
>
> Well, we haven’t done anything when the Mexican military has illegally crossed the border and held a Border Patrol agent at gunpoint. I believe that’s an act of war.
When did that happen?
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### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2010, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-shoot-back/542596/22 "2010-06-10T10:56:31Z")
Throwing rocks at armed people is stupid. Being in a group of people that are throwing rocks at armed men is stupid. Sometimes it’s fatally stupid. Yes, it’s sad that a teenager was shot and killed. But are the agents supposed to NOT fire back, if they’re being assaulted by a group? They are trying to enforce the law, their lives are in danger, and there seems to be no other way to stop the assault.
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### Author:  [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2010, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-shoot-back/542596/23 "2010-06-10T11:09:37Z")
Non-stupid people can get involved with stupid acts. Had I been raised in Northern Ireland in the 70’s, I can quite easily imagine myself being on the front line protesting against the troops.
If a military coup was carried out in your country, wouldn’t you protest?
People who have access to protective clothing and shields which are perfectly capable of rendering any stone a human was able to throw totally harmless, should not be responding with lethal force.
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### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2010, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-shoot-back/542596/24 "2010-06-10T11:58:39Z")
This wasn’t a military coup, though. This was a case of border agents trying to prevent people from illegally crossing the border, and a bunch of people throwing rocks at the agents, who were in the US. The agents were performing their jobs, and were being attacked for performing their jobs.
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2010, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-shoot-back/542596/25 "2010-06-10T12:16:24Z")
I know the reason the agents were using live ammo. They were smuggling the worst substance possible into the very heart of America – _ **CILANTRO!!!** _
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### Author:  [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2010, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-shoot-back/542596/26 "2010-06-10T12:19:51Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#):
>
> This wasn’t a military coup, though. This was a case of border agents trying to prevent people from illegally crossing the border, and a bunch of people throwing rocks at the agents, who were in the US. The agents were performing their jobs, and were being attacked for performing their jobs.
They have no right to fire into our country. They should have retreated from the scene. Out of arm’s range so to speak. But instead some coward fires his gun and kills a young boy who may or may not have had anything to do with throwing rocks.
He just couldn’t have let go of the dangerous intruder upon American soil. Could have been Bin Laden himself. He had to do his duty to protect the USA from the brown menace.
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### Author:  [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2010, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-shoot-back/542596/27 "2010-06-10T12:43:54Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> From [here.](http://www.statesman.com/news/texas/border-patrol-agent-shoots-kills-teen-at-el-735548.html)
>
> Well, well.
>
> Que te parece si ustedes los Mexicanos se quedan en su lado y dejan de estar tirando piedras!
¡De acuerdo!
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### Author:  [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2010, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-shoot-back/542596/28 "2010-06-10T12:45:31Z")
> [@CBEscapee](#):
>
> Fox News uses anonymous sources to smear the victim. Come on Cowboy you can do better than that. Have you always been so gullible or just since you were a day old?
Well. _Someone_ in this thread certainly is gullible, but I don’t think it’s who you think it is.
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### Author:  [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2010, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-shoot-back/542596/29 "2010-06-10T13:48:47Z")
> [@CBEscapee](#):
>
> Ésta bien, De acuerdo. Ya basta con las piedras, mejor balazos. Qúe te parece?
That would certainly help solidify the immigration policy question on this side of the border.
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### Author:  [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2010, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-shoot-back/542596/30 "2010-06-10T13:53:00Z")
Can I get a translation from one of you two on what the hell you’re talking about?
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2010, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-shoot-back/542596/31 "2010-06-10T13:55:47Z")
> [@Zeriel](#):
>
> Can I get a translation from one of you two on what the hell you’re talking about?
\*\*Bricker \*\*wants them to stay on their side of the border and stop throwing rocks. Sounds like a win-win solution to me.
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2010, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-shoot-back/542596/32 "2010-06-10T13:55:58Z")
> [@CBEscapee](#):
>
> They have no right to fire into our country. They should have retreated from the scene.
Uh, no. The rock throwers should have stopped throwing rocks. Look, if you throw rocks at people with guns, you’ll probably get shot. Frankly, I don’t even care if the kid was shot on the Mexican side of the border.
It’s a sad story, but he brought his death on himself.
[QUOTE=ivan astikov]
People who have access to protective clothing and shields which are perfectly capable of rendering any stone a human was able to throw totally harmless, should not be responding with lethal force.
[/QUOTE]
They have _access_ to tanks and RPGs too; it doesn’t mean they’re near to hand when you’re patrolling the desert on a fucking mountain bike.
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### Author:  [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2010, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-shoot-back/542596/33 "2010-06-10T14:06:38Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> \*\*Bricker \*\*wants them to stay on their side of the border and stop throwing rocks. Sounds like a win-win solution to me.
Works for me.
–Z, what’s the word for one-and-three-quarters-lingual? (I can find the bathroom and food in Russian and French)
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### Author:  [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-shoot-back/542596/34 "2010-06-10T14:09:38Z")
> [@CBEscapee](#):
>
> It is one thing to kill us on your side of the border but fuck anyone who thinks you have the right to kill us on our side. Fuck the Border Patrol and fuck the people that support this senseless mierda. This shit has been going on for 200 years. When will it stop?
>
> Q.E.P.D. Sergio Adrián Hernández Huereka
When you stop trying to sneak into a country that isn’t yours.
Sergio Adrián Hernández Huereka, rot in Hell.
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### Author:  [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-shoot-back/542596/35 "2010-06-10T14:22:24Z")
[New Details on Border Shooting Claim](http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/10/texas.border.patrol.shooting/index.html?hpt=T2)
Straight A student sent on a acedemic trip on account of his good grades, or most wanted juvenile smuggler?
We report, you decide.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2010, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-shoot-back/542596/36 "2010-06-10T14:28:37Z")
> [@Zeriel](#):
>
> Can I get a translation from one of you two on what the hell you’re talking about?
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> \*\*Bricker \*\*wants them to stay on their side of the border and stop throwing rocks. Sounds like a win-win solution to me.
And **CBEscapee** is misspelling a proposal to use bullets instead of rocks, which I’m sure would help keep Mexico-USA relations friendly an’ all.
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2010, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-shoot-back/542596/37 "2010-06-10T14:28:45Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#):
>
> When you stop trying to sneak into a country that isn’t yours.
>
> Sergio Adrián Hernández Huereka, rot in Hell.
He was 15, you stupid fuck. I’ve got no sympathy for him, but it doesn’t mean he deserved to get killed.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2010, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-shoot-back/542596/38 "2010-06-10T14:55:56Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> He was 15, you stupid fuck. I’ve got no sympathy for him, but it doesn’t mean he deserved to get killed.
Yeah, I agree. Seems like, at best, excessive force was used against a juvenile. At worst, the kid might have been on the Mexican side of the border, and this was a big fuck-up by the border patrol.
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### Author:  [@Pedro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pedro)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2010, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-shoot-back/542596/39 "2010-06-10T15:17:21Z")
The rock throwing story doesn’t really pass the smell test. On the other hand it’s likely that the kid was a known delinquent crossing the border illegally. Both sides are probably in the wrong, but only one ended up with a hole where it doesn’t belong.
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### Author:  [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-shoot-back/542596/40 "2010-06-10T15:19:59Z")
Oh, I don’t know…maybe the fact that it was in Juarez might have had something to do with the use of supposed excessive force? Just a thought…
-XT
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