# Egg a car, get shot? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 3, 2006, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682 "2006-12-03T14:18:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/1 "2006-12-03T14:18:03Z")
I could have Pitted [this](http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/03/teen.shot.ap/index.html), but I wanted a discussion, not an argument. I, personally, despise vandals. Vandalism is another form of bullying, and I hate the idea of its going unchecked on the grounds of youthful indiscretion, or whatever the excuse is. I’m not saying anyone should die just because they egged cars, but suppose, instead of firing the gun, the driver (passenger?) had simply waved it at the kid. That might have been a deterrent. Then again, that in itself might have been seen as an overreaction. Again, my sympathies are with the kid’s family and friends, but I feel that there should be some consequences for :mad: ing with someone’s house or car or person. I hate it that the only legal option is to stew silently while you clean up the mess some punk made. I never pulled this kind of crap myself, but I knew people in high school who did, and it blew my mind to hear them laughing about how irate people got. OTOH, pulling a gun, let alone firing it, just takes “might has right” to the next level. Still, the right to a house or car that you paid for is something that it should be okay to at least defend. Not at the cost of someone’s life, of course, but how **can** you assert that right? There’ll always be a new crop of punks to replace the ones who took their time maturing out of it. Should we all be at their mercy? I realize this is not terribly coherent; I don’t get into GD much. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/2 "2006-12-03T14:38:16Z")
The best way to defend your property from minor annoyances like egging an TPing is to call the police. Period. ---
**Author:** ![FRDE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e68b1a/32.png) [@FRDE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FRDE)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/3 "2006-12-03T14:42:45Z")
Yes, well a driver waving a pistol at a kid might find something seriously nasty waved back at him. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/4 "2006-12-03T15:12:56Z")
The problem is when they graduate from eggs to bricks and other deadly projectiles. Throwing eggs at cars is a form of russian roulette. Eventually they will hit the wrong car and get their ass kicked, or worse. ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/5 "2006-12-03T15:37:13Z")
Use your fancy schmancy cel phone to take a photo of the kid and then send it to the police dep’t. Urge your jurisdiction to enact legislation making parents financially liable for vandalism. In a day and age where everyone has a camera at his fingertips, there should be no need to shoot anything other than a photo. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/6 "2006-12-03T15:40:57Z")
If you’re the type of person who habitually engages in vandalism you deserve to be shot. We shouldn’t condone it for practical reasons: “Yeah officer, he was trying to spraypaint my house, I swear! The can, umm, fell in the sewer, yeah.” ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/7 "2006-12-03T15:49:30Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] If you’re the type of person who habitually engages in vandalism you deserve to be shot. [/QUOTE] Nonsense. You deserve to go to jail, not be murdered. Ever notice how our laws don’t prescribe the death penalty for soaping car windows? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/8 "2006-12-03T16:08:46Z")
Information is far too sparse at the moment, but I don’t have a problem with the response as detailed. Turnabout is fair play. Suppose an egg had gone through an open window, hit a driver, and caused him to crash the car resulting in several deaths? I expect that this story will get considerable publicity and result in many fewer children throwing things at cars, resulting in fewer accidents. Danny Crawford serves as an object lesson of the dangers of delinquency. ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/9 "2006-12-03T16:20:49Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Information is far too sparse at the moment, but I don’t have a problem with the response as detailed. Turnabout is fair play. Suppose an egg had gone through an open window, hit a driver, and caused him to crash the car resulting in several deaths? I expect that this story will get considerable publicity and result in many fewer children throwing things at cars, resulting in fewer accidents. Danny Crawford serves as an object lesson of the dangers of delinquency. [/QUOTE] What? Deadly force is only justified when there’s a reasonable threat to your life or the life of another. Egging a car is not a threat to anyone’s life. It’s difficult to see how anyone could _mistake_ it for a deadly threat. The shooter is a murderer, plain and simple. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/10 "2006-12-03T16:24:03Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Information is far too sparse at the moment, but I don’t have a problem with the response as detailed. Turnabout is fair play. Suppose an egg had gone through an open window, hit a driver, and caused him to crash the car resulting in several deaths? I expect that this story will get considerable publicity and result in many fewer children throwing things at cars, resulting in fewer accidents. Danny Crawford serves as an object lesson of the dangers of delinquency. [/QUOTE] Heaven help the kid who lets a softball go long and is standing within shooting range when it smashes through your car window. Heaven have mercy on him. ---
**Author:** ![Capa84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8edcca/32.png) [@Capa84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capa84)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/11 "2006-12-03T16:37:31Z")
This same thing happened in Indianapolis a while ago. [http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/08/04/ctv.ware/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/08/04/ctv.ware/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/12 "2006-12-03T17:16:37Z")
My egg throwing story happened a few years ago on Halloween. I was walking home from the El when a group of kids came around the corner and one of them tossed an egg at a woman standing at the bus stop. The woman was facing them, caught the egg in flight and whipped it right back, getting the thrower in the middle of his face. We all died laughing, his friends, the others waiting for the bus:) The kid was so embarassed, to this day I think of him whenever I see one of those “PWNED” pics online. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/13 "2006-12-03T17:21:10Z")
[QUOTE=Menocchio] Deadly force is only justified when there’s a reasonable threat to your life or the life of another. Egging a car is not a threat to anyone’s life. . [/QUOTE] Given that I outlined how egging a car could be a threat, I suggest you read posts more carefully. Anyway, have CNN editted the page? It’s now saying that the SUV chased them, and I could have sworn it wan’t there before. That changes thins considerably: an immediate response is one thing; a delayed one is quite another. ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/14 "2006-12-03T19:36:39Z")
There are links to two different CNN articles, about two seperate incidents. In the first case, there is no indication that the driver pursued the vandals, while in the second case there is. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/15 "2006-12-03T19:49:29Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Given that I outlined how egging a car could be a threat, I suggest you read posts more carefully. [/QUOTE] Hypothesize as you will, use of a deadly force to counter an action not intended and unlikely to be deadly is still a disproportionate response. ---
**Author:** ![cookeze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@cookeze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cookeze)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/16 "2006-12-03T20:15:10Z")
If you are going to be a criminal you are going to be taking your chances. There is no telling how someone will react to you. This kid took his chance and he lost. Boo f\*\*king hoo. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/17 "2006-12-03T20:20:35Z")
[QUOTE=Ravenman] Nonsense. You deserve to go to jail, not be murdered. Ever notice how our laws don’t prescribe the death penalty for soaping car windows? [/QUOTE] Your opinion is that you deserve to go to jail. My opinion is you deserve to die. Where did I mention the current law? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/18 "2006-12-03T20:49:02Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] Your opinion is that you deserve to go to jail. My opinion is you deserve to die. Where did I mention the current law? [/QUOTE] My, you really can structure a debate. “My opinion is thus.” “My opinion is so.” That’s a riveting example of forensics. Would you care to explain your position, or do you prefer to restate it a few more times for effect? What I’m saying is, it’s a good thing that punishment under law for vandalism is not execution, regardless of what your opinion may be. Murdering people for petty crimes isn’t a sign of a society that respects law and order, it would be sign that society has descended into psychopathic vigilanteism. It’s a long-standing and widely acknowledged tenet of law in the civilized world that minors may not be fully aware of the consequences of their actions, so therefore the punishment for a crime may not be the same as an adult would face. Frankly, my jaw is simply on the floor at your near-appauding of the murder of a child who hurt nobody in comitting a minor offense. Finally, the person who shot and killed someone just because they egged his SUV ought to face the death penalty. If events transpired as described in the linked article, I’d say he’s nothing but a sociopath who is an extreme danger to anyone around him. > [@Quartz](#): > > Given that I outlined how egging a car could be a threat, I suggest you read posts more carefully. If you wish to maintain that egging something is an actual threat to human life, why don’t you cough up some cites about people being murdered by thrown eggs? ---
**Author:** ![Capa84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8edcca/32.png) [@Capa84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capa84)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/19 "2006-12-03T20:50:32Z")
[QUOTE=cookeze] If you are going to be a criminal you are going to be taking your chances. There is no telling how someone will react to you. This kid took his chance and he lost. Boo f\*\*king hoo. [/QUOTE] I hope you turn left in front of someone without signalling and have to dodge a few bullets…after all, you broke the law, you took your chances. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/20 "2006-12-03T21:08:49Z")
If you do something stupid that can get you killed, and you do get killed, I ain’t shedding a tear. You like to jump on moving trains? Don’t expect me to cry when you get cut in half. Like to egg cars? Don’t expect me to cry when you get shot. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682.md?page=2)