# Man shoots prowler, finds out he killed his son **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 2, 2012, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-shoots-prowler-finds-out-he-killed-his-son/636453 "2012-10-02T03:42:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-shoots-prowler-finds-out-he-killed-his-son/636453/101 "2012-10-19T22:28:44Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Well, people are speculating the worst because the boy is adopted. I’m speculating too. So two wrongs make a right? Gotcha. > [@levdrakon](#): > > What’s more likely? Gun nut dad or masked, knife-wielding ninja son? “Ninja?” It’s pretty well a given as fact in self-defense circles that 21 feet or less is deadly range with a knife; see above. “Ninja” skills not necessary. > [@levdrakon](#): > > Jerry Sandusky probably cries himself to sleep every night too. Doesn’t mean he was a fine, upstanding pillar of the community just trying to help troubled young boys. So you’re now trying to establish a link between “gun nuts” and pedophiles? I can’t see many other legitimate reasons for you to being up that particular comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Carmady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-shoots-prowler-finds-out-he-killed-his-son/636453/102 "2012-10-19T22:43:25Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Well, people are speculating the worst because the boy is adopted. I’m speculating too. You don’t have to speculate anything bad about the boy for the shooting to be justified. Ignore why he was wearing the mask, carrying the knife, and trying to break into the house. Maybe he had a good reason. But being able to protect your sister from knife-wielding intruders is pretty much the best reason to own a gun. Alongside being able to protect yourself from knife-wielding would-be intruders who advance on you outside. So, taking the gun was the right move. And then using it was the right move (with the given information), regardless of the boy’s motivation. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-shoots-prowler-finds-out-he-killed-his-son/636453/103 "2012-10-19T22:48:22Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > So you’re now trying to establish a link between “gun nuts” and pedophiles? I can’t see many other legitimate reasons for you to being up that particular comparison. I’ll put it another way: I’d wager far more boys get victimized by adult men than adult men get victimized by boys. He was masked and had a knife and came at me so I shot him! Sounds fishy. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-shoots-prowler-finds-out-he-killed-his-son/636453/104 "2012-10-20T00:57:22Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > I’ll put it another way: I’d wager far more boys get victimized by adult men than adult men get victimized by boys. > > He was masked and had a knife and came at me so I shot him! :dubious: We’re speculating about his adopted status because it happened at (IIRC) **age 11** , not because there’s an automatic “you must be fucked up if you’re adopted” bias. Age 11 adoption gives a lot of opportunities for your birth family to totally fuck you up. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-shoots-prowler-finds-out-he-killed-his-son/636453/105 "2012-10-20T01:13:27Z")
Plus the kid and his sister were both adopted by the school teacher to prevent their being split up and sent to foster homes because their father, who was apparently their custodial parent, was being sent off to prison. So yeah, the kid came from a background where there appear to have been plenty of opportunities for him to get screwed up. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-shoots-prowler-finds-out-he-killed-his-son/636453/106 "2012-10-20T01:23:08Z")
Plenty of time to have gotten screwed up before or after the adoption. Didn’t Sandusky adopt his favorite victim? Favorite for awhile, 'til he got too old. Didn’t everyone side with the elder Sandusky when his adopted son started acting out? You know, the way those kids from troubled homes do. Poor thing, but you just can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, can you? Priests, Boy Scout Leaders, adoptive loved-by-the-community fathers - fits the pattern. Just speculation! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-shoots-prowler-finds-out-he-killed-his-son/636453.md?page=5)