This is the main point that is being overlooked by those who are so sure (on the internet :dubious:) that they would shoot anyone who broke into their home while they were there.
Fine. Defend yourself, your home and your family as much as necessary. I hope I would do the same, should I be so unlucky as to face that choice.
But isn’t that very different from wishing that you had not missed the opportunity to shoot and kill two teenagers who had the audacity to steal your stuff?
To be clear, I hate thieves. They should rot in hell. But I’m damned well not going to hope that I am the one that “gets to” send them there.
Roddy
Bullshit. If you are home and someone breaks in, you have no way of knowing what they intend. Maybe they’re just thieves, maybe they’re the next Manson family. You have to make an irrevocable decision on the spot. You are legally (in states with reasonable laws on point) and morally justified to use deadly force in self defense. You have every right to choose not to use deadly force if you wish, but you have no right to make that choice for me.
I agree with everything here. I have no interest in hurting anybody.
I take issue with classifying the SIL as an “evil fuck”. Stupid yes, evil no. SIL has the comfort of saying such an awful thing because she knows she’s never going to get that chance. But still, it’s a good coping mechanism, at least for her. And to me, the amount of time that has passed is irrelevant.
And Foxy’s bit about hold and detain is just crazy talk. I’m not going to roll the dice like that with my own safety.
Well, if I’m not competent enough to tell I’ve got two stupid teenagers on my hands, I’m way too incompetent to know when to kill with a gun. Responsible gun ownership and all that obvious baloney.
Right because teenagers are incapable of shooting anyone. Why, all you got to do is take them by the ear and walk them to the nearest corner for a time out. That’ll teach’em.
No, just the ones I unexpectedly find in my house uninvited. If fate decides I absolutely have to be robbed, I’m much prefer I be robbed when my sons or I are not at home. That way nobody has to die over a stupid laptop.
What it boils down to is this, do you really think sitting there and shouting with them is going to change them for the better? If the answer is no, then don’t do it. If you want to discuss something to educate someone, you have to do this in a different manner. Like in school, you wouldn’t learn anything if the math teacher was shouting at you in a confrontational way. So you have to pick the time and place to discuss these things.
I don’t see a problem with simply stating something like, “I wouldn’t feel good about doing something like that” and leave it at that. But you have to know the people and the circumstances.
Really? So if you’re armed you aren’t going to instruct them to stop and get down but shoot them on site because they invaded your precious space and “maybe” they are armed and wish you harm. Why bother calling the police when you can blow their brains out for wanting to steal your junk?
Charming…
I am sure the two 14 year old boys that broke into my son’s car and took his wallet only to be caught by me, yelled at and told to get in the house while I called the police are really glad they didn’t encounter you. I even gave the kids a slice of pizza… GASP. The police came, my son got his wallet back, he decided to not press charges as the kids where scared to death and I am not cleaning blood off my drive way. A win win.
Foxy, even though I’m with you on being aghast at your SIL’s statement, detaining a burglar inside your own home is something I would consider far too risky to attempt.
If I’m armed (most likely with a golf club) I’m using to chase them away or I’m using it on the burglar until he’s not capable of harming me or my family. Not being a cop, I have no training in detainment techniques, I have no handcuffs, no training in patting down a burglar, no (recent) combat training. There is a non-zero probability that my weapon will be taken from me and used on me, or the burglar can use his own weapon that I didn’t immediately see, so I don’t want to let the burglar hang out in my house.
Try actually reading the post I was responding to sometime, instead of dragging in unrelated issues I did not address. In this instance, rather than talking about her sister-in-law’s situation, I was obviously addressing the post I quoted, and in particular her assertion that
“…but shooting ANYONE that is unarmed and is in your house rather than attempting to detain them and call the police is what is despicable, immoral and inhumane.”*
I think they are indeed idiots. Anyone who would claim to regret not being able to shoot two unarmed acquaintances of their son two weeks after they attempted house breaking and petty theft are by definition idiots. I would not have called them idiots to their face though because they might be idiotic enough to shoot me, especially so if alcohol was involved (no idea if it was or not). I would however take them off my list of acceptable visitors to my home and would not visit their home ever again. I shy away from the trigger happy.
I’m sorry, but that’s bullshit. “My house, my rules” doesn’t shut down other people’s opinions. If you invite someone into your house, you are inviting their opinions as well.
If everyone else around them shuts up when offensive views are aired, doesn’t that just reinforce in the minds of the murderous arseholes that their take on things is the correct one?
