Castle doctrine has another success

[Crezth]

If a unknown car with 4 unknown men come unbidden into my driveway, of course they will have a rifle bead on them.

You're a freaking psychopath.

 

[Borachio]

It is the middle of the night, your sister (I believe I read somewhere said the neighbor is the shooter's sister) tells you someone is prowling around at night, you go to check it out because even if she is being paranoid its your sister so youre going to check. You see a person, but dont panic, politely ask them if you can help them, and they in turn charge at you with an unknown object in their hand which you cant identify. At that point you REALLY are going to sit there and just wait for it? "oh Im sure this is just a friendly misunderstanding which we will joke about when they get over here". That is insanity, there is no logical reason for someone who is sneaking around a yard at night to charge you after you politely ask you a question, rarity of the situation doesnt change that fact that there are far more bad reasons for the aggressive move than good ones at that point.

OK. I give in.

But remember this guy gets a call from his sister. Immediately fetches his gun. Goes to confront intruder. This kid is 15 and your son. Therefore someone very likely much more slightly built than you. Also someone you'd recognize just from the way they move. Or is this impossible?

(And I'm sure you're making details up now that don't appear in the article. Where did it say he challenged the "charging" teenager with a polite question.? )

But by this time you're so panicky you shoot your own son at least twice.

No. No doubt you and I inhabit radically different worlds, but the options you have are so much greater than either turning running and phoning the police or shooting your own son repeatedly and lethally. Why not shoot him in the foot or maybe just once, eh?

Why not go armed with a lump of wood, if you feel so dreadfully threatened in your own neighbourhood?

Talk about overreacting.

There's just no two ways about this. Either the threat was real and America really is a dreadful place, or, more likely, people just suck up whatever scare stories go around and imagine threats where there are none.

 

[potatokiosk]

I think it's obvious MisterCooper is some kind of parody. Although it's getting hard to tell with conservatives these days.

 

[warpus]

Looks like a case of "shoot first, ask questions later"

I am very glad that nothing like "castle doctorine" or whatever it's called exists here in Ontario.

 

[JollyRoger]

If only the kid would have been armed with a gun - he coud have prevented this tragedy by shooting his potential murderer.

 

[kramerfan86]

How does that make america a dreadful place? Even if crime is low SOMEONE has to experience that crime, something is rare until the moment it is in front of you. If you are a doctor and a rare disease with a .0001% rate is in front of you, its rarity becomes irrelevant but it certainly doesnt mean your local area is a terrible place either.

The scenario I presented is the scenario I would think would justify the shooting, I dont know if that is what is happened or not. It could just as easily been the guy went out there and as soon as the person turned around he panicked and shot, clearly that would not be justified. To act like though there is no way he could have reacted properly simply because crime is rare is just a bit silly, just as silly as corners of the internet where Im sure the rabid of the rabid NRA supporters are doing the opposite and acting like there is no way he did the wrong thing.

 

[Borachio]

I'm saying it's so rare that acting in the expectancy that the instance facing you is such a case is unreasonable.

I don't make day to day decisions on whether to go armed or not based on events with a 0.0001% chance of happening. And at 1 a.m., I like to think I'm the most dangerous thing out there. And, honestly, I'm simply not very dangerous.

This man's decision to go armed has cost him his son's life. No gun. No dead son.

 

[kramerfan86]

To me there is a difference between preparing for the worst, and expecting the worst. Taking your gun with you but with the safety on in the holster is preparing for, but not expecting the worst. Going out rearing to go with it in your hand is expecting the worst. I lean towards the second being the case here.

 

[peter grimes]

The cops can be a long ways off in little rural towns.

Are you offering a serious defense of the accused murderer here? It's not like New Fairfield is 20 miles from nowhere. Really.

Here's a link to the Connecticut State Police page on the incident. They're claiming that the victim of liberally-lax morals was rushing at the accused murderer with a knife:

The weapon in possession of the deceased at the time of this incident was determined by troopers to be a knife
This incident is an isolated incident and has no relation to any other incident in the community.
Troopers are not seeking any other suspects related to this shooting.
The case remains under investigation.

source:
http://www.ct.gov/despp/cwp/view.asp?Q=511686

Interesting thing to me is that when I view the website, the word 'knife' appears on it's own line, regardless of how I resize the window..

 

[Cutlass]

Are you offering a serious defense of the accused murderer here? It's not like New Fairfield is 20 miles from nowhere. Really.

Here's a link to the Connecticut State Police page on the incident. They're claiming that the victim of liberally-lax morals was rushing at the accused murderer with a knife:


source:
http://www.ct.gov/despp/cwp/view.asp?Q=511686

Interesting thing to me is that when I view the website, the word 'knife' appears on it's own line, regardless of how I resize the window..

I'm not saying that everything was handled as best as it could be. But rather that I understand why it happened.

 

[peter grimes]

I'm waiting to hear that the victim of the percieved home invasion or the next door neighbor who allegedly shot the perp called the police... for me, that's a pretty essential step.

If neither of them called the police then I will have a hard time mustering as much sympathy as otherwise. It's like when you hear that your cousin was in a car accident and the other driver's passenger is likely to never walk again - you feel tremendous sympathy for your cousin (and the victim), knowing that he has to live with that. You think of how tragic some things in life are, and how quickly your life can go from Fine to Awful. The vagaries of chance, and all that.

Then you find out that this was his 3rd DUI, and his license had already been suspended. So it's quite understandable to drop into "Well WTH did you think was going to happen when you got behind the wheel like that, you stupid POS??!!"

Same thing here - Oh, someone *might* be breaking into your neighbor's house, so you grab a gun and nobody calls 911 and then you go and confront this suspect with ZERO training for such a situation? Well, WTH did you think was going to happen when you pulled a gun on someone who you don't know who it is and they don't know who you are and it's dark and everyone is scared and confused??!!"

 

[JohnRM]

All I know is that if I get a call from my female neighbor that someone is trying to break into their house, at 1 in the morning, I'm going out there with my firearm. If that person is found to be wearing dark clothes and ski mask, I am going to be alarmed. If they turn and charge at me with some kind of object that appears to be, and is in all probability, a weapon, then I am going to shoot first and be alive to ask questions later. Say what you will, hopefully it never happens to you and you don't have to die with that question hanging out of your mouth.

 

[peter grimes]

And you'd be stupid to do that without calling the police first. So would she.

 

[Berzerker]

kramerfan wins the thread

translation: I agree with him

a tragedy no doubt

 

[woody60707]

I'm waiting to hear that the victim of the percieved home invasion or the next door neighbor who allegedly shot the perp called the police... for me, that's a pretty essential step.

If neither of them called the police then I will have a hard time mustering as much sympathy as otherwise. It's like when you hear that your cousin was in a car accident and the other driver's passenger is likely to never walk again - you feel tremendous sympathy for your cousin (and the victim), knowing that he has to live with that. You think of how tragic some things in life are, and how quickly your life can go from Fine to Awful. The vagaries of chance, and all that.

Then you find out that this was his 3rd DUI, and his license had already been suspended. So it's quite understandable to drop into "Well WTH did you think was going to happen when you got behind the wheel like that, you stupid POS??!!"

Same thing here - Oh, someone *might* be breaking into your neighbor's house, so you grab a gun and nobody calls 911 and then you go and confront this suspect with ZERO training for such a situation? Well, WTH did you think was going to happen when you pulled a gun on someone who you don't know who it is and they don't know who you are and it's dark and everyone is scared and confused??!!"

Having a gun is a constitutional right. He shouldn't have to justify his possession of his gun no more then any other person would have to justify them self being a Muslin.

 

[JohnRM]

And you'd be stupid to do that without calling the police first. So would she.

Yea, and maybe they'd actually get there before she was gutted all over her kitchen floor.

 

[peter grimes]

Having a gun is a constitutional right. He shouldn't have to justify his possession of his gun no more then any other person would have to justify them self being a Muslin.

What are you talking about??

Nobody is disputing the constitutional right to own a gun here. What's being challenged is the social ecology that leads to irresponsible gun owners discharging their weapons resulting in accidental injuries - this one, in particular, resulting in a death.

 

[peter grimes]

Yea, and maybe they'd actually get there before she was gutted all over her kitchen floor.

Ah, the 'Hero' mentality that I mentioned earlier.

 

[Rashiminos]

You're a freaking psychopath.

I would say save your hyperbole for the real thing, but it wouldn't be hyperbole then...

Why not shoot him in the foot or maybe just once, eh?

This has been done so many times: If you plan to shoot someone (with a regular firearm *eyes Spanish stormtroopers*), shooting to kill is the only realistic option. Most shooters cannot aim well enough for such a shot. The experts are not fortunate enough to pull it off reliably.

 

[JollyRoger]

Having a gun is a constitutional right. He shouldn't have to justify his possession of his gun no more then any other person would have to justify them self being a Muslin.

Agreed. Some conservatives want people to have to justify their right to possession though.