Odessa
You don't have to be crazy in the this world,but sometimes it helps
Mar/29
2010
2010
An elementary school teacher was shot and killed over the weekend while visiting friends in a Buffalo, NY suburb. Although many facts are not clear, the news articles say this much: He entered someone's home at 1 am and the homeowner shot him. He was attending a party on the street and went outside for a bit Looking at Google street view of the cul-de-sac, all of the six houses look similar. The police are being closed lipped about the 911 tape of the homeowners' call and interviews of the neighbors.
The school teacher was well-respected and loved in his community. Although I did not know him personally, I know his wife and my heart aches for her. By all accounts he was not the kind of person who would break into a house, leading me to believe the door may have been unlocked in that sleepy community where door locking might be an afterthought. Also, homeowner worked in a profession that might draw its fair share of enemies, so he may have been a bit jumpy considering the time of night.
Does walking into the wrong house in the middle of the night justify a death sentence?
Obviously not.
Does fearing for your life or property just cause for lethal force?
Maybe, but the answer is not so obvious.
I am a strong proponent of my 2nd Amendment rights. However, the one thing that people forget while they thump their chests and assert their rights is that typically there are responsibilities that go along with those rights. Any owner of a gun, from an elephant gun to a pea shooter, has the responsibility to respect what that gun can do. It is the gun owners responsibility to only use deadly force under extreme circumstances, and to take precautions to avoid needing that gun.
I don't have enough information to have an opinion about how hasty the homeowner acted. However, they know what happened in their home and they will have to live with what happened. A young man who had everything to look forward to in life will not be able to live his life. A wonderful woman is a widow at an age that no woman should be a widow.
Lock your doors. Hug your spouse and family. Be careful what door you walk through. And please, please, be responsible.
2 comments
Comment from: u235 [Member] 
I still have a hard time with the whole "availability" issue. You can't shoot someone if you don't have a gun. How often do you really need one? Does having one prevent the odds of someone coming into you house? Does it make you safer if they do? Imho it doesn't. It's like those that advocate you should always carry a bomb on a plane because the odds of there being two people carrying a bomb are so very small...
03/30/10 @ 22:12
Comment from: odessa [Member]
I does depend on where you live. I grew up in a fairly rural area and a group came and threatened us. It took the police 45 min to get to our house. Who knows what might have happened if they didn't know we were armed. This is why I can see both sides of the argument. However, my father is not trigger happy and cool under pressure. It is the responsibility of a gun owner to 1) make sure only a responsible person is going to use that gun and 2) think about what you are going to do ahead of time for various scenarios - a lost, confused person should be one of those scenarios. I'm a woman is is frequently alone at home. I have little chance of fending off a man hand-to-hand. I also know where the best places to hide in my house while I call 911 if an intruder comes in - my shotgun is the last defense. BTW, got my shotgun when moving in a bad neighborhood where the neighbor in the adjoining building was assaulted.
03/31/10 @ 08:36
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