In American law school, it is taught that protection of personal
property alone is not worth a human life, even if the human is a
worthless one. As much as you would like to, you can't take a baseball
bat to someone caught in the act of keying your MG. If you were
successful in putting the jerk out of our misery, you would probably be
facing manslaughter charges, and you might use a defense to try to show
a lack of intent to kill. Good luck. This comes from English common
law. Over time however, each state of the American union has legislated
it's own interpretation of what constitutes a "burglary" or similar
crime that rises to the level justifying use of deadly force to defend
against intruders. Generally, this is a highly factual inquiry
requiring proof of intent on the part of the alleged intruder, and the
defender using deadly force. Did the intruder have a deadly weapon?
Did the defender know the intruder was armed with a deadly weapon? How
would the defender do that if it was dark, or didn't have his glasses
on? Further, deadly booby traps like spring guns in uninhabited
vacation homes for instance, can subject their owners to attemped
manslaughter or if successful, manslaughter charges. I guess it's
moral, but somehow, it doesn't seem fair. I fancy myself as a decent
person. You won't EVER find me getting into someone else's stuff. I
keep a short T-ball bat under my side of the bed so I can swing it in
the hallway, and one like it in the trunk of my car along with a ball
and glove, and I might have an unregistered ### in a shoebox in the top
shelf in my closet for wee beasties and things that go bump in the
night. I'd rather be alive to defend myself before judge and jury, than
be dead and know I followed the law.
-----Original Message-----
From Daniel1312 at aol.com [mailto:Daniel1312@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2000 11:52 AM
To: transerv@sprynet.com; spridgets@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: GUN CONTROL*NO LBC CONTENT* DELETE NOW IF NOT INTERESTED
The Norfolk thing really did happen and it was a travesty of justice.
The
farmer did not intend to kill the burglers, he was just sick of being
burgled. He used a shotgun rather than a rifle.
Lots of arguments either way, no easy answers but I would hang and flog.
Daniel1312
In a message dated 12/07/00 16:20:49 GMT Daylight Time,
transerv@sprynet.com
writes:
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