In the meantime ….

The answer is to get out and educate people about…most importantly, ethics and morality.

*headdesk*

So, if he forced the entry, is it OK in your mind that he was blown to bits with a shotgun?

No, it is not “OK.”

You are one sick fucker.

Oh, you ask a question, answer it for me, and call me a name? Greg, it was your answer, your mistake. Don’t blame it on me.

And the fact that he didn’t force entry? I’m sure that has no relevance to you.

Wrong again, Greg. I made it a point to ask about that: “…I presumed that to do so he must have forced an entry. Is that wrong?” So what? You elected to overlook my question so you could insult me again?

Posted by Greg Laden
Mistaken in what way? It happened as I described it. Sorry, but you can’t explain it away.

Except that you left out a few facts. Like the elderly man was senile.

For the record. I value life, all life, much more than you do, Greg. I’ve picked up drunks out of the road. I’ve gotten covered in blood helping accident victims. I burned my hands trying to get the driver out of a burning pickup truck.
I quit hunting over 30 years ago. When a racoon got into my garden last summer, instead of shooting him like you would have done, I bought a live trap and helped him relocate to a state park. Hurt animals, even someone else’s pets, go to the vet at my expense.
So when you start telling me about myself, I cannot help but wonder what else you’re wrong about.
Do you really want to prevent accidents and things like your 17-year-old’s death? If so, the answer is not you droning on about how superior you are and how stupid everyone else is. The answer is to get out and educate people about guns, the law, and most importantly, ethics and morality.

You call yourself “a little common sense” and then proceed to tell everyone else what to think. However, if you actually applied a little common sense, you’d not be such a fool. Try it. You might actually be able to contribute to rather than merely derail the conversation in which you engage. I’m glad to see that you’ve finally noticed what this conversation is about.

And no, you do not value live more than I do, and no, you don’t have a more impressive or spectacular record of getting bloodied or injured or taking risks while saving other people, strangers, bunny rabbits, or squirrels. And no, I would not have shot the raccoon. I would have done this: http://tinyurl.com/y74nxyr

You get my point exactly – a gun (pardon the pun) is the weapon of last resort. Thankfully I have never had to use it and hope I never do. The dogs do a great job of alerting us to any stranger entering the property – which gives us the time to react in a logical manner.

Peace…

So, if he forced the entry, is it OK in your mind that he was blown to bits with a shotgun?

No, it is not “OK.”

You are one sick fucker.

Oh, you ask a question, answer it for me, and call me a name? Greg, it was your answer, your mistake. Don’t blame it on me.

And the fact that he didn’t force entry? I’m sure that has no relevance to you.

Wrong again, Greg. I made it a point to ask about that: “…I presumed that to do so he must have forced an entry. Is that wrong?” So what? You elected to overlook my question so you could insult me again?

Posted by Greg Laden
Mistaken in what way? It happened as I described it. Sorry, but you can’t explain it away.

Except that you left out a few facts. Like the elderly man was senile.

For the record. I value life, all life, much more than you do, Greg. I’ve picked up drunks out of the road. I’ve gotten covered in blood helping accident victims. I burned my hands trying to get the driver out of a burning pickup truck.
I quit hunting over 30 years ago. When a racoon got into my garden last summer, instead of shooting him like you would have done, I bought a live trap and helped him relocate to a state park. Hurt animals, even someone else’s pets, go to the vet at my expense.
So when you start telling me about myself, I cannot help but wonder what else you’re wrong about.
Do you really want to prevent accidents and things like your 17-year-old’s death? If so, the answer is not you droning on about how superior you are and how stupid everyone else is. The answer is to get out and educate people about guns, the law, and most importantly, ethics and morality.

And you make an excellent point in several ways. In fact, from now on, I’m going to think about this a bit differently: IF someone is seriously worried about a threat, and they have all the guns but no dogs, they better have a good reason for not having the dog.

Ask any cop: “Would you prefer the people in your area to be armed or to have dogs” and they’ll pick the dogs every time.

The gun is a backup for the dog. The dog is a backup for the locks. The locks are backup for the exterior motion-detector driven lights, and those are backup for your boulevard garden and thoughtful landscaping (nice gardens have been shown to be effective deterrents of burglars, with somewhat complex reasons, and thoughtful landscaping esp. regarding bushes and fences is an important part of security).

So the guy with the loaded gun who hasn’t thought about bushes next to windows, auto-lighting, good locks, and a guard dog (or at least a dog that barks) is really just a guy looking to shoot someone with his toys, and isn’t really that interested in protecting his family.

I think you missed my point or I did not communicate clearly enough. If someone breaks in my house and disables or kills my dogs they are clearly a threat. Nowhere did I state I would shoot someone without being under a clear threat of harm to myself or my family.

My dogs were professionally trained as guard dogs and are my best line of defense from a home invader. Further more, I don’t shoot at things blindly and I keep a shotgun loaded with light shot to prevent bullets from penetrating walls and doors. I was taught to shoot by a Marine marksman (my father) and also have taken gun safety courses. I keep my shotgun locked with a trigger guard and out of sight. My kids have also been educated in gun safety.

I guess my point is that I would not take a life unless I felt I or my family members are under threat of deadly harm. Life is too precious to take lightly – BUT I value the lives of my family far more than that of a criminal. Depending on the circumstances I would even give a home invader the chance to drop his weapon and go to jail peacefully. But again I would use deadly force to prevent direct harm to my family.

Hope I was a bit more clear about how I feel about this. I value life because this life is all we have – I do not take it lightly.