Do you or would you call the cops?

[Ghost in the Machine]

11. I have called them twice since 2010. The first time was when my house was broken into and some

things were stolen, like my TV, a laptop, DVD player and my son's XBOX360, which I had the receipts for with the serial numbers on them. I figured at least that would help if they showed up at a pawn shop somewhere.

The 2nd time was when I had a whacked out meth-head threatening to burn my house down while my kids and I were sleeping. I was told that they couldn't do anything about threats unless the person tried to carry it out. I asked them "what about making terroristic threats?" They still said they couldn't do anything because it was verbal threats, and I didn't have anything to prove that the threats were made.

The thing is, I live way out in the sticks, about 15 miles from town. On any given night we have a total of THREE County Officers on patrol, along with ONE City Officer for inside the city limits, and he helps back up the County Officers if they aren't too far out of the city limits. Our county is about 35 miles long, South to North, and 7 to 8 miles wide, East to West. The officers told me that even if I called, it could take them 45 minutes or longer to respond because they might be on another call somewhere and be tied up. They said that I was basically on my own and to post my property with "Private Property - NO TRESPASSING" signs, and IF I caught someone in my yard in the middle of the night with a gas can to just shoot them on sight, then call them and they would come get the body out of my yard and I would be protected under the "Castle Doctrine" laws.

I went to see the Judge the next day, and she agreed with what the officer said. Even went so far as to put "By Order Of The Xxxxx County Sheriffs Department and Judge Xxxx Xxxxxxx" on my "NO TRESPASSING" signs! They basically gave me a license to kill! Fortunately, I never had to act on it, and would hate to have to do so, but if YOU put ME in the situation where I have to choose between ending your existence, or losing my life and the lives of my kids, guess who's going to lose?? I like to think, in my own mind, that I would NOT shoot to kill, though. I'd rather shoot you in the arm or leg, just enough to stop the threat of you burning my house down, and would NEVER shoot someone in the back if they dropped the gas can and started running away. Too many people already think that ALL gun owners are just killers waiting for a chance to kill anyways. I wouldn't want to reinforce their stereotype. Justice would be better served by adding insult to injury by letting someone spend a little time in the jail wing of a hospital, then going into a prison cell for a while on top of that. The best case scenario would be not even having to fire a weapon, though. Hopefully they would be smart enough to drop the gas can, then drop to the ground and stay put until the cops *did* arrive. The unfortunate side of that is that "tweakers" aren't that smart to begin with, but one could hope, anyways...

With all of the shootings/mass killings in recent years, I have begun to question gun ownership at times, but where I live it is really a basic necessity to have one, if for nothing else than to hunt with and help keep meat in the freezer/food on the table. It's a big help when you are on a fixed income.

Peace,

Ghost