Teenager Mistakes Little Brother for Intruder, Shoots Him

[Flatulo]

179. I appreciate your civility, which is in short supply when the topic turns to guns.

I guess it would be accurate to say that I don't carry a lot of sympathy for people who would violate others. Sure, it's certainly not worth killing or getting killed over stuff. But violating the sanctity of ones home (or worse, their person in the case of assault or rape) just crosses a line for me. There are very few circumstances under which I can excuse it. I probably have a decidedly ill-liberal attitude towards it.

I've been robbed, burgled and assaulted, and it steals something from you every time and leaves anger in its place. I never lost anything that couldn't be replaced, but I was furious at the response of the system, which was - fuck it, nothing can be done about it. They even caught the guys who burgled my car and destroyed it in the process, and there was no penalty other than probation. These guys were caught with thousands of dollars worth of radar detectors and car stereos. They went to court and got - nothing. So much for property rights.

I know that having your car stereo stolen is absolutely nothing compared to being violently assaulted, but I still felt helpless and violated. And there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. The same was true when my apartment was robbed.

So yeah, I do harbor a lot of anger that people can pretty much fuck with you in any way they like and always get away with it.