Reply #114: Confronting the burglars was kind of gung-ho

[krispos42]

But if you're going to do it, doing it armed isn't a bad idea.

The guilt or innocence of the shooter will depend entirely on what the burglars did after being confronted. If they broke and ran and the shooter opened up, then it's murder 2. If they went for a weapon, tried to disarm him, or tried to assault him, one or both may have been justified.

It sounds doubtful this is a legit self-defense shooting. Not that I feel particularly bad that two career burglars died committing crimes, but it's not the preferred way I would like society to operate.

This situation in general is difficult to deal with. Most burglars don't get caught, and burglarize again and again, making a career out of it. Many, perhaps most of them get caught at some point or another, but for every crime they are caught for there are dozens they have gotten away with.

And every single time they burglarize, there is the risk of an assault, a rape, a kidnapping, a hostage situation. Not to mention the fact that it's horribly invasive and violative to the family that resides there.

I mean, a rape is a more serious crime than just an assault. Rape is an assault that also violates a person's body and mind and spirit, so we have harsher punishments for it.

So, what to do? The criminals that burglarize are aware that they are putting their own lives at risk. They know that their lives are forfeit if an angry homeowner with a shotgun finds them in his or her house. They're putting their lives on the line for modest material gain at the expense of an innocent person's or family's money and sanity.

What to do indeed.