One thing you might want to remember when defending yourself: Shoot to Kill. It's that simple, if you fear for your life then shoot to kill. You might recall from one of the recent news stories, the KC Police killed a suspect that they were chasing when he was reaching for a gun in his belt. The Police said that all officers are trained to shoot for the torso and the head. Personally, I think they should start showing us human shaped targets on TV ads with the center blown out by local Police, just to make the criminals think about whether its worth it. Anyway, if you have a gun or other form of home protection make sure you know how to use it. Go practice. And don't shoot to wound, he might turn around and shoot you in the back when, you think he's too hurt to move. I also think that every once in a while its good to see a vigilante rise up and take out a few of the scum to keep them on their toes. Brian Kelsay ----- Original Message ----- From: Patrick Thurmond Yo Monty, its lovely to live in a world where the victimizers get punished by the law, but we all know its a dream world. And as lovely as those righteous morals are, I know for a fact we can't rely on our government to truly "Enforce" the law. Face it, if its gotta be done right, you gotta do it yourself. That whole distinction line BS is why so many crimes happen. B/C they know we won't (our feel we can't) do anything to stop them and protect ourselves. Its a vicious circle, but personally I would love to see some vigilante go scare the shit out of the local criminal population. And I would support that person. If the government wasn't so whipped by the anti-cruelty pansies out there then we would have only about 10% of the crime that we have now. Personally I say the heck with the cops, we will have to stop the criminals ourselves. The government isn't doing its job. It isn't serving the people anymore. The government is the MICROSOFT OF POLITICS. -Patrick Monty Harder wrote: 8/24/01 7:03:39 AM, "Cox, Michael" wrote: >"EVER?" So...you're saying that no one has the right to protect themselves >or their family? Is that what you're saying? Because that sure *sounds* >like what you're trying to say... The Line is the distinction between self-defense and retaliation. If I am attacked, and I neutralize the immediate threat, I am not justified in using force to punish the aggressor. As a civilized human, I have delegated my natural right to use force in retaliation to a neutral arbiter. This is the moral justification for the existence of government - read the Declaration of Independence for details. Crossing that line is vigilantism, or Hatfield/McCoy, Crip/Blood, Protestant/Catholic, Jew/Moslem, Serb/Croatian perpetual civil war.