2 July 2008
Guns and Defense of Property
Posted by Roy Bischoff under: General .
Anywhere else and this would probably have resulted in a murder conviction. Many people think that you can shoot anyone that comes onto your property without permission. Now the laws vary by state but the essential principle is that you can defend yourself with deadly force but not your property. This man’s lawyer was saying all the right things like: “He was in fear of his life.” Well he told the dispatcher he was going to kill them and then he did. Sounds like premeditated murder doesn’t it, but this Texas Grand Jury, which doesn’t need to see guilt beyond a reasonable doubt just that there is some basis for an indictment to issue, didn’t see anything wrong with a neighbor shooting a couple of Hispanics in the back and killing them because they were stealing some stuff. We don’t have the death penalty for theft no matter what you steal. It is abuses like this that support the gun control arguments.
Texas man cleared of shooting suspected burglars
By JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press Writer
HOUSTON - Ever since he fatally shot two men he suspected of burglarizing his next-door neighbor’s home, 62-year-old Joe Horn has been both praised and vilified for his actions.
Horn called 911 and told the dispatcher he had a shotgun and was going to kill the intruders. The dispatcher pleaded with him not to go outside, but a defiant Horn confronted the men with a 12-gauge shotgun and shot both in the back.
Some community activists wanted Horn to face charges for the deaths. Supporters of the retired grandfather said what he did was justified under the law.
After listening to evidence in the case, including testimony from Horn himself, a grand jury on Monday cleared him of the shootings.
“He wasn’t acting like a vigilante. He didn’t want to do it,” said Tom Lambright, Horn’s attorney.
Lambright said Horn was not a “wild cowboy” who took the law into his own hands after he saw the two suspected burglars, with bags in hand, crawling out of windows from his neighbor’s home on Nov. 14 in the Houston suburb of Pasadena. The neighbor was out of town at the time.
Instead, Horn was a frightened retiree who tried to defend his neighbor’s property and when the two men came onto his yard and threatened him, Horn defended himself, Lambright said.
“He was scared. He was in fear of his life,” he said.
4 Comments so far...
E.E. Says:
2 July 2008 at 10:51 am.
Right, Roy. Gun control advocates will love this plus it will make race relations worse.
Bryon Says:
2 July 2008 at 11:31 am.
Although a warning to drop the property and stay there would have been appropriate it probably just would have made them run. I hate robbers but I think this was over the line.
The gun control advocates will now attempt to out law hand guns again because people got shot with a shot gun. I am very disappointed in the people who are for gun control. Do they think the cops will always be there when they need them? They probably wont because there aren’t enough.
The Realist Says:
2 July 2008 at 12:44 pm.
Usually the law and the MSM go way overboard the other way now. This will probably get them all mad and now they will go the other way all the time. The bad buys will end up always the victims if there is any confrontation.
Cavetrollhead Says:
2 July 2008 at 1:43 pm.
Not a great example of why we should have the right to have guns.
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