Gotta Love Those Texas Women.

[Wolfling68]

Right or wrong, legal or illegal, moral or not, it's still funny!!! (and yes, I do laugh at the Darwin awards)

[1015811414]

So much for "all life is precious" I guess.

It is plainly obvious that life is NOT precious. If it were then the 41,059 traffic fatalities in 2007 would not have happened. Perhaps we should outlaw motor vehicles?

The point is that this woman had the right to defend herself by whatever means available to her at the time. The gun served to level the playing field. She was not acting as judge, jury, and executioner. She was responding to a crime being committed against her that may have endangered her life. Should we take the time to assess if the situation is life threatening before we draw out firearm. It is only fractions of seconds that this decision needs to be made.

Obviously, this woman should have been more circumspect in what she says to her peers who are attempting to decide her fate. But aside from all that, all we have at this point is an anecdotal report as to what actually happened, and what was actually said.

[cgnavarro]

The traffic fatalities you quote are (I would think) vastly accidental and perhaps a smaller number of those are cases where the car is used as a weapon. This is a case where the victim chose to gun down her assailant as he ran from her with her purse. They are not the same.

I make room for the possibility that this shooting was justified even though I personally doubt it based on her flippant statement. What I do not make room for is this story being celebrated.

You ask if we should decide whether our life is in danger before we draw our firearms. Of course we should. As gun owners and carriers, it's our responsibility to do just that. When we get it right, we get it right. When we get it wrong, we should be held accountable. This woman was acquitted becasue, apparently, she acted within the laws of her state. Just because it's legal, doesn't mean it's right.

[1015811414]

I am agreeing with you that we should take the time to assess the situation before we draw and fire. My fat fingers and lisdexia got the sentence out with the "Should" before the "we". Did not mean to imply anything else. The second sentence was merely stating that we may have only fractions of seconds to make that decision.

It is obvious by now, having read all the entries in this thread, that you feel very strongly about your position. And you are entitled to your position. I just disagree. That is all.

[cgnavarro]

And that is what's cool about America, my friend.

[Sheldon]

Just like this is.....

Drinking with a American Girl

A Mexican, an Arab, and a American girl are in the same bar. When the Mexican finishes his beer, he throws his glass in the air, pulls out his pistol, and shoots the glass to pieces. He says, 'In Mexico, our glasses are so
cheap we don't need to drink with the same one twice.'

The Arab, obviously impressed by this, drinks no-alcohol beer (cuz he's a muslim!),
throws it into the air, pulls out his AK-47, and shoots the glass to pieces. He says, 'In the Arab World, we have so much sand to make glasses that we don't need to drink with the same one twice either.'

The American girl, cool as a cucumber, picks up her beer, downs it in one gulp, throws the glass into the air, whips out her 45, and shoots the Mexican and the Arab. Catching her glass, setting it on the bar, and calling for a refill, she says,

'In America we have so many illegal aliens that we don't have to drink with the same ones twice.'

[cgnavarro]

Hey! I'm a Mexican Arab, man!

[cgnavarro]

Mah, I'm just kiddin.

[gdcleanfun]

I'm going to jump in here and address a point upon which I don't think anyone touched.

Where does it say that a perpetrator who is running away from a crime is no longer a threat?

Criminals regularly carry. They carry knives, handguns, rifles, shotguns, lots of things that can be thrown. They spit. They stop running and come back. They throw knives from long distances. They shoot their victims behind them while running away. Their accomplices knock down victims as other perps get going in another direction. So, I ask, how far can someone reasonably throw a knife and inflict harm on someone? How far away must a BG be before their shooting behind them does not harm? Spit can carry for many feet. Spitting on someone is a felony is some states.

If you fear for your life, the lives of someone around you, depending upon the state and the circumstances of the crime, you (you meaning the collective you, or more specifically: we) are probably justified to use deadly force to save your life, and the lives of those around you, and justified to mitigate the threat that someone wishes upon you. We can Monday-morning quarterback all day but we don't know all the facts surrounding what happened. Until then, or until we sit on her jury, we'll never know. She did what she thought best, I'll grant her that. I'd want people to grant that to me.

Yes, life is precious, and my life is just as precious as the BG's life. When it comes down to him or her or me or mine, I have no compunctions about what needs to be done to protect the preciousness of me and mine.

[Huklberyhound]

I call it " 100% rehabilitation. He is now ready to be interred into society. " The guy has my address, as far as I'm concerned, he will be visiting my house in the middle of the night. Should I hope that I wake up before he gets to my girls? Innocent life is precious, not all life. This guy chose to be subhuman and he got his reward that he knew ahead of time that might come to him. As far as my teenage son getting shot/arrested for doing something stupid, he knows that I will have no sympathy for him because I gave him all the tools and information he needed to keep him out of that situation.