Speaking as someone who has been robbed recently. I am VERY glad that I do in fact live in a country that allows the purchase and use of personal firearms. And particularly that I live in a state that (not the exact words, I'm sure, this is off the top of my head) allows for homeowners to defend themselves and their property by means up to and including the use of lethal force if they feel their lives are threatened. Basically - if you shoot the robber, call the police immediately and if the bullet holes are in the FRONT of the perpetrator, you're unlikely to go to jail.
If I had a gun, and if I had been home-invaded rather than burgled while I was away, damn straight I would have shot to kill.
I think that's why cops in Texas might be just a little more cautious about getting warrants and making sure they are authorized than in places like, say, Indiana. **
Which brings me to a point I want to make: Like the saying goes, it is MUCH better for the government to fear its citizens than the other way around.
** (Not to say cops in Texas aren't still major assholes. A lot of them are. Redneck attitude plus badge - do the math! I have a friend who's a Fort Worth cop who has said, jokingly and not so jokingly, that his fellow police officers are almost uniformly TERRIBLE people! And he's self-deprecating enough to include himself in that number. I don't think he's quite that bad, myself. But then I'm a friend, so I'm biased and make allowances.)
If I had a gun, and if I had been home-invaded rather than burgled while I was away, damn straight I would have shot to kill.
I think that's why cops in Texas might be just a little more cautious about getting warrants and making sure they are authorized than in places like, say, Indiana. **
Which brings me to a point I want to make: Like the saying goes, it is MUCH better for the government to fear its citizens than the other way around.
** (Not to say cops in Texas aren't still major assholes. A lot of them are. Redneck attitude plus badge - do the math! I have a friend who's a Fort Worth cop who has said, jokingly and not so jokingly, that his fellow police officers are almost uniformly TERRIBLE people! And he's self-deprecating enough to include himself in that number. I don't think he's quite that bad, myself. But then I'm a friend, so I'm biased and make allowances.)