Quote:Epsilon wrote:My point was not that he didn't deserve jail time, but that he didn't deserve to be DEAD.
So, he knew someone was out to kill him and he didn't go to the police? Your brother deserved jail time.
Quote:If your police can't protect you, then they re fucking crap police.This is already a given.
Quote:And you know how I know that your government is designed to protect the people? Because you have a standing army. If China or Russia or Iran or some asshole decides to get up in your shit you know who is going to protect you from them? Not your brother's shotgun rack. It will be the aircraft carriers and fighter jets and ground troops of your professional army whose job is to keep people from killing you.
That was never my point. Why do you ALWAYS try to put words in my mouth that I did not say? You make assumptions about what I'm thinking based on... I don't know what you base them on. Not knowledge of me, that's for damn sure. You'll note in my post previous to this I acknowledge this fucking point already.
Quote:That is the governments job. Heck, some people claim that is the governments only job. If someone is out to kill you, they step in and stop that shit. You don't go fucking vigilante.
I agree about the armed forces protecting from external threats. But I assume you simply ignored or held in utter contempt (as you usually do) ECSNorway's and my point about cops not being able to prevent crimes except by deterrence? They cannot be everywhere. Nor would we want them to be. I don't want to live in a police state. I do want the option to own and carry a gun and protect myself.
Vigilantism is not what I recommend. It wouldn't be what my brother recommends either. I bet you missed the part where HE said he was being stupid at the time, too?
The story was not meant to recommend the kind of behavior that led to that point. I was only pointing out, that when things had gone to hell, (fully acknowledging that the hell was at least partially of Russell's own making) that in that one moment, he made the only choice he could in order to live. And had he not had that gun, he likely would not have lived. Because at that moment the police could not possibly have saved him.
We are obviously talking about different countries and cultures here. Several posters here are from Canada. Dartz is in Ireland. Etc. Do not assume that just because I advocate gun rights and live in Texas that I recommend Wild West vigilantism. I have a certain contempt for certain aspects of how Police operate in this country currently. But that doesn't mean I think they are utterly useless or that we should not depend on them in certain circumstances. What I do say - is that you can't act and make decisions based on the idea that they are going to save your ass. YOU have to save your ass by making the right decisions and not getting into trouble in the first place. The best the cops can usually do is identify what and who killed you. It would be better not to allow the circumstances to get to the point where you have to defend yourself in the first place. But if you must, it's better to have the proper tools to do so. And the BEST tool for saving your own life versus someone who wishes to take it from you is a gun.