Last summer there was a robbery in our nearby big-city. The robber broke into the victim's home through the roof and came crashing down through the ceiling in the middle of the night. The homeowner is relatively well-known in the community -- a physician and daddy of three. When the scuzball wouldn't leave even after the doctor had yelled at him several times, and while the wife was phoning 911, finally the doctor pulled out his gun and shot the intruder. Within just a few days, the DA announced he wouldn't be pressing charges against the doctor because he obviously shot in self-defense.
Now, more than a year later, the scuzball is suing the doctor. Not only that, but the robber who is now in jail managed to file suit in Milwaukee County, knowing that he'd stand a much better chance of winning there than in the community where he committed the crime. The doctor is asking that the civil suit be tried in the county where the shooting took place, and that it be a jury trial. I would love to be on that jury!
Today's paper quotes the jailbird's wife: "he had no right to shoot my husband." Really now? And your husband had the right to be in the victim's hallway, near his sleeping children, in the middle of the night, after crashing through the ceiling? Massad Ayoob writes in Backwoods Home Magz, teaching gun-owners the difference between self-defense and excessive force. And this was definitely not excessive force. (And even if it were excessive according to legal definitions, which it wasn't, it still wasn't excessive according to common sense and decent morals!)
I think my 14-yr-old had an excellent observation. "So if the robber couldn't get the doctor's money by stealing it in the middle of the night, now he's found a different way to get the man's money." Exactly.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
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Great observation by that brilliant 14 year old. You can imagine the reaction to this story in our house!
ReplyDeleteJesus loves his firearms!
ReplyDeleteNow, Shannon (aka, "anonymous"), if you're going to visit my blog, don't be sarcastic about my Savior. And you might also want to do a little open-minded reading about crime statistics in states that allow concealed carry.
ReplyDeleteSo you do think that Jesus would use handguns?
ReplyDeleteShannon, if you're going to engage in discussion here, don't be anonymous. Sign the posts. Even if you don't have a blogger identity, you can use nice manners and sign the bottom of the comment.
ReplyDeleteAs for Jesus using handguns,... there are two kingdoms in the world. There is the kingdom ruled by the word of God's Law and the word of God's grace that flows from Jesus' death on the cross. In this kingdom (the Church) there are no earthly weapons, but the only weapon is God's call to repentance.
There is the other kingdom that is ruled by God via the world's authority. This authority flows from the position of "father" and is seen in the authority of not only daddies and husbands, but also policemen, school teachers, governors, etc.
God definitely does approve of force (even violent force) being used in the protection of the innocent and the maintenance of order in this sinful world. After all, God was the one who instituted capital punishment.
I'm not signing, but I don't know who this Shannon is -- I swear to all that is holy I am not this Shannon.
ReplyDelete