Comments | merryprankster: Be careful who you shoot when you're protecting yourself...

merryprankster

Be careful who you shoot when you're protecting yourself...

Mar 13, 2006 07:40

This is right out of The Stranger.
This genuinely scares me.

Comments 4

badly_drawn March 13 2006, 21:44:23 UTC

I know we disagree on this, but it scares me too. It scares me because the guy had a fucking gun in the first place. I don't think he should be on death row for a simple (tragic, scary) mistake - I also don't believe in death row - but this mess wouldn't have existed if he hadn't had a gun. If they had been gang bangers or drug dealers or whatever instead of police officers a) the scenario would not have gone down as it did because there probably wouldn't have been a lot of noisy introduction (kicking down doors); it would have been a drive-by or more surreptitious and b) even if the scenario still went down that way, it's amazing he didn't get shot by the police and it would have been even more amazing if he didn't get shot by one of his intruders, especially because he's clearly not the best with his gun or the brightest bulb if his first instinct when he heard a police raid going on (granted he didn't know it was a police raid, but PLEASE, I can tell when that shit's gone down next door to us) was to get his gun off ( ... )

merryprankster March 14 2006, 23:54:27 UTC

There is a lot to address in your statement, and as I am ridiculously busy and my brain is overbooked and fried, I shall just say that nearly every aspect of the situation, from the trigger-happy resident to the undocumented search to the clearly unfair justice system is frightening because it exposes just how tenuous our legal system really is and how quickly injustice can escalate. However, I don't expect this to hold up in higher court and that restores my faith in the justice system, if ever so slightly ( ... )

coatesie March 16 2006, 21:08:40 UTC

He would have felt bodily threatened, because there were about half a dozen men with assault rifles in his living room and he didn't know how they got there. Under Mississippi law, that's justifiable homicide.

More stupid minds merryprankster March 17 2006, 17:05:56 UTC

If I were surrounded by 6 men with assault rifles I think the ABSOLUTE last thing I would do is shoot at them. Run? Duck? Hide? Plead? Offer riches and gold and anything they desire? Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes. But 6 trained automatics against lil ol' me with my 10-gauge would not exactly induce me to take violent action.

Unless, of course, you're the awesome Ultraviolet. She probably looks at a situation like that and thinks FUN. She doesn't even need a gun! But watch out for those wells...