Dear average people

[The_Real_Crunk]

Do this more often please.

http://www.star-telegram.com/crime_c...y/1403863.html

Seriously, as soon as you decide to pull a weapon on somebody to rob them you are giving up all your rights right then and there. You deserve whatever bad happens to you after that point.

If more criminals are afraid of average people defending themselves, you'll see alot less crime.

[John Mora]

Re: Dear average people

While someone should definitely have a right to protect themselves when their lives are endangered, I don't particularly think vigilantism or Wild West-style justice is morally right.

[The_Real_Crunk]

Re: Dear average people

Yeah I know, there has to be limits. Cant have Bob Johnson average american having shootouts with criminals and such, or just any idiots able to buy guns because they think they can go fight crime. But you know the police cant always be around everywhere.

Id be thankful to know I have a paranoid Dale Gribble fellow living on my block that wont be afraid to drop a few crooks robbing his neighbors house without hesitation.

[Whataface2]

Re: Dear average people

If more criminals are afraid of average people defending themselves, you'll see alot less crime.

While I do agree with the statement, I don't agree with how the pharmacist acted. One someone is down on the ground injured they don't pose much of a threat to you anymore. There was no reason to shot him four time while he was on the ground.

Now if the robber didn't drop till fourth shot, then that would be considered self defense, otherwise it is murder.

[IRC]

Re: Dear average people

Yeah I know, there has to be limits. Cant have Bob Johnson average american having shootouts with criminals and such, or just any idiots able to buy guns because they think they can go fight crime. But you know the police cant always be around everywhere.

Id be thankful to know I have a paranoid Dale Gribble fellow living on my block that wont be afraid to drop a few crooks robbing his neighbors house without hesitation.

Well if he's paranoid won't he think you're out to get him and shoot you?

[The_Real_Crunk]

Re: Dear average people

Maybe!

[Translucid]

Re: Dear average people

I think the tone of this story would be rather different if the man defending himself was a police officer, who decided to execute an entirely disabled attacker.

[John Mora]

Re: Dear average people

Yeah, I don't think that pharmacist is in a very defensible position.

[Armored]

Re: Dear average people

This pharmacist is going to have to watch his ass now.. it was just a kid that he killed, and I bet there are a lot of angry people who know him.

[The_Real_Crunk]

Re: Dear average people

The kid was also black. DUN DUN DUUUUUUN!

[orius]

Re: Dear average people

Do this more often please.

http://www.star-telegram.com/crime_c...y/1403863.html

Seriously, as soon as you decide to pull a weapon on somebody to rob them you are giving up all your rights right then and there. You deserve whatever bad happens to you after that point.

If more criminals are afraid of average people defending themselves, you'll see alot less crime.

Well, see that happened in Oklahoma. If this had happened a bit further south, you know in Texas, he wouldn't be facing trail for murder, he'd be considered a hero and given the keys to the city.

Id be thankful to know I have a paranoid Dale Gribble fellow living on my block that wont be afraid to drop a few crooks robbing his neighbors house without hesitation.

Meh, Dale's a wuss. He talks tough, but can only back it up when he's going against bugs. And his paranoia makes him highly unreliable.

Shooting the kid a few more times while he was down after you got in a headshot is a bit unnecessary I think, but should not constitute first degree murder. Maybe manslaughter or another lesser penalty. What the story doesn't say is whether or not the would be robbers were armed, and that should make a difference as well.

[Zeroth]

Re: Dear average people

What he should have done is killed them with the the first gun, then none of this would have happend.

But hindsight is always 20/20.

[Sampson]

Re: Dear average people

Shooting the kid a few more times while he was down after you got in a headshot is a bit unnecessary I think, but should not constitute first degree murder. Maybe manslaughter or another lesser penalty. What the story doesn't say is whether or not the would be robbers were armed, and that should make a difference as well.

This. He really should get a slap on the wrist, but nothing serious. He wouldn't have killed anyone if they hadn't attempted to rob him.

[The Toecutter]

Re: Dear average people

There's been incidences just like this where you can replace the pharmacist with a police officer while having no murder charges applied; yet, if a police officer were to attempt to rob someone and that person were to injure or kill the police officer in self defense, what do you think would happen?(As ludicrous as it may sound, police have robbed and do indeed rob people in the U.S. It's not an everyday occurance, but it does happen.)

Justice is supposed to be blind.


This would be murder depending upon the circumstances, IMO, but a person damn well should have the right to defend themselves, using any means necessary to do so. If the robber was shot while unconscious, the person who shot him clearly committed murder. However, there is the possibility that a wounded person still has the capability to still use a weapon, and that certainly has to be taken into account. Did the pharmacist clearly know that the robber was unconscious? Did the robber have a weapon? This article presents insufficient information for me to form a solid opinion.

[d2king10]

Re: Dear average people

I don't see a problem with wild west-style justice. If someone is threatening your life, then they should be willing to loose theirs.

This situation could be applied to many scenarios. Is a father allowed to hunt down and kill a man who raped his daughter? No, he would probably be trialed with murder, despite the crime the other person did.

Even if this kid was knocked out from the shot to the head, what is stopping him from recovering months later and coming back for revenge? If the kid did it once, he will probably do it again.

To be honest, I would have probably done the same thing if I was in the pharmacists position. I like my life too much to let some little pricks try to end it for a bit of cash and satisfaction. Too many people are taught to just let the criminals have what they want and they will leave them alone, but by doing that what is going to stop them from doing it again? Nothing, the police might stop a few of them, but there will still be hundreds more running about, so who is to stop those?