Reply #75: If someone's in your house

[Mythsaje]

that you don't WANT there, leaving it to law enforcement to deal with it is standing in your shower stall naked with a possibly rabid weasel waiting for animal control to arrive. Long before there were police officers, people were defending themselves from all manner of threats. I realize that some people want to feel all cushy and safe in this artificially (and mostly illusionary) secure environment, but the truth is that all too many times, it's the scared everyman (and everywoman) who has to make the judgment call about how to deal with a potentially dangerous situation. The cops don't even HAVE to come rescue you according to the Supreme Court. If you're killed waiting for them to show up, tough shit.

The good news is that you're far more likely to die of any number of things before violence will get around to you. But each person has to determine his or her own level of tolerance for things that are potentially hazardous. Having a stranger in your home when you don't know anything about him or why he's there is about as scary as it gets. I know. I've been there. And I made a judgment call and let him walk out ten minutes later after the people he was hiding from had left.

My dad was in the other room and he probably would've shot him on the spot. But he was out cold and I prefered he stay that way for the moment. Now I could've paid the price for it, but the guy looked scared to me and, judging by how banged up he was, I was willing to bet he didn't have a weapon. Plus, I had a big honking knife and some idea how to use it if it came to that.

I swear, some people don't get the difference between wanting to have a weapon in case you need to use it and simply going around shooting everything that twitches funny.