Is "acquiring" accurate? Common tropes include that stealing horses and cattle were hanging offenses, putting hexes on crops could get you hung/burned, etc.
Zimmerman/Martin Case
- Thread starter Stoked
- Start date
Is "acquiring" accurate? Common tropes include that stealing horses and cattle were hanging offenses, putting hexes on crops could get you hung/burned, etc.
JimLes
Well-Known Member
Well, I was thinking about the last 50 years, when I thought we had moved away from shooting people for theft.
Shooting someone over a DVD player is stupid, but a person has every right to stop someone from stealing from them. If I were going to try to prevent someone from stealing from me I would bring a gun, not because I intended to shoot them but because when I try to stop them THEY might get violent and threaten ME with violence. So again, is the DVD worth more than a human life? I'd ask the thief that question.
I wasn't aware that we had, at least in the USA.
JimLes
Well-Known Member
By bringing a gun, you're saying that a DVD player is worth more. That's my point. I don't think you have any moral right to stop someone from stealing by killing them. Any. I just don't think that you as a private citizen have the right to decide that someone has forfeited their right to leave because they stole some material possession from you.
And if you didn't intend to shoot someone, then why did you bring the gun? If you know things might end with someone's death, why would you go down that road at all?
Again, you're placing responsibility in the wrong place.
I absolutely have every right to stop someone from leaving my house with my property. To suggest I don't is so laughably silly I can't even wrap my head around it.
JimLes
Well-Known Member
Again, how do you figure your material possessions are worth more than human life? The responsibility IS yours. You're the one holding the gun. You are being asked to make that decision. Don't weasel out and say that the thief made that decision. You are making it. Do you believe it's morally right to take a human life if you don't need to?
My material possessions are not worth more than a human life.
If someone comes into my home by force they have made the decision to imitate force against me and my family. If they chose to take my possessions by force I have every right to stop them by the use of force.
If someone was carrying my DVD player out of my house I would tell them to stop. If they did not stop I would physically attempt to stop them. If they physically tried to resist me I would escalate my use of force to include the use of a firearm. If they simply tried to run away I would not shoot them in the back, but I would try to prevent them from running away by placing myself between them and their escape route. If they chose to attack me, gun in my hand telling them to stop, I would shoot them.
If someone was carrying my DVD player out of my house I would tell them to stop. If they did not stop I would physically attempt to stop them. If they physically tried to resist me I would escalate my use of force to include the use of a firearm. If they simply tried to run away I would not shoot them in the back, but I would try to prevent them from running away by placing myself between them and their escape route. If they chose to attack me, gun in my hand telling them to stop, I would shoot them.
JimLes
Well-Known Member
Why not just let them leave and call the cops? That's what the cops are for. You fighting the guy is just unnecessary and pointless vigilantism. One of you will get hurt and you still may not get your DVD player.
First, the cops are not going to investigate the burglary of a DVD player. Second, I don't have to allow people to take my things. Why do you think I do?
I think we should construct a system with no deterrents and watch it quickly flail into lawlessness. Mad max society is so much better at valuing life.
I call Eli. Which one of you cuties wants to play Solara for a couple days?