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| Sat, 05-09-2009 - 1:53am |
There was a thread on here about a man in Texas who had called 911 to report that the house next door was being robbed. The man left his home despite the protestations of the 911 operator that he stay put in the safety of his home. He went out and shot and killed the robbers as they were leaving the scene of the crime. The vigilante was cleared of all charges because Texas has a law that basically sends the message, "shoot first, ask questions later." Well, a Texas couple shot four people, two were children. If the child dies, should they be charged with manslaughter or homocide or should they walk, because of Texas' special law?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30650051
Couple accused of shooting 4, including 2 kids
Texas authorities say victims were off-roading when they were fired upon

Gale and Sheila Muhs, seen here in booking photos, are accused of shooting four people, including two children
Fri., May 8, 2009
HOUSTON - A couple has been accused of opening fire and wounding four people — including a 7-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl — who they mistakenly thought were trespassing on their property.
The victims, who were off-roading near a residential area about 40 miles northeast of Houston, were struck with shotgun pellets late Thursday after stopping their vehicles near the Trinity River so the children could go to the bathroom, said Liberty County Chief Deputy Ken DeFoor.
Police said resident Sheila Muhs, 45, fired once with a 12-gauge shotgun, then handed it to her husband, Gayle Muhs, also 45. DeFoor said Sheila Muhs called 911 and told the dispatcher, "They're out here tearing up the levee, so I shot them."
The Muhs have been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and remained in jail Friday. The Muhs don't have an attorney yet to comment on their case, DeFoor said.
Donald Coffey Jr., the 7-year-old boy, was shot in the head and was in critical condition Friday. Patrick Cammack, a friend of the boy's father who was driving in a separate vehicle, also was shot in the head and in critical condition.
Donald Coffey Sr., 36, had a pellet wound in his right shoulder. His daughter, 5-year-old Destiny, was shot in the elbow but was in good condition.
After the shootings, Coffey's wife, who also was riding in the SUV, drove the vehicle to a nearby fire station, where the victims were taken by helicopter to a hospital. The right rear window of the SUV had been shattered, and pellet marks covered the side of the vehicle, DeFoor said.
The victims said Coffey and Cammack took a county road to a residential levee in the Westlake subdivision near the Trinity River.
According to an 11-year-old boy who was also with the off-roading group, they did not stop on the levee but by the side of the road, DeFoor said.
Shortly afterward, DeFoor said, the shots were fired from about 40 yards away. DeFoor said the victims were unarmed.
"The levee is not private property, it belongs to the subdivision," said DeFoor. "Even if they were on the levee, it's not a shootable offense. It's ludicrous to shoot someone for going to the bathroom on the side of the road.">>>
'Castle law' arms Texas homeowners with right to shoot



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This is simply more evidence of the change in American culture. Angry, stupid people with guns feel that their guns are the only things that they have to feel good or powerful about. To steal a quote from Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes ... I imagine that like bugs, they have a dim perception that nature has played a cruel trick on them, but they lack the intelligence to really comprehend the magnitude of the trick.
They know that they are intellectually, economically and socially very near the back of the pack and realize that their only feeling of self-value or power comes when they brandish their guns.
The result is predictable and inevitable.
"ANYONE walking up to your home with a gun in hand.... you should feel in imminent danger. It takes less than 3 seconds (and often only one shot) to blow away that lock and walk right in."
So I assume that if an undercover sheriff's deputy were coming to your house to serve a warrant and had his sidearm in hand because he had information that you had numerous firearms, that it would then be alright to blow him away like a can on a fence?
I know guns give a feeling of power to those who might otherwise feel impotent, but in order to maintain a civilized society, we must at some point begin to show some restraint and stop grabbing our guns first.
So I assume that if an undercover sheriff's deputy were coming to your house to serve a warrant and had his sidearm in hand because he had information that you had numerous firearms, that it would then be alright to blow him away like a can on a fence?
A lone deputy wearing plainclothes is likely not going to walk up to any home with his gun drawn around here.
I
I think here that they have to actually be trying to enter your home.
Cat.smacks wrote:
"I think it's sad that you have such a poor opinion of everyone that owns a gun. We're not all power freaks."
Yes Cat.smacks ... when you just cut out a small part of my post I DO sound quite unfair. It almost makes me think "Gee what an unfair SOB" about myself. That's very clever.
I just hope people read my ENTIRE post so they get a TRUE understanding of my position. You must really love your guns to misrepresent me in that fashion.
Honestly, I don't know why you're offended.
"... This can lead to a person who is normally a responsible gun owner becoming dangerously more visceral and losing sight of all reason. This is not an occurrence that would be unique to gun owners, any reasonable person knows that can happen to everyone. The problem is that a person who is gone amok with his fists or a stick is highly unlikely to kill 32 people in the span of a few minutes."
Specifically noting that the unsavory traits and abilities are just as likely in non-gun owners as in gun owners. I point out that the difference in the potential for lethality is the guns and not the people.
Yet you left out that section of my post and then said ...
"I think it's sad that you have such a poor opinion of everyone that owns a gun. We're not all power freaks."
So there you have it. It's not the cutting and pasting to which I object (I do that myself), it's the convenient omissions followed by the unfair characterizations.
Signing off!
Jabberwocka
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