Guns

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This case is horrible, but you have misrepresented it in your comments. The teens broke a window and entered his house with the intention to rob it—it was not left wide open. The recording devices were turned on because he knew they were robbing the house. His first shots to stop the intruders were legal.

Where the crime occurred is that the original shots did not kill them, and then he executed them after they were downed. He also did not report the bodies for a day.

Don’t get me wrong, dude is a psychopathic asshole, but misrepresenting the series of events doesn’t help anybody.

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Lol I have several guns. Some I don't know if I even have ammo for them at all.

I can't imagine the mindset these types of owners have. They are afraid and they want to murder someone. I can't imagine

Hell, the few rifles I have are stored with the firing bolts removed and locked up separately.

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They weren't, they went over this in the trial.

He became the aggressor when he removed barriers to entry and laid in wait which is a negative defense for self defense.

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This is the absolute truth. I personally know a guy who pulls out a huge roll of money just to buy a $1 pop from a machine at night. He carries, has been for years. He is trying to get someone to mug him. You know why.

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With the premise the OP presented, I expected something worse than what was actually there. It was still horrible, but the impact was lessened for the reasons you listed.

Interesting how someone can manufacture consent like that by shifting your initial view.

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I remember this showing up on Reddit and people sick ass redditors justifying his actions. So sick.

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The kids weren't blameless. But they didn't deserve to die.

GHiLA

Tons of jobs with joke-ass 401ks they wear in their sleeve that they don't match or give any incentive whatsoever for, and hope you'll forget about when you leave.

When my company told us they didn't match, I asked why bother, then found out $25 was mandatory. Hell.

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It's been a long time since I've heard about this case, but my recollection was that he left his garage door open and parked away from his house so it would appear open and unoccupied. I didn't see anything on the Wikipedia page that refutes that.

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Well, good news, a firearm would achieve the exact opposite of protecting you and your loved one from harm.

The epidemiology of self-defense gun use: evidence from the National Crime Victimization Surveys 2007-2011 - PubMed

Compared to other protective actions, the National Crime Victimization Surveys provide little evidence that SDGU is uniquely beneficial in reducing the likelihood of injury or property loss.

PubMed (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

In fact it's the opposite. A firearm is far more likely to be involved in an accidental injury or death of someone in the household than it is going to be used in any form of self defense.

If you want to effectively protect yourself, invest in actual home security measures.

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Smith had been visiting neighbors when he saw Kifer, whom he suspected was responsible for the burglaries, driving past his home. He commented that he needed to get ready for her and went back to his home. Upon entering his home, Smith turned on a recording device he owned. He removed the light bulbs from the ceiling lights and positioned himself in a chair that was obscured from view. He heard the window upstairs break and Brady climb in (captured on audio).

There may have been a window from the garage to the house or something, but it clearly says they broke a window, entered his home, and proceeded to the basement where they were shot. He had previously been burgled in the garage too, which Wikipedia says he was unaware about until police found evidence of a prior burglary. The house had been burgled previously as well, which is why he was looking out for people casing his house.

I hope none of this comes off as a defense of that asshole, but facts matter, and those teens did commit a crime. I don’t think they deserved to be executed for it, but he was within his rights to defend himself when they broke in to his home. He was not within his rights to execute them after the threat was over.

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Wikipedia says they broke a window to enter, and that can be heard on audio—I’m not trying to argue with everything, but how is a closed window that had to be broken for entry not a barrier?

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They did, read the testimony. He has the window blocked and he removed it so the window would be the easiest way to enter.

He set a trap, there's no legitimate purpose for that.

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but he was within his rights to defend himself when they broke in to his home.

No he wasn't, read the actual case transcript.

He was not within his rights to execute them after the threat was over.

There was never a threat, you really really need to read the court transcripts.

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The dude clearly murdered them and had violent vigilante fantasies—I don’t argue that one bit.

That said, they still came up to his house, broke a window, and entered with the intention to burgle it. It doesn’t really matter if the window was previously blocked or made of paper—breaking and entering with the intention of burglary is a crime, and having no block on a window isn’t enticement to have your house burgled.

Again, before anyone thinks I’m defending him, I fully agree that he is a murderer. I just think the burglars weren’t innocent either. In Reddit lingo, “everyone sucks here”.

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If you're arguing that both the murderer and murder victims "suck" maybe you need to rethink your priorities...

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If I had to kill somebody, I'd be scarred for life. Even if it was clearly in self defense.

Yet I've talked to gun owners who fantasize about getting the drop on a burglar and shooting them dead or something like that. I don't know if they're actually that bloodthirsty or just delusional, but either way it's pretty disturbing.

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You are defending him boss.

The jury took less than three hours to establish as a matter of fact that none of the shootings were justified or in defense. It's a fact now, your opinion is just that... An opinion and one not backed by either statute or the court case.

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It’s both.

Our systems have taught them that criminals are worthless disgusting inhuman animals who deserve death, and they’ve never considered the trauma associated with killing someone.

Plenty of veterans lives are ruined by shit like that, and they signed up for it. A little basement dwelling incel couldn’t even comprehend the trauma.

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Oh same. I've talked with friends about conceal carry. We all agree it would be the scariest thing possible to actually need to use it. We'll pretty much want to exhaust all other options including running the fuck away first.

We couldn't imagine the idea of actually living with having murdered someone. I know I'd pretty much immediately end up in therapy to help process it.