TexasCHLforum.com

bdickens wrote: Sorry, man, but you're thinking like an anti-gun liberal..

I can agree you can think that,, but i KNOW it's not that..
I'll take Reality over your misconceived opinion anyday..

As others mentioned, I think it is dependent on the situation. For myself, I hardly ever leave anything in my car, so if I saw the door open and someone rifling through my things the first thing I'm doing isn't pulling my weapon but i will have my hand on it ready to draw. Now, if something valuable is in the car and they broke the window and its in hand, depends on the item. In the tools situation, I'd be pulling my gun. For me, the tool is a laptop and mine can not be replaced quickly (most likely weeks, if not months) and there is serious liability in someone else having my laptop. So weapon would be pulled and if the bag is not put down they will be shot. Something like a radar detector though? Nah, not worth the trouble to me, but if it is to you, it's your right to use force. Afterwards, In Texas anyways, you are very unlikely to be arrested and if the cops determine its a justifiable shooting then you are also protected civilly. We aren't in New York, or I'm not anyways and never will be.

I'm truly surprised by the number of folks who believe that if you have drawn your weapon first, you are the automatic winner in any encounter.

G26ster wrote:I'm truly surprised by the number of folks who believe that if you have drawn your weapon first, you are the automatic winner in any encounter.

That's a very good point. I am not 10' tall and bullet proof, gun or not.

Texas_Blaze wrote:The perp's life is more valuable than my stuff. the perp is made in the image of God. My stuff ain't.

Seems to me the value of my life is a judgement for me to make; and the value of a thief's life is a judgement for him to make. If he's stealing under circumstances where the law allows him to be shot, or just under circumstances where it is possible, then he made the decision that the stuff he's stealing is more valuable than his life. In order for him not to get shot for stealing something he simply has to refrain from stealing.

VMI77 wrote:

Texas_Blaze wrote:The perp's life is more valuable than my stuff. the perp is made in the image of God. My stuff ain't.

Seems to me the value of my life is a judgement for me to make; and the value of a thief's life is a judgement for him to make. If he's stealing under circumstances where the law allows him to be shot, or just under circumstances where it is possible, then he made the decision that the stuff he's stealing is more valuable than his life. In order for him not to get shot for stealing something he simply has to refrain from stealing.

While I agree with you, I only wish it was indead that clear and easy.

G26ster wrote:I'm truly surprised by the number of folks who believe that if you have drawn your weapon first, you are the automatic winner in any encounter.

As long as the perp stays still like the target at the range there should be no problem.

When my wife's phone was stolen in downtown Dallas, I followed the guy for a while until a "Safety Patrol" guy took up the pursuit. He was on a bicycle, and the thief was on foot. Needless to say, he let the guy get away. When I was talking to another "Safety Patrol" guy and a cop after the fact, I was pretty upset that they let the guy get away. I told the cop I could have just shot him. The cop said, well why didn't you? My response was that it just isn't worth taking a life over a couple hundred dollars, and I thought the "Safety Patrol" guy would actually try to catch the thief. The "Safety Patrol" guy said they don't have the authority to detain anyone unless they catch them in the act (I guess if you get mugged, you better hope they are across the street watching). In the end, even though they had street cameras which could have identified the thief, along with other evidence my wife and I provided (I was able to collect further information about the thief after the fact), the cops never did anything to recover my wife's phone, and the detective seemed pretty uninterested in working the case. Faced with the same situation again, I probably still wouldn't draw my weapon, though I might continue the chase until I saw a real cop.

E.Marquez wrote:

bdickens wrote: Sorry, man, but you're thinking like an anti-gun liberal..

I can agree you can think that,, but i KNOW it's not that..
I'll take Reality over your misconceived opinion anyday..

I notice you didn't address any of the substance of my reply.

bdickens wrote:

E.Marquez wrote:

bdickens wrote: Sorry, man, but you're thinking like an anti-gun liberal..

I can agree you can think that,, but i KNOW it's not that..
I'll take Reality over your misconceived opinion anyday..

I notice you didn't address any of the substance of my reply.

1: There was no substance to your reply.
2: You took what i wrote and assigned YOUR beliefs to it, then claimed it was MY beliefs.. Disingenuous at best.
3: If you wish to have a legitimate conversation without name calling and negative personal innuendo.. I'm game Otherwise, I see no reason to feed the trolls.

I don't leave anything that appears to be of value lying in plain-sight in my car. I also don't leave power cords hanging from the center console or the dashboard, as that implies that they hook-up to something valuable that is hidden elsewhere in the vehicle.
I seriously doubt that I would shoot someone stealing from my car.

Another example of things that have a value far beyond their monetary worth:

My wife wears her Grandmother's wedding ring. The same grandmother who raised her as a little girl until she started school. The same grandmother who she was always very close to, and the same grandmother who my (now) wife was a caretaker for when she was stricken with Alzheimer's disease.

Not long before Polly finally had to be institutionalized, and she was pretty far gone, my (now) wife was caring for her as well as going through a divorce and having a generally hard time herself. One day, in an increasingly rare moment of lucidity, Polly suddenly got very clear and focused, turned to my (now) wife, looked into her eyes and said, "What about Byron? You always loved him," and then faded back away into the fog.

My (now) wife and I had known each other and been friends on and off for years, never even considering getting together ourselves.

That ring is not very fancy, and isn't worth very much intrinsically. But no insurance in the world could ever replace it.

bdickens wrote:Another example of things that have a value far beyond their monetary worth:

My wife wears her Grandmother's wedding ring. The same grandmother who raised her as a little girl until she started school. The same grandmother who she was always very close to, and the same grandmother who my (now) wife was a caretaker for when she was stricken with Alzheimer's disease.

Not long before Polly finally had to be institutionalized, and she was pretty far gone, my (now) wife was caring for her as well as going through a divorce and having a generally hard time herself. One day, in an increasingly rare moment of lucidity, Polly suddenly got very clear and focused, turned to my (now) wife, looked into her eyes and said, "What about Byron? You always loved him," and then faded back away into the fog.

My (now) wife and I had known each other and been friends on and off for years, never even considering getting together ourselves.

That ring is not very fancy, and isn't worth very much intrinsically. But no insurance in the world could ever replace it.

Since I don't want to jump to conclusions... are you saying that you would indeed shoot someone for that ring?

The only scenario where I could find myself doing just that is when someone is trying to rob it from my wife's finger. If they are breaking into my car, no.

VMI77 wrote:

Texas_Blaze wrote:The perp's life is more valuable than my stuff. the perp is made in the image of God. My stuff ain't.

Seems to me the value of my life is a judgement for me to make; and the value of a thief's life is a judgement for him to make. If he's stealing under circumstances where the law allows him to be shot, or just under circumstances where it is possible, then he made the decision that the stuff he's stealing is more valuable than his life. In order for him not to get shot for stealing something he simply has to refrain from stealing.

you know i agree with you. this is what is allowable by law, and like any good parent, i tell my kids, dont make stupid decisions, since consequences could be more severe than you know. we have to be wise as serpents.

however, speaking from an eternal perspective, misjudgment in value, doenst mean value is not there. because man's law allows it, doenst make it right in the sight of God.

but think about this...if the perp is caught and brought to trial or in front of a judge, should he face the death penalty as punishment? i venture to say that most people would so no. even if the person has stolen millions of dollars like bernie (i think that is how you spell his name), so why shoot him when your life was not in danger? just because the law allows it?

I drive an older model Jeep with a soft-top, so I learned long ago not to keep ANYTHING of value in it. I don't even lock the doors because I would rather they open the door to find out there is nothing worth stealing than cutting my plastic windows just to find out there is nothing worth stealing. BTW, I do have a car alarm on it that has a kill switch to "slow them down" from stealing the whole thing. Me personally, I don't think I would shoot the BG in this instance unless he came after me or my family, but as stated before, each of us has to make that decision themselves. Both sides of this make good arguments. Many factors have to be involved to make the split decision to shoot or not. Just my two cents.