Posted on 05/10/2012 2:06:41 PM PDT by Merciful_Friend
Making the comparison between the following two recent stories might be a very obvious thing to do, but sometimes the obvious just cries out to be highlighted anyway.
The first story is so horrible that it is extremely difficult even to contemplate. It’s the kind of story that makes you shake your head and then, understandably, want to just turn it away. A court in Oklahoma will nevertheless have to focus on all of the details at some point. On March 13th last, a perpetrator invaded the Tulsa home of 90-year-old Bob Strait and his 85-year-old wife Nancy. Nancy was beaten and sexually assaulted. She died two days later. Bob, a veteran of World War II who fought on D-Day and earned a Bronze Star, was also injured in the attack and he passed away just about one week ago. The house was robbed and the next day a 20-year-old man was picked up by police driving around in Bob Strait’s car. He is currently being held on charges of first degree murder, first degree burglary, armed robbery and assault with a dangerous weapon. Bob and Nancy Strait had been married for 65 years.
...
The second story is one just reported yesterday, from Elizabeth Township, Pennsylvania. Fred Ricciutti, 84-years-old and a veteran of the Korean War, was asleep in his home with his wife. They were sleeping downstairs because his wife was ill. At 4:30 a.m., Fred heard a noise from a window. He retrieved his pistol from a drawer—reportedly a Luger that he had carried in the Korean War. Confronting the man who was now inside the house, he fired. The bullet grazed the 25-year-old intruder, who fled. He was arrested a few blocks away and found to be carrying a stun-gun and a screwdriver. He’s being held on charges including burglary and criminal trespass.
Although that would seem to be a very satisfactory conclusion, this story doesn’t end there. The suspect who was arrested lives with his family across the street from Mr. Ricciutti and his wife. The family reportedly came over and tearfully apologized for the actions of the young man who had been arrested. Fred Ricciutti says he “forgave them,” and that “they are good people.”
And Mr. Ricciutti himself sounds like a very good person indeed. And, as obvious as it may be after these two stories, the lesson needs to be stated over and over again in America: It is always better when the good people have the guns.
Detroit.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2882088/posts
So he accidentally shot his wife in the process but she’s going to be OK and I suspect she forgives him.
What they fail to mention is that the Straits were tortured and murdered by a gang of feral black thugs.
They caught one but the rest at still on the loose.
While there are some similarities, there are a lot more examples of recent home invasions that carry with them a multitude of lessons.
Here are some good examples:
1) Unexpected door knocks from 9pm to 6am should only be attended when armed. Ignoring them is not an option, for non-response may result in an intruder trying to kick that or another door in, or break and enter through windows.
2) Home invasions may be criminals or may be police, so identify your targets. Practical note: gunmen of all kinds tend to look for targets as standing, from head to waist height. If you can be in a prone position, through a doorway as they enter the other side of a hall, you will have maximum shooting advantage, as they will have to look down, move their gun down, and have a smaller target area than you. Never illuminate your position.
3) If a dog sacrifices itself attacking them, good dog. But remember that it is just a dog. If they kill your dog they have just killed a dog. If you kill them, it is homicide.
4) If you need to shoot once, you probably need to shoot more than once. Do not pause to “damage assess”. In the immortal words of Tuco, “When you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk.”
5) A big secret of liability law is that injured people always get much bigger settlements and damage awards than dead people. If a criminal survives, it may cost the taxpayers $2m to try and imprison them. Bullets are cheap, and mean no more victims from that criminal.
Police are generally trained to keep firing until the bad guy goes down. That is prudent for civilians as well. If he's standing with a weapon, keep firing. If he's down and still has a gun in his hand, keep firing (he can shoot you dead while laying down just as easy as standing up).
I'm thinking you might not be from Texas.
Any time one human shoots another in this country and kills that person, it is a homicide. The question is if the shooting is murder, manslaughter, some other charege or self-defense.
I quite agree. However, many police departments now have an unofficial policy of killing dogs, in that the most it will cost the department is $300, while in insures that the officer is “dominant” in the situation, and is a form of “pre-punishment” against those who may not be otherwise arrested.
That it is emotionally devastating to many people is not a big concern. This attitude has become so widespread that people are starting to push back, to force the police by policy to not just casually kill dogs.
There is a big problem, however, with people who hold their dog in such affection that for it to be killed incites them to homicide, which can get them sent to prison for many years. So it is important to remember that, no matter how much you love your dog, it is just a dog.
Get bent. I am old enough now that the threat of prison doesn’t bother me, been there done that. Here in commifornia I would die of natural causes before I would get the needle. Any body hurts or kills one of my family members and that includes my dogs is going to get justice in kind. I don’t care if it’s a cop a crook or a priest. They had better live every moment like it’s their last because I will come and they will die! My dogs are better people than 99.99% of the scumbag so called human beings in this world.
If my dog sacrifices himself for me, it means the aggressor is very dangerous to me, and in close proximity to me, and is a huge threat to me. And it will be justifiable homicide.
We should take up a collection to get Ol’ Fred a new pair of glasses or Lazik Surgery.
Ironically, I think I have more respect for my dog than I do for you.
Oh, and ALL door knocks should be answered. We have had a lot of break-ins lately - all during the day when they think folks are gone. My kids are instructed to get me if I’m home (i work out of the house), and if not yell things like “Dad - someone’s at the door!!” Then ask who it is through the closed door and if it is not a known neighbor with name or relative to NOT open the door. “No Dad - I don’t know who it is!!!”
Cops - they need to see the squad car and the person in uniform - and then they can talk through the upstairs window.
Our cops (bored in this quiet suburb) say to call 911 for ANY suspicious activity. Even if it is someone trying to sell something door to door to call 911 and they are not on the ‘approved” list! (There are three vendors allowed to sell door to door and they have an official city emblem on their clipboard. I still ignore them).
Just last week a few blocks from us a 15-year old girl was home from school playing x-box and ignored the knocks on the door. When the sliding glass door in the back came crashing in she went into the hallway to see what was going on. The guy took one look at her, swore, and ran back out. She unlocked the front-door and ran to a neighbor’s where they called 911.
The guy must have seen her leave, and they saw him run back into her house! In two minutes he was gone again. Cops from three towns were searching our neighborhood.
At the meeting the other night about the rash of burglaries one of the cops said the high price of gold seems to be a factor. Lots of nice electronics are left behind (i-pads on counters, etc.) while the master bedroom is sacked looking for jewelry.
Makes sense I suppose.
And if he doesn’t still have the gun in his hand, he still did.
I think you all misunderstand. I, too, am a dog owner, and I love my dogs. But this is an issue of the police and the courts.
If some sadistic teenage boy kills your dog in your front yard, and you see him as he is leaving and gun him down, you will be sent to prison for many years, probably more than the entire lifespan of your dog from puppy to had it lived to old age.
Yes, your pain and anguish will be terrible, but the police and the courts will not care. Your family will be without you for many years, and if you are their breadwinner, they will be destitute.
And even if the police arrest the teenager, he would likely only get a fine and time served, or something equally petty, for inflicting such terrible hurt on you and your family.
If a policeman raids your home, with or today, even without a warrant, or even if they are raiding the wrong house, and as they are terrifying your family, one of them guns down your friendly, loving dog, there is not a thing you can do about it. If you attack the officer, he will beat and maybe even kill you, or the other officers will. And if you successfully kill him, you will get life in prison or the state may decide to execute you.
Because he killed your dog. And they will not care at all about your dog. Or the pain inflicted on you and your family by its loss.
Because, in the opinion of the police, the law, and the courts, “it is just a dog”.
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