But what if!!!
Posted on 11/13/2018 10:59:09 AM PST by yesthatjallen
You’re that confident that you won’t hit anything down range when firing over someone’s head? There is no circumstance in which one should fire a “warning shot”. Period.
He wanted to scare off who he perceived as a burglar. I still don’t see what he did was wrong. It’s his house for crying out loud.
“You’re assuming the kid’s story is true, but you honestly buy the story of he missed the bus and got lost to school?”
Perhaps the jury believed the kid’s story, but his story is irrelevant.
He in no way showed that he was a threat to the perp.
I can’t say whether the guy was aiming to hit the kid or firing a warning shot but he had the gun leveled when he fired, the muzzle was not elevated.
The guy is an idiot for even attempting to fire at the kid running away.
Disagree. Firing a shot over a kid's head seems quite reasonable to me. The message is "Don't come back."
Additionally, let's not forget that the standard to be imposed in the accused in such a situation is supposed to be "would a reasonable person act in the same way, given their state of mind at that moment?". A jury might well find that the homeowner failed that test—notwithstanding the wife's clear overreaction to the situation.
I can't see the video, but someone else who did said that it didn't look like he fired the gun on purpose. Accidental discharge is a different animal. I actually find that more offensive than a deliberate discharge intentionally aimed away.
"Let the punishment fit the crime"; in this instance I am of the opinion that the penalty imposed was too severe...
What does it cost to keep an inmate nowadays? Isn't it like $40,000/year? They are going to spend a minimum of $160,000 to keep this guy locked up?
Stupid.
My best friend from High School was black, and he was constantly seeing racism everywhere. It didn't matter what it was, his first reaction was "RACISM!" I've known a lot of black people who did not act like this, but i've known a few who did. Some of them just want to see everything bad that happens as an act of racism. They want to impart a racist motivation to things.
All other considerations are pushed aside for their preferred narrative. I've seen it many times, and it's just the way some people are.
"...It’s his house, for crying out loud..."
Yes. Shotgun pellets lose effective velocity within a relatively short distance. Shoot into the air, and by the time they come down they are pretty much harmless.
CORRECT! The kid was out of range of the shotgun and the gun owner knew it. He was trying to scare him and his buddies. No one was injured.
I can't see the video, so I don't know. What I do know is that it's not hard to hit someone with a shotgun if you are of a mind to do it.
Someone else said it looked like he accidentally discharged it with his finger on the trigger when he was raising it. I am more angry about an accidental discharge than a deliberate miss.
Being careless with a deadly weapon is more offensive than harmlessly using it to scare someone.
I can buy the argument that the guy might need a little jail time, but a four to ten year felony charge? That's insane. 30 days in jail, tops.
Agree. Like another poster said, some far smaller time should have been enough. I can’t see someone getting off with nothing for shooting a weapon at someone unless it was a complete accident, and even then, there should probably be jail time for stupidity alone in that case.
"...I can’t see the video, so I don’t know..."
Sigh. I try to keep an open mind on these things, because getting burglarized is an extremely traumatic thing for a lot of people...but shooting at someone as they are running away is always going to get you screwed in today’s world.
No question about it.
Oh, I agree with the jail time for accidentally discharging a fire arm. Carelessness with a deadly weapon can get someone killed. I can even see jail time for firing the gun in the city limits under these circumstances.
Four to ten and a felony? Way over the top. Way too much.
Agreed. I just watched the video, and there was nothing accidental about that though. The kid saw him coming to the door with a gun and took off.
I agree with you on the sentence, the judge went way too far.
It was a bad shoot.
Except possibly in Louisiana.
But what if!!!
I apologize. I take it back. The video with that article was edited.
I found the whole video. He did knock & step back a couple of times.
https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/1050186925716443137
“Anyone that believes this kid “missed the bus” and “was just asking for directions” is too gullible to live much longer in this country.”
I live in this area (20 minutes away) and have watched the local news & video. Sorry, but it’s pretty apparent this was a young school kid with a back pack that was lost. The guy should have NOT even leveled the gun against the kid much less had his finger near the trigger as he did it after the kid was running away. You could chalk it up to a temporary severe lapse in judgement, attribute the previous break-ins as contributing factors and possibly his age towards a bad decision, but it was definitely that - a BAD decision to be lighting off a shotgun in a suburban neighborhood like that with a kid running away.
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