Spooky noises and things that go bump in the night

[Petro]

On Thursday, January 10, 2002, at 08:51 PM, jamesd at echeque.com wrote:
> On Monday, January 7, 2002, at 04:11 PM, Tim May wrote:
>>> I think it is a moral necessity to kill anyone trying to
>>> steal anything (beyond the utterly trivial or confusable,
>>> e.g., one should not kill someone picking up a toy left
>>> out in the yard...might be a mistake, he might be trying
>>> to return it, etc.). Someone stealing a television or PC
>>> has certainly earned killing.
> On Monday, January 7, 2002, at 12:39 AM, Petro wrote:
>> 	Given the legal hassle that one will face if one
>> 	does that, it's just not worth it.
>
> Legal hassle depends on where you live.  Most places,
> provided the burglar is inside, no problem.  If lives long

	No, it doesn't. In the places where most people live, if you shoot a 
burglar in your home, you *will* call your lawyer if you've got half a 
brain in your head (talk to the cops about a shooting *without* one? Are 
you nuts?), you will probably go downtown, at least to get booked, and you 
might spend some time (measured in hours) behind bars.
	
	You've just shot (and if you're any good killed) someone--the fourth 
worst crime in the books (after using ethnic slurs, making sexist comments,
  and being mean to poor people by wanting to keep your hard earned 
money)--unless the police know you, they are likely to do it just to make 
sure you're not the burglar who got the drop on the home owner.

	Then there is the family of the deceased. You're a big fat target for 
a civil suit, and if the family cannot afford a lawyer, one will be 
appointed to them by the Brady Campaign against Civil Rights.

> enough to get outside, drag the body back inside, and rinse
> away the blood.  Police will not be interested in finding the
> evidence that he made it outside.

	Where do you live that the cops are that stupid and lazy?

--
"Those without creative minds and agile fingers are of course
welcome to hurry up with my fries. And they'll probably use
a GUI to take my order, too."
- Tom Christiansen