If you'll remember the story, Joe Horn, a 61-year-old Pasadena, Tex., resident spotted two burglars breaking into his neighbor's home in Nov. 2007. He dialed 911, but despite being warned to stay in his home, he declared that he has a right to use deadly force to defend his neighbor's property and that he was going to confront the robbers.He does just that and then shoots them in their backs, killing them. A huge controversy ensued over whether he should stand trial in the deaths of do RiascosDiego Ortiz, 30, and Hernan Torres, 38, both Columbian immigrants.
Yesterday, a grand jury cleared him of all wrongdoing. Score another one for the gun nuts.
On Tuesday, family and activists called the killing "premeditated murder." ...
I'm not defending the two men who robbed the neighbor's home of about $2,000 in jewelry and cash. But was this worth their lives? These men were not armed, and they posed no threat to Horn, although he claims that they came into his yard.
But if you hear the 911 tapes, Horn was warned to stay in his home and let the police handle the issue. He ignored the dispatcher's orders and if you listen to the tapes you'll see that he had every intention of killing those men.
Even though Horn has expressed regret over the incident, there are supporters who swear Horn should have sawed the men's heads off and impaled them on a lamppost at the edge of his driveway. These are the people who I lose sleep over.
These are the people who love guns far more than they love anything else and are waiting for their chance to kill someone, and far too often they are looking for a nonwhite in order to get their chance. For example, the 1992 killing of Yoshihiro Hattori, a 16-year-old Japanese exchange student in Baton Rouge, La., who simply rang the wrong doorbell when looking for a Halloween party. The homeowner, Rodney Peairs, opened fire on Hattori, mortally wounding him. Peairs was later acquitted under a Louisiana law, similar to one in Texas that allows people to shoot burglars if they feel threatened.
Here's my question: If people like Horn and Peairs -- who are white -- can shoot people they feel threatened by, why is it that John White, a Long Island, N.Y., man -- who is black -- gets a jail term for defending his home when he thought a mob was coming to harm his son, which also resulted in a death.
None of the losses of life are right. The deaths are senseless, and could have been avoided if cooler heads had prevailed. But in Horn's case, he had no intention of calming down. He took the law into his own hands and now, with a Supreme Court gun decision having just passed, every firearm freak in the country will feel emboldened.
Well, here's what I have to say to them: a person who would shoot someone because they feel a gun empowers them is a sociopath with a murderous mentality. It has nothing to do with self defense, it is the mark of a weak person who would feel castrated without having a gun somewhere in their vicinity.
Point blank: If you actually love your gun, you're a punk. It takes a man to preserve life. It takes a weakling to snuff it out.
Horn, by his own admission, is an eternal victim of his weak moment.
Comments: (98)
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By: P.R. Garrison on 7/02/2008 10:16AM
You couldn't be more wrong on almost every point you made with the possible exception of the John White case you referenced as I am not familiar with that case. First of all, gun owners for the most part are not "gun nuts". We are simply law abiding citizens who realize that protecting ourselves, our families, and our property (which we worked hard to earn) is our responsibility to protect. The police (as the supreme court has pointed out) have no obligation or the resources required to protect citizens. The police no more prevent crime than firefighters prevent fires. They can only react. It is the responsibility and duty of the citizen to protect themselves, their families and what is their's.
These 2 pieces of trash who were killed were not murdered. The Castle doctrine in Texas(which should be adopted by other states if they want to see crime rates drop) put Joe Horn well within his right to take the action he took. Furthermore, as John Lott's book More Guns, Less Crime points out, municipalities which allow their citizens to carry firearms, have...less crime.
When thugs start to realize that committing crimes is gambling with their own lives, perhaps then they will be less eager to come to this country illegally and then attempt to victimize this country's citizens.
Joe Horn should receive a medal.
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By: Bernard on 7/02/2008 10:14AM
I wish he would move into my neighborhood.
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By: Dr ,B on 7/02/2008 10:33AM
This is so sad that a man can shoot two men in the back and be cleared. The men were not bothering him and they were leaving. Yes its wrong to rob, but some one to come out and kill someone like they were an animal and the black man defending himself to go to jail for defending his family. There is just no justic in America in the legal system. I sat in Court in CHesterfield , Va, an saw a white man speeding almost 100 miles a hour have his speeding reduced and laugh and joke with every working in the courts and leave out the day with a slap on the wrist and a young black man almost put in jail and pleaded with no criminal record for a license just to go to work and he was denied and the book thrown at him.
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By: RWG on 7/02/2008 4:16PM
Where are the right-to-lifers now? Where are those who oppose abortion, who say every one has a right to life? Why aren't they protesting this decision? These men may not have been role models, but didn't they have a right to life? Who is this person that he could snuff out their lives and walk away with impunity, without even giving them a chance to defend themselves? They were burglarizing a house, they weren't killing anyone. And how is it that this man has taken away their constitutional right to life, and he himself walks away unscathed by the judicial system? Just another example of "everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others."
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By: Dr ,B on 7/02/2008 10:34AM
This man should be charged with double murder and put in jail , it was a mean , cruel act, I listened to the 911 tape and he almost thought it was a joke killing two people like an animal, yes they should not be robbing but let the police and the courts handle this even thru Justic is not found in our courts if you are poor and Black. This was senseless and a man of his age should have had more sense and widsom.
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By: Stan Neubert on 7/02/2008 10:46AM
Two less criminals (not animals)we have to worry about.
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By: BETTYEJ on 7/02/2008 11:13AM
They can call it anything they want, but the man killed two people . I am from Texas and believe that the Law is getting out of hand. This is just a example of what is to come. Let's see what will happen when the race is reversed.
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By: Ronald on 7/02/2008 11:41AM
One thing we should keep in mind. It was a grand jury that acquitted him. That takes care of the criminal part of the case. There is the civil part of the case that remains to come. Sometimes I believe that the worst way you can hurt a person in this day and age is to take away their monies. I realize it is almost no consolation to a family, but it causes the person paying to give a lot more thought to their actions. I might add that it doesn't surprise me that it happened in Texas. Heaven help us all.
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By: Andrew on 7/02/2008 12:05PM
Perhaps rather than focusing on the color of the individuals involved, you should focus on the jurisdictions where the shootings occurred. TX has long be a gun friendly state, and NY just the opposite, especially in the city. Citizen ownership of firearms is much greater in Houston than in NY City, and the makeup of juries, prosecutors, and mindset differ greatly.
Why are the acts of such men as Mr. Horn questioned, when the two burglars made their choices to live lives of crime long before? They had every opportunity to comply with the law, and refused to do so. Burglary is a very hazardous activity, as it involves the invasion of another person's home. Don't tell me they didn't know the risks they were taking.
Let's put the focus where it should be.... on the acts of the criminals.
Andy
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By: Louise on 7/02/2008 2:30PM
My whole issue with the situation is that the 911 operater begged and pleaded with this man that he should stay inside...DO NOT GO OUTSIDE..THE POLICE WILL HANDLE IT, THEY ARE ON THE WAY. Now for him to hear the 911 opearting instructing him not go get involed....what does he do instead. Cock his gun and THEN ask the 911 operating DO YOU HEAR THE GUN CLICKING, AND IMMA GOING. He should have been punished. I know that the men who were killed were committing a crime but that does not justify his actions.
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