[airspirit]

The big fallacy of the anti-capital punishment crowd is that the government is doing something just as evil as the murderer when they execute them. This is sheer and utter BS. In killing an innocent member of that society, that murderer gave up their rights to life. When the government executes a known murderer, they are not doing the same thing because they are not killing an innocent. By removing the life from that killer, they are doing society the greatest favor they can by removing that killer FOREVER from free circulation, and ensuring that I, as a taxpayer, am not paying for his stay at the Hilton Penitentiary. A person who kills an innocent does not deserve to live for they willingly, and knowingly gave up those rights (who doesn't know that there is a death penalty?).

On the other hand, somebody that kills in defense is justified in doing so. If somebody breaks into your house, you don't know if they have a weapon, you don't know if they have friends, and you don't know what their motivations are. I'd rather look back in hindsight and say "Well, the poor bugger just wanted to take my TV and eat my dog, maybe that wasn't so bad, but he shouldn't have picked my house" than to say, "Gee, I wish I would have shot that bastard before he raped my wife and daughter, killed my sons out of perverse glee, and stole my new water block #Rotor shipped me." You see, if you're in your own home and on the right side of the law, and that intruder has no legal business in your home, it is wise to assume that since he is in violation of the law, he's probably a bad guy, and it is best to take the ultimate step in protecting yourself. It is because of the "IFs" in the situation that you should kill first and ask questions later.

At any rate, when I was younger I found a box of shotgun shells in the woods during hunting season. I thought about it a while, and build a simple zip gun out of lead pipe and fittings, a drill, a nail, a slingshot, and a carved length of 2x4. Though it was explicitly single shot (you had to unscrew the barrel to reload it) and it was difficult to fire (a chunk of metal was attached to the slingshot strap and it had to be pulled back pretty far to fire it), it was quite an effective gun. I blasted through the entire box of shells knocking apart old rotten stumps and bottles, and then dismantled the thing and hid the homemade stock. Nobody was ever the wiser. The moral of the story is that if a smart 12 year old can make his own firearms, no amount of regulation is going to keep guns out of the hands of determined criminals with infinitely more resources than some kid out in the woods had. It has been said that if it was illegal to own guns, only criminals will have them, and it is very true. I'd rather have the law abiding public keep access to a form of self defense than turn us into a herd of sheep (though we already seen to be a land of sheeple here in the US, some of us still have some bristles left) waiting to be shorn by whatever nut job feels like it. In the western states, especially, there isn't usually time to wait until the nearest officer who is 15 miles away comes running to the rescue ... you have the imperative to defend yourself and your own. I feel sorry for those that are unable due to laws or unwilling due to cowardice or misapplied ethics to defend themselves. Hopefully you will never have the need to raise a weapon in defense of yourself or your family, but if the need ever arises, you'll probably all be dead.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a crazy "Killemall!!!!" type mofo, but I'm not crazy enough to believe that our pussified law enforcement system that has been deballed due to polical correctness and tolerance of diversity can adequately protect me. Around the nation you have political apointees running our law enforcement agencies that have no clue about how to really protect their constituents, and prevent the cops on the streets from doing anything to help anyone. God help you if you're a young white male anymore in most of the country ... you're the only one that they're allowed to pull over or question. Anything else is racism. Personally, I feel secure in knowing that if I ever hear breaking glass or a creaking door at 2AM, I'm going to have the means to take one more dirtbag off the street for good. Maybe it'll be the one that would have killed your family the next day.