Guns and Crime Control
By Rob Morse. May 2, 2024
Article Source
A woman found a man who had broken into her home. She shot the intruder in order to protect herself. The intruder died at the scene. There are good reasons to have sympathy for both the attacker and the defender.
This homeowner heard glass breaking at five in the morning. She also heard another noise coming from her basement. It was dark outside. The homeowner armed herself. She opened the inside door that went down to her basement. There, she found a stranger inside her home. She shot him and then she called 911 for help. She remained at the scene and gave a statement to the police. The intruder broke into the home through a small ground-level window. The window was located in a narrow alleyway between two homes. The intruder died from his injuries.
Laws matter. The homeowner lived in Pennsylvania. Like many other states, Pennsylvania has castle doctrine laws. That means that an intruder is assumed to be engaged in criminal activity and the homeowner has a right to use force, including deadly force, to defend herself and other innocent parties. What she did was legal. It was not best practice.
I've written about hundreds of similar incidents. In some of those cases the intruder was armed. It is entirely understandable to want to find out what is happening in your home. We do not want to turn on the upstairs lights and then open the door to a dark basement. We're looking into a dark basement and form a clear silhouette as we stand in the doorway. That means the bad guy can see us and we can't see him as he hides in the dark. Walking down the stairs is like walking down a hallway in that we can't move out of the way or find a place to hide. Those situations are dangerous. They are also predictable and avoidable.
In theory, it is safer to lock our bedroom door and call 911. Let the police arrest the intruder. I describe that as theory because some police departments won't or can't respond in a timely manner. Maybe your family situation won't let you hide.
Note that the police probably wouldn't walk down those stairs to get the intruder. They would call for the intruder to come out or they would send a dog down the stairs. The police have to face this situation on a regular basis. We can learn from them.
If the police can't respond then I understand that you are on your own. Even if it took the police an hour to arrive, is it be better to spend that hour worrying as you sit in your neighbor's kitchen, or is it better to face the possibility of a fight in your dark basement? I'd vote for tea and worry, but you might not. Please think about it now before it happens in the middle of the night.
Few of us live normal lives and then suddenly decide to break into a stranger's home. That isn't how crime works. Criminals have habits. Most criminals have addiction or mental health problems. Most people who commit assault are intoxicated. Treating those issues is expensive but it is effective at reducing crime. It is an uncomfortable fact that some people will refuse treatment.
Many police departments are the major local provider of emergency mental health services. Those programs were often cut back or eliminated when cities and counties recently defunded the police.
Social services are not a panacea. They won't stop every criminal. Some criminals see us as prey. They will use force to take what they want. If we're lucky, these criminals only want what we have. If we're unlucky, then the criminal enjoys the feeling of superiority they feel as they dominate their victim. I don't know which type of criminal this female homeowner faced.
I'm glad she was armed. I also want us to learn from her so we make the best choices in a difficult moment. Have a plan and walk through your safety plan with everyone who lives in your home. Where do you keep you phone at night?
Rob Morse wrote and recorded about armed defense for almost a decade.
