Quote:
|
Originally Posted by KingEdward
there is no moral duty to retreat.
|
is too.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Playboypenguin
I kind of agree but I also kind of think there is a responsibility of a citizen to look out for his/her community. I just do not think they should take it as far as to appoint themselves judge, jury, and executioner. Some people's comments have come very close to conveying that sentiment. Even LEO's do not have that authority.
|
Well said, PBP. And I'd add that there are any number of ways for citizens to look out for their communities: volunteer to... help at-risk kids, work at a homeless shelter or food pantry, be a guardian
ad litem, teach hunter safety classes for the DNR, deliver Meals on Wheels, give blood... the list is endless.
If someone wants to help their community, they ought to be doing some form of community service along these lines. If they're not, and they just fantasize about "taking criminals off the streets," or whatever, I have serious questions about their real motivation. (This isn't directed at you, PBP -- I remember your thread about trying to enlist as a Big Brother, as I think it was?)
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Sparks2112
... I'm saying that we exercise our right to self defense first, not last
|
But your right to self-defense is no more than that: a right to protect yourself, not to harm others without needing to do so. If retreating is an effective way to protect yourself, you've just exercised that right.
Quote:
|
My position is that if conditions exist where you can legally shoot someone then conditions also exist where there is an obligation to make sure no one else is hurt through your own inaction.
|
But there is also an obligation to make sure,
if possible, that no one else is hurt through your own
action; and that should include the person who is threatening you, if you can protect yourself by other means than the use of deadly force. We can't see into the future, to know who's going to go on to kill someone and who isn't. And as PBP said, we aren't entitled to appoint ourselves executioners.