@MontereyJack,
MontereyJack wrote:okay, fire extinguishers as emergency equipment, I can get behind that. Spray it on the idiot with the assault rifle. Big enough fire extinguisher, enough foam, blind him, whap him with the extinguisher's cylinder, take away the gun. Situation under control. Next time, install a metal detector in your doorway, don't let the loon with the gun near the Christmas tree.
I dissent from your relative pacifism.
If a toxic snake (rattler or cobra) enters my nabor's house
and nabor kills him or her,
then the whole naborhood is safe from that snake.
If my nabor simply evicts the snake,
he loses him or her upon the world, endangering the entire area.
That principle applies equally to
human predators.
If my nabor
KILLS a burglar,
he thereby does
ME and everyone else a
good and valuable service,
in that I am no longer endangered by that criminal because he is
defunct,
but if my nabor is satisfied to smack him with a fire extinguisher,
leaving him alive, then I remain exposed to future danger.
Therefore: I support my nabor's
ENDing the threat.
I'd shake his hand and celebrate!
Maybe give him a nice reward for killing the burglar,
like a wallet full of money.
It is unwise to preserve a threat intact.
David
