People who say this is what they did in Bibles times are wrong. Theft only carried the punishment of having to work to pay the debt off or repayment. It was in Babylonian culture that a thief was killed. As a Christian I believe human life is more important than property. It in not OK to kill to protect some jewelry, if the neighbors had been home that was one thing. But he should have stayed in his home like the cops said and wait for the police, Not say I am going to kill them, that was his intent, he didn’t even try to just injure them to protect. I would also question the idea they were coming at him. He shot them in the back, if someone is shot in the back they have to be running away.

Why is it that people think only whites can be racist? I am white and during the late 60′s I went to school at a predominately black junior high. I was targeted by several of the black students for violence, inappropriate contact, etc. because I was white.

I had straight A’s but my name was not submitted for the National Honor Society because, as my teacher stated to my mother, if she submitted a white person above the black students it would discourage the black students. So several black students who didn’t have grades as good as mine were submitted while my name was left off the list. Is that not racism? Did the black students not have the same opportunity as I had?

Racism is racism and treating ANY person unfairly due to the color of their skin is racist behavior. And as for “minorities”, in many areas (such as Pasadena, TX) whites are no longer the majority. As of the 2000 census, 48 percent of Pasadena’s population is Hispanic, which, when combined with other minority figures, makes the “non-white” population in Pasadena well over 50% leaving the white population at under 48%. Which makes whites a minority in Pasadena.

I have invested many hours and dollars in weapons training, education in state and federal gun law, and in obtaining proper registrations and permits in order to safely and legally carry a concealed weapon. I stand ready to defend myself, my family, my friends, and anyone facing significant physical harm. This is a weighty responsibility and represents one of the last true freedoms we have, the right to protect ourselves. I fully support the right of any person to use lethal force to protect themselves and others, but this also means that I fully support full investigations into “self-defense” killings, and, if warranted, full prosecution of those who abuse their responsibilities, either deliberately or out of ignorance or stupidity.

More guns = more guns in the hands of cold-blooded killers.

We agree on something?

…scary…..

People are basically fed up, and work too hard for what they get, and it may be a ripple effect across the nations… the more dire things become.. people will resort to many means of protecting themselves and looking out for their neighbors..

The average person.. is not bold enough to break into someone elses home, and start taking stuff.. so the criminal set’s themselves apart from the average person, when they cross that line.. to encroach, invade, and act without regard, in the commission of taking other people’s stuff.

America is a “Armed nation”… and with the volume of guns made daily, there will be many many more buyers of guns… and the makes will simply produce more..

the average person can go in any store and buy as many rounds of ammunition as they can carry out, and the store keeper, is only concerned to collect his % of profits from the sale.

Some States you can get a hand gun in a matter of hours, and some you can walk out with the shot-gun if you come in with cash or credit card in hand,… and they will sell you the shells to go with it.
Countries that don’t even allow their citizens to have weapons, sure make them to provide to the American consuming public.

There’s probably no reason that the so called average citizen needs an assualt weapon, but they can buy it, and probably can find it on the street corner if they want it immediately… and not one minute of breath has been utilized to change the makers or importers of the weapons..

There’s probably , two that go out the back door of the company that produces it, for every one that goes out the front door… otherwise there’d not be so many on the under market of the street scene for criminals to have such ease of accessibility to have it..

If ‘your’ state is so law an order, why do you have to execute SO MANY of your citizens????

Peace, Ro Ro, Peace

Being a black person in America, my reality has been solidified that a white man can pick up a gun, call authorities, tell the officials that he’s going to blow TWO people away, (persons that were of no immediate threat to him or anyone else at the time) and while being told not to do what he is anticipating, proceeds with malice, and such sense of entitlement to cock the gun and kill by shooting them, no less, in the back…AND GET AWAY WITH IT!! If he was seeking his Clint Eastwood moment, why did he not, at least, have enough balls to confront the “bad guys” face-to-face before shooting. Clint would never have shot someone in the back.

I am as fed up with the next person regarding the illegal situation, but I am also, and more so, angered at how Corporate America constantly lies and manipulates the truth and is screwing me over everyday, making it more and more difficult for me (single with no children to raise) to eek out a barely livable existence. I feel (Corporate America) owes me one of those big, fat (illegal) cigars after the @$%&. Illegals aren’t the only people committing crimes; the rich, the poor, the legal, the illegal, Blacks-Americans, White-American, Asian-American, Mexican-Americans, you name it. Everyone’s trying to survive in these tough times, no one is better than anyone else and because these two people were in the stage of committing a crime (of the next door neighbor’s home, when the neighbor is not even occupying the home) does not give anyone the right to kill someone by shooting them in the back, especially, AFTER being told not to do it. Would this same standard be upheld when, or if, a black man decides to shoot and kill a white person under the same or similar circumstance? I could be wrong, but, I seriously doubt it.

For all of you who think this is acceptable, look beyond your little world. If, for instance your child, just by circumstance, had joined some friends in a prank to rob a house, or your child was unfortunate enough to have to resort to committing a burglary because he needed to relieve that calling for drugs, or even, if this was a first time offense for your child…what justifies someone, anyone, maliciously and cowardly shooting them in the back and killing them. When this man cocked and shot his gun, he knew NOTHING about these two HUMAN BEINGS….and frankly he didn’t give a damn!!

But, in the north woods of Lower Michigan, late at night, as my father drove back to the parsonage down a dark country road, a young man rushed out into the road waving frantically. My father stopped. The boy was high on drugs and delusional. He didn’t offer any violence, although he kept insisting he had to have the car. My father didn’t give him the car until the boy threw our elderly dog out onto the shoulder. At that point, Daddy got out of the car.

Another man might have run the young man over. It was late night, on an unlit country road, although there were houses near by, and certainly I think I would have run him over rather than stop. But not my father. He said to me, “If it had been to defend you, your mother, or your brothers, I would have done it. But I could not take a life to save my own.”

So I think I know what the Christian answer should be, because I know what my father would have done if he had seen two men robbing a house. He might have tried to stop them physically, or to frighten them away–but he would not have hurt them to save a replaceable piece of property.

But, to shoot two burglars running away?

Are you kidding?

A white kid on Long Island was arguing with a black man on the black man’s front lawn and the black man shot the white kid dead. The white kid was an a-hole and deserved to have his a** kicked, but shot dead?

The white wasn’t trying to break into the black man’s home, the black man came out to confront the white.

If the black man had stayed in his home and called the police and the white tried getting in, fine, he has to protect himself and his family.

But to shoot someone because he is being an a-hole? Chirst, I would end up shooting most of the people I meet everyday! Including touch and many others posting on this blog.

This time he was lucky in that those he shot were crooks. What about the Asian kid a few years ago who was going to a party, went to the wrong home, was horsing around outside and was shot dead?

WTF kind of insanity is that?!

Has any other society allowed its citizens to kill each other the way the USA does?

Although I am against guns, that kind of mentality pushes me towards getting a gun.

What a country!

I again am disappointed that it has become increasingly more acceptable for people to take actions into their own hands, break the law and receive accolades or face no repercussions for their poor judgment. Now these two HUMANS are dead! There will be no jury to decide their fate, no opportunity for them to apologize for their actions and no chance for them to be rehabilitated.

To answer your questions… NO! There is no way I pull the trigger at two men running away from my neighbor’s house.

As an aside, my Great Uncle was a police detective in a crime-ridden city when I was a young boy. He once advised that, if I ever had to fire a weapon in self-defense, make sure that when it’s over, only one story will be told. I wonder if Mr. Horn had a Great Uncle, too?

All that being said, I support Mr. Horn’s response. I’d like to think that my neighbors would be as concerned about my home and property as Mr. Horn demonstrated he is.

There is a lot more to this story than robbery or killings. It reflects the frustration individuals have with crime in America. Our police services are overwhelmed, and cannot respond in a timely fashion. I was burglarized a few years ago between the time I left my shop and arrived home 3 minutes later. The sheriff received the call from the alarm company at the same time I did, but did not arrive on scene until 20 minutes after the call. Within 5 minutes of the alarm sounding, I was on scene, but the perps had already fled with $30,000 in merchandise.

An intresting note: as a law abiding citizen, my guns were locked up in safes at home and in the shop, and I would not have had time to retrieve one and defend my property. Crime happens in a heartbeat, therefore one must be prepared in advance.

Perhaps Mr. Horn did not make his decision in a snap. There is the distinct possibility that he had prepared in advance, trained with his firearm, and had planned responses in order.

Considering today’s climate of crime in our cities and rural areas, every law abiding, socially responsible person should apply for a CCW and carry a gun in order to support our law enforcement personnel. Then train, plan, and pray that our society will change for the better, so we won’t have to face the choice that Mr. Horn did.

What Horn did was 100% right, no doubt in my mind I would have done the same thing, and I’m a woman. Regardless of race, I would have done the same thing, it was invasion of my property, with intent to steal and potentially do harm. I agree it’s time for LEGAL Americans to take this country back from the thugs that pollute our country.

I do agree that Mr. Horn will have to live the rest of his live knowing that he ended two lives. This is something he will need to answer between him and God. However, I do not think he should be prosecuted for acting out what he though was right, at the time, because of our current society. He was not convicted and we need to let the man go on with his life.

Mr Horn knew of a certainty that if he called the police he would only have let the criminals get away. He knew that in the one-in-a-million chance they were caught and charged, some slick legal defense would get them off with a slap on the wrist. He knew that if his name were associated with calling in the crime, or heaven forbid identifying the criminals for the police, he could expect attacks in the night from the criminals or their friends.

He will probably be sued by these criminals’ famiilies for loss of income. That is why, out here in flyover country, we have a saying: Shoot, shovel and shut up.

Our criminal justice system, and I use the term loosely, is broken. I am seriously sorry it has gotten to this point, but anyone who takes these criminals permanently out of the population is a hero in my view.

The point here is that when you enable everyday citizens to take the law into thier own hands (and lives with it) you are going to have to bet that things are going to get nasty. We’d like to think people will make good decisions, but let’s face it…the news everyday shows us that we make bad decisions all the time. Do you really want to trust some of these people out there if they have been given the green light to shoot when THEY think it is justified? I think I will take my chances with the men and woman who get paid to serve and protect!

I also want to comment on the cops killing the man in jail. The same principal applies here. If the man had not stolen the care then the cop and he both would still be alive. I know some folks including those in the media are turning this into a black/white issue which upsets me beyond belief. Why would the FBI be investigating it as a civil writes case? Why isn’t it just Some guy killed a cop so the cops killed him? Everyone in my generation including myself want to get beyond race in America. I am a white american and could care less the race of the guy next to me I might call friend of foe. If I see a black man or woman walking down the street bobin and weaving I would think man hes a criminal. If I see a white guy or girl doing the same thing and acting the same way the thought would be the same.

Until the media and the older generation “30 and over” get over themselves both white and black this country is not going to move on. When the cops in my town a few years back killed a guy in jail we had 1 local camera crew on the scene EXPLAIN THAT!

I will say that there are situations in which I would make the decision to take another life. If the life’s of my loved ones or myself were being threatened, I would act. If the life of a stranger was being threatened, I would act. But always with the realization that any act that ends the life of another cannot be taken back. What is the worth of a life? That is the real question here.

And I think he has more legal problems on the horizon … I figure the next of kin will be filing a wrongful death lawsuit before the year is out.

Your absolute surly depiction of Mr. Horn’s actions make it appear that he recklessly took the law into his own hands without any rights as a citizen to do so and that the consequences were entirely uncessesary.

Furthermore, it has not been beyond the capacity of thieves to kill when discovered or prevented from escaping, even to thrill kill if their predilections are suited for such an act. So don’t sit on your wide plateau in your gated community and believe for an instant that you have the clout or the wisdom to tell the rest of us how we need to proceed as citizens in the protection of what we work hard to obtain and do our best to protect.

We will not be pillaged, intimidated, fearful or otherwise detered from drawing the line where this matter is concerned. Joe Horn is one of the few people who hasn’t become apathetic and cowering to the likes of the sentiments you express Mr. Martin. I applaude his actions and if I were in his place, would not hesitate to act similarly in protecting my own property or that of a third person if necessary.

You’re an arrogant baffoon Mr. Martin and the only award-winning aspect of your character that I can find consensus with is the demonstrated proof that journalists rank equal among used car salesman.

Aside from all of that, your appearance is repugnant. Doing something about it.

John

I am President of my neighborhood board. You need to do the work to get your neighbors evicted, not just call on the police to take care of the problem for you.

Taking back the country from thugs means doing the work to improve the legal system, not shooting robbers in the back.

Taking back our country from lousy politicians means doing the work to become involved with the party system, to register to vote, and actually going to vote in the rain or cold.

Research demonstrates that a history of burglaries is the best predictor of future violence against persons among criminals.

Diego Ortiz, 30, and Hernando Riascos Torres, 38 were carrying a sack with more than $2,000 cash and jewelry taken from the home. Both were convicted criminals from Colombia who had entered the country illegally, both were members of an organized burglary ring in Houston, and Torres had been previously sent to prison for dealing cocaine and was deported.

The fact that they advanced and then tried to abscond facing a shotgun demonstrates their reckless regard for life and limb.

There is little doubt in my mind that Horn probably saved the life of some future victim of one or both of them.

What intrigues me more is how OK I am with Mr. Horn. Sure he killed a pair of men. But I do not feel bad about it. For goodness sake I hope it deters another similar case. It is not hard to imagine that crime drops around Mr. Horns house for the forseeable future. The challenging question is WHY am I at ease with this.

In short, I believe our judicial system is flawed. Vigilante justice is not the answer but sometimes taking matters into ones own hands solves the challenges of many. Mr Horn will likely live with regret and perhaps see the end of his days marred by the decision he made. However, the choice to act ended well. Should he have wounded them I’d bet the criminals and their families would have wound up rich from the system that is designed to protect us from them. The laywers are probably disappointed.

In summary, I could not ahve pulled the trigger. Mr Horn is no more a criminal than a hero in my mind and he will suffer the emotional scars. Neverthelss, in a USA where lawyers make spilled coffee in to millions imagine what could have happened should either or both of the men lived. Thank Ms. Liberty they were killed or Mr Horn would have become a US paycheck for foreign criminals that invaded our country and attempted to steal a life someone else paid for.

Neither of these men should have been in this country to begin with.

If this had happened in the liberal northeastern U.S., there would be candlelight vigils for the thugs, and cry to hang Mr. Horn. Don’t mess with Texas.

Perhaps Mr. Horn was in need of some personal retribution for past crimes of which he’d been victim.

No, honestly I probably would not be able to fire on these men. But, I am certainly glad there are people who have the courage to do this. What would happen if the “bad guys” thought the “good guys” would never retaliate for crimes against them? What many people don’t understand is that the “bad guys” don’t think like the “good guys” and sometimes you must use force against them. That’s all they understand. They don’t understand compassion or sympathy or they wouldn’t be robbing you in the first place. I think that is one of the problems with our criminal justice system. Most criminals don’t really think they will be prosecuted for their crimes. It only takes a few examples of citizens defending themselves to make a someone think twice about robbing their homes.

I think the grand jury is absolutely wrong in this case, not to have indicted this man. There was no imminent danger to himself, or his property; he should have had no right to fire upon them.

It’s ironic that people vote for Republicans to feel safe, yet complain about crime and safety and how their elected officials do nothing…but that’s not where I want to go right now.

This is America and we operate under the presumption of innocence unless you are a member of a soci-economically disadvantaged community. This guy is instructed to NOT go anywhere. The question we should be asking is what would a REASONABLE individual do. The answer is alert the authorities and accept instructions from them, otherwise why bother to call them? Even the police don’t shoot without some type of warning. This guy opens fire with intent to kill, not to protect/defend property

Only problem is I live in California where the bad guys are right and the good guys go to jail.