It's real simple. You broke in. I'm not going to take a chance with my or my family's safety by using anything less than lethal force. It's your safety against mine. And you lost the right to yours when you crossed my threshold.
Because I don't think he's coming at me with a knife to help me butter my toast.
It's real simple. You broke in. I'm not going to take a chance with my or my family's safety by using anything less than lethal force. It's your safety against mine. And you lost the right to yours when you crossed my threshold.
OK fair enough, so going with that, why do you make the jump from going after you with a weapon to trying to kill you.
Why the #@$@ would someone go after you with a weapon without the intent to kill you... seriously...
Why is your safety being threatened the moment the door opens?
when any stranger enters your house without permission imo.
Why is your safety being threatened the moment the door opens?
So is it based on past experience with people with knives or is it based on statistics for home invasion... or what?
Yes hurt you to the point where you bleed to death...To hurt you?
Based on common sense.
Someone has broken into my house, I'm locked in my bathroom or whatever, he kicks the door of that room open and has a knife. That person is trying awfully hard to look the part of a murderer.
I guess he could be just wanting to hurt me, as you put it (which would not be acceptable to me either, I'd shoot him). But, can I afford to be wrong if I choose not to defend myself or use less than as the most effective way I have in my means to stop the threat? At what point do I decide that this person wants me dead, after he plunges the knife into me?
Yes hurt you to the point where you bleed to death...
That's what this thread is about, read the OP go with that situation, answer the poll and tell me at what point you decide.
Potentially.
By being in my home uninvited you are a threat to my life and will be killed, without warning. You WILL be killed. They committed a crime just by being in my home.
That potential to do so to you is why they instantly forfeit their life in such circumstances.
I see you are trying to hold to the Aristotelian view that all logical arguments can be reduced to two premises and a conclusion. However, you need to go re-learn what a premise is. In your "premise" number one, you actually have closer to 10 premises.
I agree that they have committed a crime, but why is a man standing in your kitchen, while you are upstairs a threat to your life?
Because they know they could be killed by doing so, and yet still entered. That means they are prepared to die and somebody that doesn't care about living is capable of anything.
Remember, their choice to die was theirs and theirs alone. My reaction is automatic.
OK so are there situations where you could potentially be killed and wouldn't react like this? Or is it all situations where a person could potentially kill you? Is it when statistically it becomes more probable, if so how probable?
Not really no. Being a normal person it is pretty easy to see someones intent. If they come towards me with a lethal weapon their life is forfeit as simple as that. At least if told to keep distance and they don't.
Just playing the odds, I'm almost certain that the base rate of violent behavior in individuals willing to break and enter a home is significantly higher than that in most other populations. Thus, by showing that he/she belongs to the population of individuals willing to break into a home, the intruder is already placed into a much, much higher risk category.
Would I shoot the intruder if he saw me, froze, turned, and ran? No. However, I am going to approach the situation a LOT more cautiously, and my doubt threshold will be significantly lowered. Thus, the amount of uncertainty I'm willing to tolerate before making the assumption that this person means me bodily harm would be much, much lower than it would in many other situations.
In the end, I value my life more than an intruder's simply because I've never, nor would I ever, break into a house. I realize that by doing so, I would lump myself in with the group of individuals who are more likely to commit violent offenses. The only true way we have of judging and being judged is by our actions. If someone breaks into your home, they're accepting that they will be judged by that action.
You want your life respected,you knock on my door.You kick my door in you forfeit that right