Re: Joe Horn?
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Now, just to preempt the analogyphobes, I'm not saying rape or murder = home invasion. I'm merely pointing out that protecting people from being victimized is also a legitimate reason to use force.
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Shooting someone (I think) necessarily = using force
Using force != shooting someone
Right?
There's "using force" to stop your neighbor's house from being robbed, and then there "taking your shotgun and blowing the guys away who are robbing your neighbor's house". I think there's probably some distance in between these two options, and I think Horn's utilizing of the extreme end of the force spectrum is probably what most people object to. Had he went over there just to threaten the guys with his gun (in other words, "using force to protecting people from being victimized") instead of opening firing on unarmed guys, this probably isn't a notable story.
That the guy was ostensibly doing something "nice" and "admirable" by "protect his neighbors from being victimized" doesn't give him license to use the most extreme and irreversible measures of force to do it.
I agree, it's probably legitimate for people to "use force to protect their neighbors property", but that's just a vague euphemism for what occurred here, hence why you rightly recognized you should be wary of using analogies here. There's a reason why people should be hesitant to rely too heavily on analogies and it's because they often obscure vital elements necessary to cast a prudent judgment. Yes, Horn "used force", true enough -- it was a specific kind of deadly force that (in light of the fact the guys were unarmed and not threatening Horn himself) was completely unnecessary. We can claim "well, maybe he didn't know the guys were unarmed", but he'd still be guilty of some kind of gross negligence or yes, even murder, for making a mistake like that. I don't think reasonable people operate under the "shoot first, ask questions later" principle.
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While I agree with your point about force, this man was 60 something years old and the two robbers, i'm guessing, were much younger. What type of force do you think this man would be able to employ that would effectively stop the two robbers with out using a gun? Unless he was Mr. Miogi I doubt he could have overtaken them. So should he have left his home in the first place if his only means to stop the theives was deadly force? I don't know. I certainly don't fault him for it though.
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