Why not here?

[TX Rancher]

The professionals WERE called and said they could do nothing.

Who else do you call? How many times do you pass the buck on who is responsible for your own safety and liberty?

Others are not responsible for our safety.
(see: http://www.gunowners.org/sk0503.htm)

>>YOU<< and you alone are responsible for your own safety. To give that responsibility up is to take one giant leap toward tyranny. It seems like tyranny is already upon them. It's time to step up to the plate and fight for liberty and the freedom to pursue of your own happiness.

I think one issue that we're having in this discussion is that we've diverged into several different sub-threads focused on different scenarios and different responses are appropriate to each.

Regarding this scenario specifically, I agree with GlockenHammer. Being responsible for one's own safety does not translate to vigilantism. Texas law makes no provisions for those out seeking retribution, or taking the law into their own hands. Like it or not, we are not peace officers, and owning and carrying a gun doesn't make it ok for us to go out and clean up the streets.


This is *not* however, the same as the situation in the original article, where members of your party, your wife and your friends are being actively attacked. I don't think that we can say from this distance whether or not retreat may have been a better option for them. It may have been, it may not have been. Once one is under attack, however, I certainly *do* agree that it is entirely your responsibility to protect yourself the ones that you love.

WELL STATED!!!

I agree with LedJedi that the initial defense of my family and myself will probably rest with me. Not the “professionals�…

I agree with GlockenHammer / Xander that vigilante is not the lawful answer…at that point in time, you become criminal yourself…

But I think what Venus was putting forward is little more then a Community Watch scenario…a way for the locals to start impacting crime in their neighborhood…certainly not “vigilante� in nature.

So it appears we do indeed have several discussions going on at the same time as Xander pointed out.

In regards to the direction Venus was taking, one of the questions would be should the neighborhood watch folks be armed, and if so, what are their responsibilities?

To me, the fact that they are performing duties as neighborhood watch should not impact their right to carry under the law.

I also believe their response to unlawful activities is not changed by their membership in the watch. If the use of their weapon is justified under the law, then they have every right to bring it into action…all the way up to deadly force.

The membership in the watch organization neither gives them additional protection/authority under the law, or takes away any of their citizen rights. They are still citizens with a right to defense as defined in the law.

[RPBrown]

As a charter member of our neighborhood watch group, I helped write the rules to be a member.

One of the rules that was established was if you had a CHL, you were allowed to carry while on patrol. However, It was to remained concealed unless your life were in danger After all, we are not LEO, we are a watch group.

Now, 93% of our watch group have their CHL and carry on patrol. This has been 8 years now and not once has anyone in our group had to pull their weapon. We always patrol in pairs, some on foot and some in cars, 12 at a time for a 15 square block area.

Now as for the scenario given, I have to agree, why walk into trouble? If I were to come upon this, a call to 911 but would not interfere as all of the facts are not known.

If, however one of the victims were my wife or another family member, all bets are off.

As stated above, those that have not been to Charles' deadly force seminar, you need to find a way to get to one. It's very enlightening.