Canadian defends self in home burglary with a knife

[CrimsonSoul]

And he MIGHT be facing charges for it because it is unclear if the burglar had a weapon

This past Sunday, Corey Blaskie was found stabbed to death in someone else's home. According to reports, Blaskie was attempting to break into the strangers' home; when police arrived, the father and son who lived there were fine, but Blaskie was dead.

Details about the incident are still shaky — we have no confirmation as to how the confrontation started, who was armed, and what course of action was taken by the homeowners before the burglar was stabbed — and the consequences are still unknown. An investigation is ongoing, and there are chances that the homeowner may face charges.

The moral grounds around the incident are nebulous. Blaskie should never have been trying to break into the home, but does that transgression mean that any harm that comes to him isn't malicious? The homeowner may have felt threatened, but does that exempt him from rules around killing another man? Is harming someone else, even killing them, considered self-defence when it is property being harmed and not the individual themselves?

The Ontario Court of Appeal recently made a ruling in a previous case that said if someone is being attacked in their own home, retreat isn't the only course of action. A person breaking into someone else's home accepts the risk of consequence from the initial illegal activity.

Because the details have still yet to be released, we're not sure if Blaskie threatened the safety of the homeowners or if there was any kind of violent confrontation that led to the apparent stabbing, so the above court ruling may not apply.

Whatever the decision ends up being, one thing is clear: when faced with potentially armed robbery, fighting back isn't always the best advice. While the homeowners in this case may have avoided physical harm — they have not, however, escaped the potential consequences of their retaliatory actions — it doesn't always work out for the best. I hope that this story doesn't encourage people to fight back; it is better to lose and recover property than to put lives in danger.

That last sentence is the worst in the entire article:

I hope that this story doesn't encourage people to fight back

Wow...

http://news.sympatico.ca/oped/coffee-ta ... s/e00262cd" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (original article)
http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/09/15 ... ound-dead/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (another article about it)

[Heartland Patriot]

And if a certain segment of OUR population gets their way, that sort of attitude toward self-defense would become the "norm" here. It seems pretty much anti-American and downright anti-Texan. Folks should stay out of others homes unless they are invited in...and to keep their hands off of things that do not belong to them. I've told my kids time and time again, if it ain't yours, don't touch it. And I also explain the potential consequences that may occur out in the wide world if they end up violating that...I can't protect them their whole life, so I try to train them to keep themselves out of trouble. But by that attitude in the article, I guess they think that kind of training just isn't necessary in Canada.

[Oldgringo]

Those Canadians are a gentle race of people, eh?

[7075-T7]

The moral grounds around the incident are nebulous. Blaskie should never have been trying to break into the home, but does that transgression mean that any harm that comes to him isn't malicious? The homeowner may have felt threatened, but does that exempt him from rules around killing another man?

Of course, because people who forcibly enter an occupied residence are unlikely to commit any other "transgressions" to the residents.

In other Canadian news, local woman posthumously labeled as a model citizen for doing nothing as someone entered her home. The specifics are unclear, but the homeowner appears to have fallen on a kitchen knife in her bedroom while trying to escape from the intruder, which he states was 'trying to console her'. The intruder is being treated for psychological trauma, and is unsure on if he will sue the woman’s estate for associated medical bills.

[chasfm11]

I had opportunities to work for several weeks at a time in both Calgary (Alberta) and Toronto (Ontario). In conversations with the locals during dinner, I found the mindset much different between those locations. Calgary is very much like Ft. Worth (heavy into oil, cattle) while Toronto populace seems to reflect similar attitudes to those that you might find in Boston.

It is a general statement that Canadians are less comfortable with self-defense that we might be here in the US but those that I spoke with outside of Toronto didn't even share the same abhorrent attitude towards guns that the Ontario residents did. I will say that all the Canadians that I spoke with, though they might rail about Ottawa policies, were more tractable regarding government running their lives than we are in the US, especially in Texas.

I've often puzzled about why it is that the Liberals are allowed to take over and manage (or try to manage) self-defense policy. As far as I'm concerned, the government officials in Australia, the UK and Canada are interchangeable on self-protection (or the lack of it.)

[chasfm11]

Those Canadians are a gentle race of people, eh?

Another fine example of the "kinder, gentle people"

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... erson.html

[Purplehood]

It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that Canada is the same place where our Deserters used to run-off to for sanctuary.

[philip964]

I was in Montreal two years ago. I was walking with my wife during the day in a touristy area downtown, when very suddenly we were alone with only two young men walking the same direction in front of us. Both were wearing bulky coats in August. One tried to pass a large hunting knife to the other with out being seen. I saw it happen and we quickly reversed direction and got back to where it was more popular.

So much for being safe in Canada because there are no guns.

[Heartland Patriot]

I was in Montreal two years ago. I was walking with my wife during the day in a touristy area downtown, when very suddenly we were alone with only two young men walking the same direction in front of us. Both were wearing bulky coats in August. One tried to pass a large hunting knife to the other with out being seen. I saw it happen and we quickly reversed direction and got back to where it was more popular.

So much for being safe in Canada because there are no guns.

Yep, much like the UK...they banned handguns altogether, and severely restricted long guns...and soon only the criminals had guns...oh, and knives...knife crimes, such as being robbed at knife-point and of course folks being cut/stabbed, went way up...no surprise to any of us, though. Good thing you were paying attention, BTW. Glad things turned out for the best for you.