Keep in mind a primary difference between burglers and robbers. Someone who wants to sneak in to steal property does not want any interaction with the victim. If they are armed it is, perhaps, only with the idea of self-defense.

Armed robbers are a different breed. Different criminals. Different psychology. Part of the rush is power - taking something from someone by creating fear. They work on the assumption that fear will be effective in getting what they want. They believe in fear as a tool and are very susceptible to fear. They need to be made fearful.

I don't care about people who break into vacant houses or cars or steal in any sort of way as long as they are not endangering another person's safety. Catch them, fine them, let them make restitution whatever. I don't even care if they go to jail if there are better economic disincentives.

But those who are willing to put other people's lives at risk for their own gain should find the tables turned and the risk relocated. They should be stopped - lethally if necessary - without remorse. The risk should be all theirs. Use violence or the threat of violence and the world comes down on your head - street justice or courtroom justice - but draconian and certain.

I have spent my share of time in very very bad places . I am not a little guy, true, but I have also always done everything I can when in the neighborhood of predators to look more dangerous and more crazy than those around me ( the crazy part was easy - the dangerous part was acting ) with the idea that I never wanted to look like the softest target. Even if I am not armed I always want to look armed. ( though I have to admit if i actually am armed it really does feel better <s> )

>>What sane person with one functioning brain cell would engage in an extended high-speed chase trying to get away from law enforcement when caught red-handed? Yet it happens every day, and every day they get caught.
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>>Criminals are neither logical, nor sane.
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>There is a huge difference between acting stupidly in the heat of the moment like trying to run from the police, and planning a burglary. I just can't see why any burglar wouldn't work on the assumption that there might be a gun in the home.
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>>Dan
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>>>Sorry then, but that brings me back to my first question. Why would anybody with at least one functioning brain cell not automatically assume (or at least plan for the possibility) that there is a gun in there? I know if I were going to break into a house, my plan A would be based on that assumption.
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>>>>The difference is when you are home. There are always those breaking in for reasons other than to steal property. It's for those that you need the gun.
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