Hi Mike,

>>>But a man with a gun breaking in to a house has little to fear from the state compared to what he is prepared to do to the homeowner - unless, of course, the homeowner inflicts his own justice - in which case the legal risk in now on the homeowner ( though the phrase is popular "It is better to be judged by 12 than carried by six")
>>
>>This is something I wonder about - how can there be legal risk to the homeowner defending against illegel break in
>>when OTOH things like the "stand your ground rule" seem to protect a selfappointed helper
>>shooting an unarmed, but differently coloured person who did nothing illegal.
>
>The Zimmerman case is still in the legal system. Whether he will be protected or incarcerated is an open question. IMO "stand your ground" laws are not even applicable. It has never been suggested that Trayvon Martin approached or threatened George Zimmerman. Zimmerman called the police, as he had done dozens of times before, to report suspicious activity. (IMO "young black male spotted"). The police told him to stay in his car, they would handle it. He followed Martin anyway and initiated the fatal encounter. I don't know how it will turn out in court but if Zimmerman's lawyers are going to use stand your ground as the defense they will be playing a losing hand.

My "seem to protect" was a bit short. I realize that that particular case is not done yet,
but the possibility of the home owner having a clear case of defending himself might be in trouble
whereas such a rule is in existance is strange. Also Zimmerman was handled more harshly after
some press coverage had surfaced, giving rise to the idea that otherwise chances were for him to get off easier.

If the home owner is in trouble because he installed deadly traps and activated those when leaving,
causing the death of the entering person when he himself was not in danger -
I personally think that should be tallied under evolution in action -
but is another case altogether, but I doubt if Charles meant that.

>
>UPDATE: Injecting a little levity, there was a great cartoon in The New Yorker a few months ago. A guy is in a gun shop talking with another guy behind the counter, an array of scary looking guns mounted on the wall behind him. The guy behind the counter says, "How much ground do you need to stand?"

Haven't seen it, but made me grin now

regards

thomas