To me, this is the key. To blindly shoot into a dark garage is just the epitomy of ignorant. To blindly shoot PERIOD is ignorant.

If I was that ignorant, I would have masacred two innocent armadillos the other night who 'attacked' my house.

As an example...I live pretty far off the road and am surrounded by swamp and woods in the back. There has been known to be a homeless person/prison escapee, etc LIVING in those woods from time-to-time.

That. Is. Creepy!

I have a barn 50 yards or so away from my house that I walk to numerous times per day. I'm out there in the dark at times or at certain times of the year. That barn has a loft and a closed feedroom door with a window in it. I have held my breath more than one time opening that door not knowing if someone could be on the other side. (when I had reason to be spooked about something...not just any time I'm out there).

Even so, I would never DREAM of opening fire without knowing what I was opening fire on...but it's a risk I take...because if it came down to that and a person hiding on the other side happened to be armed...I'd be the one likely face down in the alley way. To be truthful, 99.99% of the time the biggest weapon I have on me as I tromp around out there is a pocket knife.

Anyway, kids do stupid things, often on a dare, often because of drugs and needing quick sale items for cash. That does not automatically make them a danger to another person. I would hate to know I ended someone's life without feeling confident it was going to be either them or me.

THIS. Well said.

"The police are investigating whether Mr. Kaarma was under the influence of marijuana or other substances at the time of the shooting. Investigators found a glass jar of marijuana in his kitchen pantry, according to a search-warrant application filed in the case. A neighbor also told the police that Mr. Kaarma smoked marijuana in the garage, and that marijuana and marijuana pipes had been stolen in one of the earlier burglaries."

I was originally willing to give them the benefit of a doubt - maybe he was just trying to scare them away and it went horribly wrong. But perhaps he was expecting someone else......

The really sad part of this is what difference did it make that one was white and one was black? How does that have any effect on the situation? Sadly though, I think that is probably why it is getting more attention, than just the issue of a seemingly innocent person and a very tragic outcome.

That. Right there.

Sounds like there's enough karma to go around in this case, both for Mr. Kaarma and for Dede. "Play stupid games. Win stupid prizes" has application to both parties in this tragedy.

Dede should have stayed out other folks garages and Kaarma shouldn't be into the drugs which resulted in paranoia and bad judgement so as to go shooting into the dark.

Castle Doctrine or not, one needs to use judgement and identify his target and the situation. Shooting in the dark is stupid in the extreme.

Our first house, purchased when we married at 21 and 19 years of age, was older and was acquired with a broken garage door on one side of the two-car garage. Not getting "around tuit" as promptly as I should have, I left the garage door up most of the time the first couple of years. The occasional effort to lower the door left one subject to braining himself or damaging the car.

I'd chased various critters out of the garage on previous occasion: dogs, cats, and skunks. One night, quite late, we heard a slight but distinct noise out in the garage. Reared in a rural environment I was used to dealing with varmints in the chickens, or feral dogs running the cattle. Thinking it was some critter, I provided myself with a Smith & Wesson Model 17 K-22 Masterpiece, a target grade .22 rim fire revolver kept on hand. I loaded it up with low-powered standard velocity .22 shorts in case the opportunity for the elimination of a nuisance small varmint presented itself and headed out the door.

Flipping on the garage light and bursting through the door to the garage from the den, I was much surprised to see a pair of green-soled tennis shoes streaking out of the front of the garage into the darkness rather than a furred critter. Don't know if the owner of the green-soled shoes was startled by the door bursting open, the light, or all that long-barreled Smith & Wesson ordnance. Maybe a combination of all three.

I deliberately did not pursue under the circumstances. I was in possession of the premises. I could see inside the garage but it was pitch dark in the front drive. No need to take a fight to 'em. Though the revolver appeared menacing no doubt, it was loaded with six of the very lowest powered cartridges commercially available and not a favored choice for taking on a human assailant. Pursuing a fleeing miscreant could turn him into an assailant.

We didn't have anything much worth stealing that we kept in that garage anyway. Both at the time and later on I found the episode more amusing than anything else. I don't know who was more surprised, the intruder or me. The experience was sobering too. That flimsy push-and-turn lock on the hollow-core door between garage and den didn't offer nearly enough security. So, the next weekend the garage door was repaired at great pain. I liked to have killed my silly self with the garage door spring but that's another story.

I'm sure the intruder was only intent on pilfering. I'm sure the Castle Doctrine could have applied, especially if I'd gone out the front door and hemmed him into the garage, causing a dispute over a way of escape. In Texas in about 1980 it'd just been tough if he'd ended up shot, especially after dark. I'm particularly intolerant about crime, justice and punishment oriented, and unsympathetic toward criminals but am not going to shoot someone over stuff.

One may keep guns without concerns over his ability to use judgment in employing them for protection.

Unfortunately, owning a gun is easy and requires no training or testing as to one's ability to properly judge when or how to use it.

Like owning a knife or bat or other instrument that could be used to hurt/kill someone?

You can't cut a steak or hit a baseball with a gun. Anything can be used as a weapon. Killing is the only reason a gun exists. The fact that people don't get that is the problem.

I respectfully disagree, and to argue that would delve way to close the verboten in here, so I'll leave it at that. Cheers.

i'd disagree with you on this...many people own guns and these guns have never killed anything, much less anyone. they can be a great deterrant. they can be used for target shooting. some people are collectors of antique weaponry and do nothing but display them. A gun is nothing more tham plastic, metal, and wood. by itself, it can't do anything.

Just to be clear, to conceal carry in Texas I must apply for a license and take a required course, which includes testing and training.

A car is designed to get you from one place to another. The fact that it won't drive itself doesn't change what it was designed to do.

To carry in Illinois, I must also have had a FOID card issued (which I have) and that comes with a background check.

I can be assured that I can be more deadly with a 6,000 pound car that a gun (only shot a gun a few times).

If you ever want to murder me Ed, i request you attempt to do it with your car over your gun.

There are a million ways to die in the West!

In my part of the country a person could get a longer sentence for DWI when a person is killed than murder with a handgun.

Cars can be deadly for sure, esp. when the driver is impaired. Cars are rarely used intentionally to hurt someone else....they weren't designed with that in mind; rather that unintended consequence comes with the use of cars. Guns were designed to kill. I just don't like the tip-toeing...i'm not making an anti-gun statement. Just call them what they are and don't try to pooh-pooh what the real purpose behind a gun is....that's all.

RJ - being that i live in the south, are you trying to say that cars are not designed to be yard ornaments when placed on cinder blocks?

Obviously, I ditto raithjay to the letter.
Thanks for spelling it out so well.

Just to clarify: Are we including hunting and self defense in with killing?

From looking around my neighborhood.....maybe they are.

I'm not sure what it is you're trying to get at. While someone might be good enough a shot to defend themselves by maiming rather than killing, hunting is flat out killing and self defense often ends that way. Neither negates what a gun was designed to do. It's a weapon which by definition means it was designed to inflict damage or harm.

Please note that I'm not saying a gun cannot be used for other reasons. I myself target shoot.

Guns were designed to propel projectiles. That's all.

Firearms were not,and are not specifically designed to kill, and killing is not the only reason why guns exist, either rationally or historically. The fact that people don't understand this is where the problem lies. Guns may be efficient means to kill but they are only tools for propelling projectiles onto a target. It is the user who chooses targets and directs projectiles.

Personally, I enjoy shooting sports competition, specifically formal competition at registered matches. I have firearms designed and marketed to punch holes in paper, ring steel silhouette targets, break clay targets, etc., none of them being designed or marketed to kill human beings. Nor are they used for that purpose.

I enjoy legitimate hunting pursuits and do so while obtaining hunting licenses and adhering to game laws. I use firearms designed and marketed to effectively take game. These firearms are designed and marketed to kill lawful game and are so employed.

I provide for personal defense and utilize effective firearms for the purpose. These firearms are designed to defeat a human assailant with the capability to kill him in the process of bringing his assault to a halt. Self-defense is currently legal in this nation and is morally justifiable in any event.

The law-abiding citizen of our nation is currently afforded the right to own and use firearms for every legitimate purpose.