[Rhodes22-list] Prosecuted homeowner blasts officials

[Roger Pihlaja]

Rik,

My feeling re home and family defense is that the whole issue is a matter of
choosing the least bad option from a bunch of poor choices.  I would rather
suffer the potential legal consequences of shooting an intruder rather than
permit harm to myself or my family.  All the police and lawyers in the world
cannot undo an injury once it's been done, even if the judicial system works
as it should.  Remember, I did not invite a burgler to break into my house.
If shooting him before he can hurt me or my family means I might have to do
jail time for manslaughter, then so be it.  I refuse to be a victim.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rik Sandberg" <sanderico at earthlink.net>
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2004 6:14 PM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Prosecuted homeowner blasts officials


> Well, if it had been me, he's have never made it out the window. Let alone
> out to my stolen car. I wouldn't have to worry about him being alive to
> testify against me.
>
> I think Colorado's got the right idea. someone comes into your house
> uninvited, shoot first and ask questions later.
>
> Not too long ago three people, 2 teenagers and their mother, were beaten
to
> death by 2 dope heads with a claw hammer and a roll of duct tape in a
house
> about 100 feet behind mine. I wonder how this might have turned out
> different if someone had pulled a gun and wasn't afraid to use it. About a
> month after being caught, one of the killers committed suicide. After
being
> thrown in jail and finally coming down from what ever he was high on, he
> realized what he had done and couldn't live with it. How unfortunate that
3
> people had to die so horribly to rid society of a worthless piece of shit
> like that. Thank God he found a way to kill himself, or we'd still be
> screwing around with him. Too bad the other one didn't do it too.
>
> This mentality that we should wait for the police to "save" us is pure
> bull. Most times, by the time they can get there, the damage is already
> done. The police cannot preserve your rights and certainly can't give them
> back, once the criminal has taken them. If you want to preserve YOUR
> rights, you must prevent the criminal from taking them in the first place.
> Why are people so afraid or maybe it's unwilling to defend themselves???
>
> Rik
>
>
> At 04:21 PM 1/23/2004, you wrote:
> >I don't remember who said, "There are lies, there are damn lies and then
> >there are statistics." but nonetheless, here are some stats compiled in
1999
> >put together by a gun owner's group.  Earlier I said I thought about half
of
> >US households have firearms.  I may have to stand corrected.  These stats
> >indicate about half of Canadian homes have guns.  In the US, it's about
> >12.7%.  (oh yeah, now I remember--it's half of US households have pets.
8-)
> >Note:  they indicate that guns were used on intruders about 2.5 million
> >times but only 8 % (200,000) actually shot the intruder.  Most of the
time
> >the weapon was merely brandished or warning shots fired.  I didn't see
any
> >stats pertaining to self-defense legal outcomes.
> >
> >Also, here's a link on gun safety that's well worth a look.
> >
> >Slim
> >
> >
>
>http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomframe.jsp?query=homeowner+and+statistics+
a
>
>nd+firearms&page=1&offset=1&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26amp%3Brequ
e
>
>stId%3D447d7b0eaad623ee%26amp%3BclickedItemRank%3D1%26amp%3BuserQuery%3Dhom
e
>
>owner%2Band%2Bstatistics%2Band%2Bfirearms%26amp%3BclickedItemURN%3Dhttp%253
A
>
>%252F%252Fwww.gunowners.org%252Ffs9901.htm%26amp%3BinvocationType%3D-%26amp
%
>
>3BfromPage%3DAppleTop&remove_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gunowners.org%2Ffs9901.ht
m
> >
>
>http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomframe.jsp?query=homeowner+and+statistics+
a
>
>nd+firearms&page=1&offset=1&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26amp%3Brequ
e
>
>stId%3D447d7b0eaad623ee%26amp%3BclickedItemRank%3D6%26amp%3BuserQuery%3Dhom
e
>
>owner%2Band%2Bstatistics%2Band%2Bfirearms%26amp%3BclickedItemURN%3Dhttp%253
A
>
>%252F%252Fhome.sprynet.com%252F%257Efrfrog%252Fsafety.htm%26amp%3Binvocatio
n
>
>Type%3D-%26amp%3BfromPage%3DAppleTop&remove_url=http%3A%2F%2Fhome.sprynet.c
o
> >m%2F%7Efrfrog%2Fsafety.htm
> >
> >On 1/23/04 3:01 PM, "Paul Grandholm" <paul at grandpower.com> wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > A Chicago-area homeowner prosecuted after shooting an intruder has
> > > written a letter urging local
> > > officials to stop hindering citizens from protecting their families
and
> > > "stick to parade schedules and
> > > planting our parks."
> > > Hale DeMar, 54, of Wilmette, Ill., wounded a burglar who entered his
> > > kitchen Dec. 29, shortly after
> > > saying good night to his children upstairs. But DeMar was charged with
> > > violating a local ordinance
> > > banning possession of handguns.
> > > Police Chief George Carpenter said the outcome "was very fortunate for
> > > the homeowner."
> > > "We much prefer, for the safety of the home, that a resident who finds
> > > himself in this situation
> > > immediately lock the door of the room he's in and dial 911."
> > > In a letter to local officials published by the Chicago Sun-Times,
> > > however, DeMar said: "Until you are
> > > shocked by a piercing alarm in the middle of the night and met in your
> > > kitchen by a masked invader as
> > > your children shudder in their beds, until you confront that very real
> > > nightmare, please don't suggest that
> > > some village trustee knows better and he/she can effectively task the
> > > police to protect your family from
> > > the miscreants that this society has produced."
> > > Morio Billings, 31, is accused of entering the DeMar home twice within
24
> > > hours. He allegedly crawled
> > > through a dog door in the garage then returned the next night with a
> > > stolen house key. Prosecutors say
> > > Billings crashed through the home's front window after he was shot
then
> > > drove himself to the hospital in
> > > the family's SUV, which he had stolen the night before.
> > > Billings previously had been arrested 30 times, according to DeMar.
> > > DeMar, a restaurant owner, will appear in court Feb. 6 to face
> > > misdemeanor charges for violating the
> > > handgun ordinance and failing to update his firearms card.
> > > He sent the following letter to the Sun-Times:
> > >
> > > Village Trustees ... Stick to Parade Schedules & Planting our Parks
> > >
> > > Many of us have experienced a sense of violation upon returning to our
> > > homes, only to find
> > > that someone else has been there. Someone else has trespassed in our
> > > bedrooms, looting and
> > > stealing that which is readily replaced. Many of us, still haunted by
> > > that violation, will never
> > > again have a sense of security in our own homes. Few, however, have
> > > awakened to realize
> > > that they had been violated as they slept in their beds, doors locked,
as
> > > family dogs patrolled
> > > their homes. For me, the seconds until I found my children still
safely
> > > tucked in their beds
> > > were horrifying. The thought that a young child may have been hurt or
> > > abducted was
> > > incomprehensible.
> > > The police were called and in routine fashion they came, took the
report
> > > and with little
> > > concern left, promising to increase surveillance. Little comfort,
since
> > > the invader now had
> > > keys to our home and our automobiles. The police informed me that this
> > > was not an
> > > uncommon event in east Wilmette and offered their condolences.
> > > What is one to do when a criminal proceeds, undeterred by a 90-pound
> > > German shepherd,
> > > an alarm system and a property ... lit up like an outdoor stadium? And
> > > now, he had my
> > > house keys and an inventory of things he'd like to call his own. Would
> > > the police patrol my
> > > dead-end street as effectively the second time as they had the first?
> > > Would my small
> > > children be unharmed the next time? Would the career criminal be
> > > satisfied with another
> > > automobile, another television or would he feel the need, once again,
to
> > > climb the staircase
> > > up to the bedrooms, perhaps for a watch or a ring or a wallet, again
> > > risking little?
> > > Would my children wake to find a masked figure, clad in black, in
their
> > > bedroom doorway,
> > > a vision that might haunt them for years? Would the police come again
and
> > > fill out yet
> > > another report, and at what point should I feel comfortable that the
'bad
> > > guy' got everything
> > > he wanted and wouldn't return again, a third time?
> > > I went to the safe where my licensed and registered gun was kept,
loaded
> > > it for the very first
> > > time and tucked it under the mattress of my bed. I assured my
frightened
> > > children ''that
> > > daddy would deal with the bad guy ... if he ever returned.'' Little
did I
> > > imagine that this
> > > brazen animal was waiting in the backyard bushes as I tucked my
children
> > > into bed.
> > > Fifteen minutes after bedtime, the alarm went off. Three minutes after
> > > the alarm was
> > > triggered, the alarm company alerted the police to the situation and
10
> > > minutes later the first
> > > police car pulled up to my home, but only after another call was made
to
> > > 911, by a
> > > trembling, half-naked father. I suppose some would have grabbed their
> > > children and
> > > cowered in their bedroom for 13 minutes, praying that the police would
> > > get there in time to
> > > stop the criminal from climbing the stairs and confronting the family
in
> > > their bedroom,
> > > dreading the sound of a bedroom door being kicked in. That's not the
fear
> > > I wanted my
> > > children to experience, nor is it the cowardly act that I want my
> > > children to remember me
> > > by.
> > > Until you are shocked by a piercing alarm in the middle of the night
and
> > > met in your kitchen
> > > by a masked invader as your children shudder in their beds, until you
> > > confront that very real
> > > nightmare, please don't suggest that some village trustee knows better
> > > and he/she can
> > > effectively task the police to protect your family from the miscreants
> > > that this society has
> > > produced.
> > > This career criminal had been arrested 30 times. He was wanted in
Georgia
> > > and for parole
> > > violations in Minnesota. How many family homes had he violated, how
many
> > > innocent lives
> > > were affected, how many police reports went into some back office file
> > > cabinet, only to
> > > become some abstract statistic? How is it that rabid animals like this
> > > are free to roam the
> > > streets, violating our homes and threatening the safety of our
children?
> > > If my actions have spared only one family from the distress and trauma
> > > that this habitual
> > > criminal has caused hundreds of others, then I have served my civic
duty
> > > and taken one evil
> > > creature off of our streets, something that our impotent criminal
justice
> > > system had failed to
> > > do, despite some thirty odd arrests, plea bargains and suspended
> > > sentences.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ========================
> > > Paul Grandholm
> > > GrandPower Components Div.
> > > C&H Technology
> > > ISO9001 Certified
> > > ========================
> > > __________________________________________________
> > > Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
> >
> >__________________________________________________
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