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Detroit homeowner shoots at suspected power thieves and gets arrested himself

budlight

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2009
Messages
454
Location
Wyandotte, Michigan, USA
Another wise decision....NOT. I'm sure the local anti-gunners will be all over this.

http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/homepage_sh...ected-power-thieves-and-gets-arrested-himself

DETROIT, Mich.(WXYZ) - A Detroit man opened fire on suspected power thieves in his backyard. He hit one in the leg and was arrested himself.

Police say they believe there's a second suspect who may have been hit as well, but ran off before they arrived.

It happened on Broadstreet on Detroit's west side. The homeowner told police the lights in his house went out and he ran out to see what was going on.

When he saw the men literally up on the utility pole trying to steal the live wire and hook it up for their own use, he reportedly ran and got his rifle and opened fire.

Neighbors who heard the shots say it's a dangerous neighborhood, but you can't take the law into your own hands. Police say they expect charges against the suspect and the 48-year-old man who shot him.
 

cmdr_iceman71

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2010
Messages
409
Location
Detroit, Michigan, USA
While I understand the man in this scenario used a rifle; it goes to show that this is one of those huge distinctions between those who possess a handgun license and those who possess a CPL. Anyone who has a CPL license would’ve known you cannot use lethal force to protect property. The only way this would’ve been even a remotely clean shooting is if he’d caught the men inside his home and not merely on his property.

He makes all of us lawful gun owner's look like trigger-happy yahoos.
 

malignity

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2008
Messages
1,101
Location
Warren, Michigan, USA
The guy is clearly an idiot.

Anyone that is not a trained professional that is playing with a live wire will take care of themselves. I don't need a gun to give them a Darwin Award.
 

sst0185

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2010
Messages
120
Location
Va Beach
The guy is clearly an idiot.

Anyone that is not a trained professional that is playing with a live wire will take care of themselves. I don't need a gun to give them a Darwin Award.

+1 To that, would have got an adult beverage and watched the potential fireworks.
 

The Expert

Regular Member
Joined
May 25, 2010
Messages
118
Location
Taylor, Michigan, USA
It does bring up the debate over training.

I know that many feel that the educational requirement is a benefit and should be portrayed as such. Others see it as an unnecessary hurdle people need to jump through to exercise a right that is guaranteed by the Constitution sans any type of class.
 
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Bailenforcer

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2009
Messages
1,077
Location
City
What was he thinking, he could have damaged the transformer... :p




But seriously. They were no threat to him, or his electric bill, and maybe the morons would have gotten electrocuted and solved the problem. This is quite common in Detroit actually and your electric bills are reflecting this. The Detroit Edison won't hardly even come out any more as they have been shot at so many times.







Another wise decision....NOT. I'm sure the local anti-gunners will be all over this.

http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/homepage_sh...ected-power-thieves-and-gets-arrested-himself

DETROIT, Mich.(WXYZ) - A Detroit man opened fire on suspected power thieves in his backyard. He hit one in the leg and was arrested himself.

Police say they believe there's a second suspect who may have been hit as well, but ran off before they arrived.

It happened on Broadstreet on Detroit's west side. The homeowner told police the lights in his house went out and he ran out to see what was going on.

When he saw the men literally up on the utility pole trying to steal the live wire and hook it up for their own use, he reportedly ran and got his rifle and opened fire.

Neighbors who heard the shots say it's a dangerous neighborhood, but you can't take the law into your own hands. Police say they expect charges against the suspect and the 48-year-old man who shot him.
 

Hunting Mama

Regular Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2010
Messages
92
Location
Not deep enough in the Woods, Wisconsin, USA
That rifle owners response was ridiculous. There was no need to start shooting at the thief, he wasn't in his home. I am sorry, but if you notice that someone is up on the pole stealing power, quietly call the cops and watch and wait.

Now all of us gun owners are going to be rolled up into that ball of crazy.
 

Michigander

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2007
Messages
4,818
Location
Mulligan's Valley
i say the more training the better. as long as it is not prohibitively expensive. at that point one could argue against it.

I think it's quite simple. You have an obligation to learn what you are doing if you wish to carry. Morally, I have no issues with any mode of responsible carry, from well read, practiced and safe but illegal concealed carry by an otherwise law abiding person, all the way to a CPL holder who seeks monthly personal defense training from some sort of Larry Vickers wannabee type. Or anything in between.

Anyone on any part of the spectrum can be as skilled, responsible and safe as anyone else. You can either come to another person who learned what they are doing to teach you, or you can seek enlightenment on your own. Both work, and work well. Legal issues on how to carry and where are artificial nonsense, a separate issue entirely.

Clearly this idiot sought neither training nor well researched information, and in this case, the legal system will work, and he'll get properly prosecuted. Sometimes the system works, and sometimes it doesn't....
 
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PDinDetroit

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2009
Messages
2,328
Location
SE, Michigan, USA
Even though this state IMO should allow protection of property, I feel that a shooting in this case would have been way over the top.

+1.

I do find something interesting in the recent SCOTUS Decision in McDonald v. City of Chicago (page 25-26):

Justice Alito said:
Our decision in Heller points unmistakably to the answer. Self-defense is a basic right, recognized by many legal systems from ancient times to the present day, and in Heller, we held that individual self-defense is “the central component” of the Second Amendment right. 554 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 26); see also id., at ___ (slip op., at56) (stating that the “inherent right of self-defense has been central to the Second Amendment right”). Explaining that “the need for defense of self, family, and property is most acute” in the home, ibid., we found that this right applies to handguns because they are “the most preferred firearm in the nation to ‘keep’ and use for protection of one’s home and family,” id., at ___ (slip op., at 57) (some internal quotation marks omitted); see also id., at ___ (slip op., at 56) (noting that handguns are “overwhelmingly chosen by American society for [the] lawful purpose” of self-defense); id., at ___ (slip op., at 57) (“[T]he American people have considered the handgun to be the quintessential self-defense weapon”). Thus, we concluded, citizens must be permitted “to use [handguns] for the core lawful purpose of self-defense.” Id., at ___ (slip op., at 58). Heller makes it clear that this right is “deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition.” Glucksberg, supra, at 721 (internal quotation marks omitted). Heller explored the right’s origins, noting that the 1689 English Bill of Rights explicitly protected a right to keep arms for self-defense, 554 U. S., at ___–___ (slip op., at 19–20), and that by 1765, Blackstone was able to assert that the right to keep and bear arms was “one of the fundamental rights of Englishmen,” id., at ___ (slip op., at 20).

http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-1521.pdf

NOTE: The decision includes the text "defense of self, family, and property" and "for protection of one’s home and family", could this be construed to mean that you are able to act in defense of property/home and use a firearm (handgun) to do so?
 

Onnie

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2010
Messages
664
Location
Maybee, Michigan
If what I seen on the news :uhoh:was correct at least of of the guys was up on the pole

Even if we had the right to protect our property, the pole and the electric power was not the home owner, it belongs to the power company

Unless there are facts left out, seems the worse they done to the shooter was trespass

there would have to be more to the story to be legal, I would think
 
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budlight

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2009
Messages
454
Location
Wyandotte, Michigan, USA
In this case it wasn't defense of property. The suspect was on the pole stealing power. Therefore, the homeowner didn't have a leg to stand on.

It's not like he heard a noise out back, found someone breaking into his garage, was making a lawful arrest, drew down, and the subject came at him or had a weapon. Shooting someone on a pole was just over board.

I'm willing to bet if this firearms owner was through a basic CPL course or firearms self defense course, he would have handled this situation differently. Unfortunately there are too many gun owners who think they can do what ever they want and give the MAJORITY a bad rap.
 

Bailenforcer

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2009
Messages
1,077
Location
City
Agreed and last night myself and a Detroit officer talked about this, he told me it's becoming more regular to find these power thieves dead from errors they made in their thefts. I am waiting for someone to sue the power company because their idiot relative died in the commission of power thefts. :p


In this case it wasn't defense of property. The suspect was on the pole stealing power. Therefore, the homeowner didn't have a leg to stand on.

It's not like he heard a noise out back, found someone breaking into his garage, was making a lawful arrest, drew down, and the subject came at him or had a weapon. Shooting someone on a pole was just over board.

I'm willing to bet if this firearms owner was through a basic CPL course or firearms self defense course, he would have handled this situation differently. Unfortunately there are too many gun owners who think they can do what ever they want and give the MAJORITY a bad rap.
 
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