Hardass

I am the first to admit..I should avoid listening
to radio talk shows...invariably I emerge from the
car feeling there are things that have not been
said...such was the case Friday...
For discusion - " An individual discovered a thief
stealing his All Terrain Vehicle...he hopped in
his car, chased the guy, ran him off the road and
shot him with his shotgun...he didn't kill him but the
"suspect" is in hospital...Were police justified in
laying charges against the shooter ? "
Respondents both supported the individuals' right to
defend his property and the fact that charges had
been laid. On the one extreme the sentiment was
expressed that the only thing the shooter was
guilty of was being a bad shot and not killing the
thief....the more moderate view was that having your
ATV stolen and tolerating you shooting the thief was
a road down which we dare not go.
My question is why is this happening in Canada ?
How have we gotten to the place where Canadians
would even consider appropriate this kind of
response to the theft of anything - much less a
recreational vehicle ?
The answer is , in my view, Canadians no longer
feel protected by our justice system.
Obviously in any shooting police are justified in
laying charges.
Police are simply doing their jobs following the
letter of the law.
Having said that, would the person in question here
have resorted to gun violence if he were confident
that upon conviction a thief would receive a sentence
that would somehow discourage repeat offences ?
More of our lawbreakers need to do jail time.
More of our jail sentences have to involve serious
jail time.
And our jails should be houses of misery, hard labour,
and frankly places people do not want to go.
Long hours of physical labour, mandatory physical
labour. Nourishment that is nourishment in it's
minimalistic most basic form and life devoid of
luxury. Criminals should be living harder lives
than even our most impoverished families.
As a young court reporter, decades ago, I sat through
the trial of a repeat drunk driving offender who
crashed his car and spent weeks in hospital. A rare
judge showed rare wisdom in ruling that the taxpayer
should not be burdened with the offender's hospital
bills and that he should be responsible for the
costs associated with his recovery.Needless to say
I support a system where anyone who suffers injury
in the process of committing a crime be held
responsible for bills associated with recovery.
We need a system of justice in this country which
respects those who respect the laws presumably
designed to protect from those who choose to
offend.
There should be no excuse for Canadians taking the
law into their own hands - but there is also no
excuse for Canadians feeling the need to.
We live in a wonderful country - it's worth
protecting.
Till next time - hittem long and hittem straight.