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Joe Horn, the Pasadena, Texas man who shot two burglers leaving a neighbor’s home with a bag full of cash, was eventually cleared by a Grand Jury. (I wish I could link to an article from my local paper, the Houston Chronicle, but although they published several opinion pieces by goblin supporter Lisa Flakenberg, their archive did not return any articles about the Grand Jury’s decision. I did find such a link on another Horn story, but it returned a “file not found” error. Gosh, it’s almost as if the Chron doesn’t want you to know Horn was cleared….)

I just ran across video of the police interviewing Horn the night of the incident, as he walks them through his house and yard at Chris’ Simple Musings from a Guy with Guns. The Chron does have this video on their website, but I can’t find a way to link directly to it there.

Here’s a link if the embed doesn’t work for you.

Two things stand out for me:

• Horn is visibly upset as he describes the shooting. He is not proud of having taken lives.
• The goblins were right there in his yard as he came out his front door. He did not chase them down, nor did he shoot them on his neighbor’s property.

Falkenberg’s ignorant ranting aside, this is not a case of a bag full of cash being worth human lives. It’s a case of the people being safe and secure in their homes being worth lives. If anyone decided the stolen goods were worth lives, it was the goblins involved — they just didn’t expect that it would be their lives.

(Also, see Chris’ comments on keeping your mouth shut while talking to the police. I admit, though, that in this case it doesn’t seem to have hurt Horn’s case.)

The author of University Diaries, over at Inside Higher Ed, liked my description of Dad’s walking stick, but apparently she still hasn’t  made up her mind as to whether or not to go to the range and learn how to shoot, so I’ve prodded her again:

This shouldn’t be a hard decision, We’re not talking about going on a SWAT raid, or fighting terrorists, or hunting Bambi, or robbing a bank, or assassinating politicians.

We’re not talking about buying anything, not a philosophy, or a gun or, given the offers you’ve had, even so much as a bullet.

We’re talking about learning to use a hammer, or an axe, or a power saw, just enough to see what it’s like.

We’re talking about going to a carefully controlled environment, getting a few minutes of usage and safety instruction, and using a tool to punch holes in pieces of paper that happen to be 5-10 yards away.

We’re talking about finding out for yourself, something any scholar should be willing and eager to do.

Do you think you won’t be able to learn? Ignorant backwoods rednecks learn to do it quite well. You have a college degree, proof of your learning ability. It’s not math, or quantum physics, or neuroanatomy. It’s not professional basketball, or flying, or ballet. It’s not magic. You’ll do fine. (I have a niece who scorns as “stupid” arithmetic problems she can’t figure out. That’s not what you’re doing, is it?)

Are you afraid? You have likely done far riskier things in your life: driven in cars, cooked with stoves, married a man….

Is this a moral struggle? Why should anyone remotely criticize you over it? Why is this even an issue? Deciding to own a firearm is one thing. Deciding which one to own is admittedly very confusing, even for experts (which is partly why so many experts have so many guns). Deciding you’re willing to use it against another human being, now that’s a very hard question, eminently worth pondering over, at length, with much reading and discussion.

But simply borrowing one and trying it out? pfft.

Go to the range. Ask questions. Use a tool. Learn.

Be free.

(That comment is still awaiting moderation.) It’s up now.

[Series note]

I didn’t realize this was going to turn into a series. I’ve retitled the posts so far, but have left their URLs untouched so as not to break any existing links. Note that my numbers are not consistent with UD’s.

Posts in this series:

Prof Meets Gun 4: UD Visiting Gun Show, Range

Prof Meets Gun 3: On Scholars Visiting Gun Ranges (This post)

Prof Meets Gun 2: Gun Range Visit & Gun Answers

Prof Meets Gun 1