The Tourist
05-30-2010, 11:22 AM
This has been a weird two weeks. I've had some of the best and funniest events happen, and there has been some real lows. For example, at about 0100 I thought my home might be the target of a home invasion.
I do not believe in coincidences. Earlier this month a motion sensor went off in our lower level. I've found the cover for manual key-pad to the garage in the "open" position. I've been having trouble keeping flood lights in working order. Goofy stuff. If any of those events would have happened as a singular issue, I would have dismissed it. And I am admittedly a bit jumpy about the Dane County Sheriffs Office investigating my bike club. All of this stuff happened in our first hot, muggy spell of the summer with tempers on edge.
My wife had gone to bed already. The doorbell goes off repeatedly. As a home owner, your first response is "hey, it's a bunch of kids with slacker parents." After all, it's a holiday weekend. I didn't want to take the chance.
I pick up the cell phone and a pistol and I call local law enforcement. To make them come quickly, I tell the dispatcher firmly that I am armed. While still on the phone, my wife gets up, and I tell her loud enough for the dispatcher to hear, "Get your revolver and lock your yourself in the bedroom."
Within less than a mintue the front of my home is bathed in spotlights. One officer shakes down the back of the house. The dispatcher is still on an open line, and he asks me to set down the pistol and talk to an officer who wants to come to the front door. Reluctantly, I comply.
And I get the start of a tongue lashing. He begins by telling me I cannot shoot defending property. I respond that my property is insured, I was defending myself and my wife. He informs me that in that event I would be arrested. I tell him firmly that I have no problem with being arrested, and that even in liberal Wisconsin we still have enumerated rights to self defense, as our state constitution underlined by adding its own 2nd Amendment about ten years ago.
Miffed, he states that our home will receive special 'drive by' protection for the rest of the night, and he wishes me a smarmy "Have a nice evening." I go and tell my wife that the incident is over.
My guess is that this was a smart-mouth kid. Maybe drunk. That's not the point. For the second time in two weeks a law enforcement officer has tried to disuade me from using enumerated rights, or flatly misrepresented my rights under law. Now granted, killing a true home invader is going to be a lot of paperwork for officers, doubly so in my liberal area if the felon is black and killed by a Caucasian home owner.
But enumerated rights are not for anyone's convenience. They are there to document the rights our Framers might lose if subjected to governmental intrusion. Whether The Bill of Rights was written down or not, our Founders felt that our basic rights exist beyond the scope of the state. Under this system my conduct is not required to insure that a law enforcement officer gets a speedy return to the donut shop. Rather, this system is make sure my rights are respected no matter how inconvenient that process becomes.
Utilizing rights is like utilizing muscles. Not demanding those rights leads to "atrophy" if not used. In neither case could a cop debate me out of Constitutional guarantees. In both cases the rights and law had to be applied fairly. Much like a modern work ethic, I'm finding far too many cops are cutting corners. That issue distresses me more that actual street crime. Once a right is lost it's almost impossible to retrieve it.
I do not believe in coincidences. Earlier this month a motion sensor went off in our lower level. I've found the cover for manual key-pad to the garage in the "open" position. I've been having trouble keeping flood lights in working order. Goofy stuff. If any of those events would have happened as a singular issue, I would have dismissed it. And I am admittedly a bit jumpy about the Dane County Sheriffs Office investigating my bike club. All of this stuff happened in our first hot, muggy spell of the summer with tempers on edge.
My wife had gone to bed already. The doorbell goes off repeatedly. As a home owner, your first response is "hey, it's a bunch of kids with slacker parents." After all, it's a holiday weekend. I didn't want to take the chance.
I pick up the cell phone and a pistol and I call local law enforcement. To make them come quickly, I tell the dispatcher firmly that I am armed. While still on the phone, my wife gets up, and I tell her loud enough for the dispatcher to hear, "Get your revolver and lock your yourself in the bedroom."
Within less than a mintue the front of my home is bathed in spotlights. One officer shakes down the back of the house. The dispatcher is still on an open line, and he asks me to set down the pistol and talk to an officer who wants to come to the front door. Reluctantly, I comply.
And I get the start of a tongue lashing. He begins by telling me I cannot shoot defending property. I respond that my property is insured, I was defending myself and my wife. He informs me that in that event I would be arrested. I tell him firmly that I have no problem with being arrested, and that even in liberal Wisconsin we still have enumerated rights to self defense, as our state constitution underlined by adding its own 2nd Amendment about ten years ago.
Miffed, he states that our home will receive special 'drive by' protection for the rest of the night, and he wishes me a smarmy "Have a nice evening." I go and tell my wife that the incident is over.
My guess is that this was a smart-mouth kid. Maybe drunk. That's not the point. For the second time in two weeks a law enforcement officer has tried to disuade me from using enumerated rights, or flatly misrepresented my rights under law. Now granted, killing a true home invader is going to be a lot of paperwork for officers, doubly so in my liberal area if the felon is black and killed by a Caucasian home owner.
But enumerated rights are not for anyone's convenience. They are there to document the rights our Framers might lose if subjected to governmental intrusion. Whether The Bill of Rights was written down or not, our Founders felt that our basic rights exist beyond the scope of the state. Under this system my conduct is not required to insure that a law enforcement officer gets a speedy return to the donut shop. Rather, this system is make sure my rights are respected no matter how inconvenient that process becomes.
Utilizing rights is like utilizing muscles. Not demanding those rights leads to "atrophy" if not used. In neither case could a cop debate me out of Constitutional guarantees. In both cases the rights and law had to be applied fairly. Much like a modern work ethic, I'm finding far too many cops are cutting corners. That issue distresses me more that actual street crime. Once a right is lost it's almost impossible to retrieve it.