Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: net.followup
Subject: Re: Value of Human Life vs. Value of Property
Message-ID: <3227@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 3-Oct-83 17:59:20 EDT
Article-I.D.: utzoo.3227
Posted: Mon Oct  3 17:59:20 1983
Date-Received: Mon, 3-Oct-83 17:59:20 EDT
References: <3221@utzoo.UUCP>, <552@pyuxhh.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 37

I basically agree with Dave Peak's amendments to my note.  You are
indeed better off with a rifle or a shotgun than with a handgun, in
such circumstances.  My discussion referred to a handgun simply because
the article that started the whole thing did.  (Incidentally, the merits
of a shotgun in such situations are much exaggerated.  At the sort of
range involved in such an incident, the spread of shotgun pellets is
negligible.  It's probably still better than a rifle or handgun, but
you can't ignore the necessity of aiming it carefully.)

And there is indeed a problem if your family occupies more than one
bedroom.  If one were truly concerned about issues of defence, one might
want to ensure that there is indeed a lockable door between the rest of
the house and the bedrooms, and then set up the defence line behind it.
Lockable doors on all bedrooms and communicating doors between them
would be second best.  Failing such architectural assets, you'd just
have to improvise.  The basic strategy should still be along the lines
of "hole up, call the police, and wait".

This choice of strategy is not a question of thinking one's property
of little account in such a situation.  I have the same feelings about
my belongings as most everybody else -- possibly to an unusual extent,
in fact -- and have the same general feeling that the only good burglar
is a dead burglar.  (Well, maybe not quite *that* fervent, but you get
the general idea.)  The strategy of trying to avoid a confrontation and
leaving the hard work to the police is based on a simple fact:  I value
my life rather more than my belongings.  Confronting a possibly-armed
burglar is a terribly risky thing to do, and the police are far better
trained and equipped for such a job.  If the local police are thoroughly
undependable or impractically far away, and there is something down there
that is absolutely vital to your continued survival (don't ask me what,
or why it isn't upstairs with you if it's that important), then you are
going to have to make a very sticky choice.  Short of such an extreme
situation, anyone who deliberately sets out for an armed confrontation
is a fool.
-- 
				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry