My last social justice class we had
a guess speaker come in and she shared a story with us about something that
happened in her family. I believe it was her brother in law and his wife were
at home in Washington DC, and someone broke in with a gun trying to rob their
house with a gun in hand. To make a long story short, the brother in law felt
that him and his wife’s lives were threatened, so he shot the man dead in their
home. Her brother in law was prosecuted for murder, and was sent to jail.
This is the
problem I have with the judicial system today. I don’t like the fact that in
different states self-defense is treated differently. This incident happened in
Washington DC, when in the state of Texas you can shoot anyone who breaks into
your home, regardless if they have a gun or not. The law in DC states that the
person must shoot at you first to be able to defend yourself. This is
ludicrous, so if a man comes into my home threatening to shoot me and my wife,
I have to wait till he fires his weapon. It only takes one shot to kill me or
my wife, and I don’t want to take that risk whatsoever. What’s the point of the
second amendment if the only thing a person can do is use his weapon as a
decoration, and not in defense?
I believe
in state law vs. national law 9 out of 10 times, but I believe that some issues
must be equal throughout the nation. When a citizen goes to jail for defending
his family from an armed intruder, than something is tremendously wrong. If an
individual breaks into someone’s house with a gun, I believe the owner of the
house has every right to shoot him on the spot. A citizen of this fine country
shouldn’t have to wait to be shot at, because if the intruder is an excellent
marksman, than the owner of the house will be dead before he or she was able to
defend themselves. This is just a small problem on a larger scale, and there
are many other issues this country has to face before becoming the nation that
it needs to be. I do not want to be a part of a country that won’t allow me to
defend myself against armed intruders intending to hurt me or my family.
Without equality in the justice system, without safety in our homes, and
without the right to defend you or your family, than this country will always
remain a broken nation.
Cade, I understand your frustration regarding this issue. I know there have been many times when I have been disappointed by the way our legal system is set up. In class we discussed how a women's word is not considered evidence and that is so unjust! How can we encourage women to file reports against their abusers, if after the report is done, the law does not take them seriously?! Granted that there are individuals who may attempt to take advantage of the system by making false accusations but why must we throw the abused victims under the bus? Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is not only the laws, but the common citizen. The jury is who decides cases- and they are normal everyday citizens. Yes, the law can be skewed, but it all comes back to the inherent racism that still persists. I wonder how the cases would have turned out if the jury was all black, or all asian, or all white, or all female.. get my drift? each group has different issues and biases. It's our job to promote social justice, and sometimes that takes the form of educating other people.
ReplyDeleteCade, your essay, as well as the above comments all make valid points. There is no easy answer to a difficult issue.
ReplyDeleteCade,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree about our judicial system being unequal. I think both the story our guest speaker told us as well as the story Professor G gave just go to proof how our judicial system can favor certain races. I got out of a traffic ticket about a year ago and my close friend that is a different race than I got a ticket for the same thing. Although I breathed a sign of relief I couldn't help but see how unequal our system really is just simply because we are different races.
Thanks for sharing!