It’s a damn shame...

...that one stupid careless act with a firearm has the potential to cost you your future. What a waste.

What a waste

Tigh Croff of Detroit had his house broken into three times in one week. When he found two guys in his backyard, presumably in the process of theft and they fled he pursued with licensed gun in hand. One successfully eluded him. The other turned, surrendered, raised his hands, and...

“What are you going to do?” Herbert Silas of Detroit reportedly asked, his hands still in the air. “Shoot me?”

“Absolutely,” Croff told investigators he replied before pulling the trigger, the source said. Silas was hit once in the chest, killing him.

....and with the pull of a trigger Tigh Croff ceases to be a law abiding gun owner and becomes a murderer. I wasn't self-defense. If Michigan had a Castle Doctrine I doubt this incident would have applied. So why do I even note the incident? In reading this exchange, I have two thoughts. One is that he had probably watched one movie too many, and two, what a waste.

UPDATE: Ric Ector, a CCW instructor in Michigan offers his opinion on the incident here.

If the facts presented in the news story are accurate Mr. Croff is well and truly screwed. I agree with Ector that Croff should have lawyered up immediately and told the police jack. I can’t argue with anything Ector has to say about the law or state of CCW in Michigan. I’m in North Carolina. I assume, like myself, that what Ector knows about the incident comes from the news or police. I admit that we might not have all the facts.

Based on those sources Croff found the two men on his property. He had been the victim of three break-in s within a week. They fled and he gave chase. One stopped and tried to surrender. Croff shot him once in the chest. Was the thief trying to close on Croff? If he did I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same thing. I do know this I would have maintained my distance so it would not have been an issue. Did the thief reach into his pocket or indicate he had a weapon in any way? In that case I might have shot him as well. If the thief kept his hands raised and there was no weapon in those hands Croff wasn’t justified in using deadly force. In the end only Croff and the dead know for sure. What I do know is this. Croff did not have to give chase. In doing so he placed himself in the position where he might have to use deadly force. He did it over property. Once they ran neither he nor his family were at risk. He’s going to have a hell of a time justifying his actions. In any event, I wish him luck.

The Short List

Martin Gross provides a list of the ten most destructive government actions.
H/T to Uncle.

You're giving $400,000 to who?!

President Obama has donated $400,000 of our tax money to a charity run by the Gadhafi Family. The purpose of the charity is to project a new and positive image of Libya. There is sooo much wrong here. With the current state of our nation's finances why are we giving money to the Gadhafis. They control the oil revenues for Libya for Christ's sake. They got money to spare let 'em spend their own. Then there are the isues of their ties to terrorists. Wait, he's reformed. Sorry don't buy it. That little bit where they fignagles the release of Pan Am Flight 103 bomber Abdel Baset Megrahi kinda of makes me doubt his new leaf. So this is the new and positive image the Gadhafi charitites are trying to project?

H/T to Firehand

You need a study for that?

From Fox News

NIH Funds $423,500 Study of Why Men Don't Like to Use Condoms

I could answer that one for a buck fifty.