Maybe shooting a politician's dogs isn't such a great idea

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Thu, 05 Feb 2009 12:42:36 GMT  <== Politics ==> 

J.D. Tuccille - commentary on this Washington Post article concerning a SWAT raid on the home of Cheye Calvo, the mayor of Berwyn Heights, Maryland. They terrorized his family and killed his two dogs. And their's is not an unusual story. It's business as usual in the war on some drugs. The drug war must end, but until it does, neighborhoods must be prepared to defend themselves from these terrorists with badges. The proper outcome of such a raid is twenty neighbors with deer rifles shooting dead every single member of the SWAT team. Then raiding their headquarters and stringing up their captain. Then a big party with medals of honor for the defenders of liberty. [root]

The natural reaction for many innocent people, when they are under attack, is to fight back. Kathryn Johnston opened fire, so did Ryan Frederick, so did Vang Khang, and so did Cory Maye. All too often, police point to these incidents of people resisting armed assault as further evidence that SWAT needs to be deployed for every interaction with the public.

But here's the unpleasant truth: People have the moral right to defend themselves against violent attack, even if their attackers are wearing uniforms. The level of force used in these raid is unjustifiable, and the potential for injury or death at the hands of the raiders is all too real. There is no moral obligation on anybody's part, no matter what the law says, to submit to brutal treatment. It would have been unwise for Cheye Calvo to shoot police officers as they stormed into his home, but he would have been perfectly justified in doing so.

And if his neighors, seeing his distress, had rallied to his support with shotguns in hand, they would have been in the right, too.

A badge is not, and cannot be, a license to abuse and kill. If the law says otherwise, than the law becomes illegitimate. Really. The natural right to protect yourself and your loved ones trumps any vote ever taken by a legislative body.

It doesn't need to come to this. People shouldn't have to rely on the gun in the nightstand as a deterrent against those who are supposed to be protectors.

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