Posted on 07/04/2008 7:24:20 AM PDT by Paleo Conservative
Since last October, Joe Horn has kept his voice to a minimum, granting few interviews to the media and erecting a prominent “No Trespassing” sign in the front lawn of the Pasadena home where his notoriety began.
In the two days since a Houston grand jury decided not to indict Horn in the fatal shootings of two men he claimed were posing a threat to his life, the 62-year-old Pasadena retiree has suddenly become more talkative.
By Wednesday, Horn, with his lawyer by his side, had granted excusive interviews to several print, radio and TV news entities, including Diane Sawyer of Good Morning America, expressing some remorse over the loss of lives, but maintaining he acted in self-defense.
While Horn gets his say, the incident reignited another, more familiar topic of conversation, the right of citizens to bear arms for self-protection.
Cindy Deerdoff shows off her target after firing some
rounds at the Pasadena Gun Center and Shooting Range.At the Pasadena Gun Center and Shooting Range on Shaw Avenue the day after the grand jury decision, Horn was a subject of debate, but not the main subject.
Cindy Deerdoff, a Baytown pharmacist in her mid-50s, was making her first foray into the shooting range on Tuesday afternoon.
The visit to the gun shop had less to do with Joe Horn, she said, than with the experience of witnessing a burglary in progress and a growing sense of anxiety about her own safety.
“A little bit of fear keeps you on your toes,” she said as the sound of gunshots blasted out of a backroom shooting range. “We live in such a violent culture that fosters irresponsible use of guns from the standpoint of people who wish to commit criminal activity. I’m here because I want to be able to use it responsibly.”
For Marshall Boozer, a gunsmith for more than 30 years, the issue is about living in a society where he sees violence encroaching on ordinary lives, and a frustration over what he sees — and hears from his customers — as an inadequate criminal justice system.
A resident taking the law into their own hands, while he would not directly condone it, is something he views as a reaction, not a reactionary response.
“It’s important for criminals to be punished,” he said. “If they’re sentenced to 10 years, they know they won’t serve those 10 years.”
Responsible gun owners, he said, outnumber the isolated incidents.
“It comes down to the fact that people who legally own guns are not committing crimes,” said Boozer.
A clerk, who identified himself only as Mr. Hayes, picked up a writing pen to make his own analogy.
“This pen can be used as a weapon, but the pen itself is not a weapon,” he said, laying the pen down. “Guns do not kill people, people kill people.”
While they were vaguely sympathetic toward Horn, no one at the Pasadena Gun Center and Shooting Range on Tuesday would declare him a hero.
“You never want people to lose their lives, but I don’t know what I would have done in the same situation,” said Randy Deerdoff.
The Horn issue, he maintained, should not be used to generalize and distort a matter gun owners feel is a question of constitutional empowerment.
“There shouldn’t even be an issue,” he said. “If I feel that my life and property is being threatened, I have that right to protect myself.”
While her husband grew up with guns, Cindy Deerdoff is a novice, a resident who simply wants to feel safe but holds on to own reservations.
After a 20-minute session, Deerdoff admitted she had no immediate plans to return to the shooting range.
“I’m afraid of guns,” she said as she rolled up her first sporadically punctured silhouette. “It gave me the chills just walking in there.”
Bravo to the lady for at least giving shooting a try.
I hope she goes back.
Any time a firearms-related thread is created on FreeRepublic, please be sure to add the "banglist" keyword to it so that interested FReepers don't miss it. Just a suggestion.
Let Freedom Ring,
The Horn case reminds me of the attempted bank robbery by the Jesse James gang in Northfield, MN in the late 19th century. Jesse James had robbed banks with impunity in the south, but when his gang ventured into Minnesota his robbery attempt was met by armed citizens who killed one gang member and drove them off. The Younger brothers members of the gang were hunted down and captured by a citizen posse near Madelia,MN and only Jesse James managed to escape. That was the end of the James gang crime spree.
Remember, TRUE GUN CONTROL is hitting what you are aiming at.
Given the recent SCOTUS work, I’m glad citizens stil provide the ‘front line’ of the justice system.....
I heard a rumor and want to confirm it.
I believe there is more to this than the Lame Stream Media is telling, as always.
Detective: Joe Horn was 'distraught, convincing'
06:12 PM CDT on Thursday, July 3, 2008
By Rucks Russell / 11 News
PASADENA, Texas -- A police walk-through of a crime scene is standard investigative procedure, but none has garnered as much attention in Houston as the one Pasadena detective Matt Bruegger did with Joe Horn.
In a video released by Pasadena police, Bruegger is on camera interviewing Horn after the Pasadena homeowner gunned down two suspected burglars in his yard in November.
“It’s important that everybody that watches this is able to gather all of the information,” Bruegger said.
It is the same information the detective gathered came from a man he described as “distraught” and someone who was honestly attempting to lay out he facts of what had happened when he shot the two men. The audio of the shooting was recorded as Horn talked to a Pasadena police dispatcher during a 911 call.
“The person that’s in the 911 tape is not the same person that’s in the walk-through,” said Bruegger.
Horn convincingly explained how frightened he was and why he felt he needed to walk outside with a weapon and why he opened fire, according to Bruegger.
“I was telling these people 'don’t move,'” Horn is shown telling Bruegger on the video. “And all the sudden they jumped and I shot them. I was here by myself.”
The detective said the shooting was never a clear-cut crime.
“This was not something that was black or white (or) easily defined as a criminal act or not a criminal act,” said Bruegger.
Crime or not, it touched off a huge controversy. Activists lashed out at the grand jury’s decision not to indict Horn while neighbors and others have rallied and call Horn a hero.
There was also criticism directed at Bruegger and other Pasadena detectives by some who believe if Horn had been black and the men he killed white, things would have turned out much differently.
“I can sit here and honestly say, that person wouldn’t have been arrested that night either,” said Bruegger.
The detective said the tape of the walk-through and interviews with Horn at the Pasadena police station were given to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
Bruegger said that he testified before the grand jury and is confident they reviewed all the facts before deciding not to charge Horn.
The police interviews were released on the same day that Horn -- for the first time -- was publicly defending his actions.
In interviews with the Chronicle and radio talk show host Michael Berry, Horn repeated his assertion that he was defending himself and that he doesn’t consider himself a hero.
Detective: Joe Horn was 'distraught, convincing'
06:12 PM CDT on Thursday, July 3, 2008
By Rucks Russell / 11 News
PASADENA, Texas -- A police walk-through of a crime scene is standard investigative procedure, but none has garnered as much attention in Houston as the one Pasadena detective Matt Bruegger did with Joe Horn.
In a video released by Pasadena police, Bruegger is on camera interviewing Horn after the Pasadena homeowner gunned down two suspected burglars in his yard in November.
“It’s important that everybody that watches this is able to gather all of the information,” Bruegger said.
It is the same information the detective gathered came from a man he described as “distraught” and someone who was honestly attempting to lay out he facts of what had happened when he shot the two men. The audio of the shooting was recorded as Horn talked to a Pasadena police dispatcher during a 911 call.
“The person that’s in the 911 tape is not the same person that’s in the walk-through,” said Bruegger.
Horn convincingly explained how frightened he was and why he felt he needed to walk outside with a weapon and why he opened fire, according to Bruegger.
“I was telling these people 'don’t move,'” Horn is shown telling Bruegger on the video. “And all the sudden they jumped and I shot them. I was here by myself.”
The detective said the shooting was never a clear-cut crime.
“This was not something that was black or white (or) easily defined as a criminal act or not a criminal act,” said Bruegger.
Crime or not, it touched off a huge controversy. Activists lashed out at the grand jury’s decision not to indict Horn while neighbors and others have rallied and call Horn a hero.
There was also criticism directed at Bruegger and other Pasadena detectives by some who believe if Horn had been black and the men he killed white, things would have turned out much differently.
“I can sit here and honestly say, that person wouldn’t have been arrested that night either,” said Bruegger.
The detective said the tape of the walk-through and interviews with Horn at the Pasadena police station were given to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
Bruegger said that he testified before the grand jury and is confident they reviewed all the facts before deciding not to charge Horn.
The police interviews were released on the same day that Horn -- for the first time -- was publicly defending his actions.
In interviews with the Chronicle and radio talk show host Michael Berry, Horn repeated his assertion that he was defending himself and that he doesn’t consider himself a hero.
I heard a rumor and want to confirm it.
I believe there is more to this than the Lame Stream Media is telling, as always.
Grand jury proceedings are secret in Texas. See post #9. It has a link to the raw video of Joe Horn explaining what happened to a detective. If that doesn't answer your question, I don't know what will.
Not seeing what I heard. I'll keep looking.
Looking Kindly on Vigilante Justice
NATHAN THORNBURGH
Thursday, Jul. 03, 2008
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1820028,00.html
***Detective: Joe Horn was ‘distraught, convincing’***
I think it was Jeff Cooper who said that after such a shooting you must look “distraught, broke down, remorseful. After the police and news men leave, break open the champaign!”
If that's how she feels when the gun is in her hand, imagine her state of mind when some perp is pointing it at her.
Gun owners don't feel this is a question of "constitutional empowerment", it's an inalienable right. Yevette Orozco needs to brush up on our country's founding documents.
Happy Independence Day, you too, Ms. Orozco.
Heard rumor that an undercover police officer was “on the scene” when the shooting happened. The undercover police officer probably verified Horn’s account of what happened, but the Grand Jury probably agreed that it was important for the undercover officer not to have to give testimony in open court, so he could continue infiltrating this criminal enterprise to get the bigger fish.
thanks for the info.
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