I wasn't just referring to the breaking and entering scenario but also to his euphoric reaction to and blow by blow recount of action movie violence. He made both discussions weird.
Damn, Dan's exuberance over these murder fantasies made me uncomfortable.
I think it goes to show how many American citizens falsely assume that if you find an intruder in your house you just have the right to go to town on them. True in some jurisdictions, but it's still a really serious situation where your actions will be investigated.
I mean, go ahead and do whatever you feel is necessary to protect yourself, and your jurisdiction may allow you to do whatever, but there are also places where if you just murder an unarmed burglar who thought no one was home and whom posed no immediate threat, there's a decent chance that wouldn't work out great for the home owner.
Someone breaking into your house is pretty fucking scary. Trust me on this one, I know it personally quite well.
It's less the murder fantasy and more of a fear. If there wasn't the risk of people breaking into your homes of running into the smoking end of a gun, the idea is that people who are privy to be criminals are more likely to run amok, laws typically have punishments for a reason. I don't like the idea that in a situation where someone literally breaks into a home of another, Dan (in this instance) is somehow seen as the bad guy who is only defending what could be a terrible situation for him. Breaking into people's homes is very illegal and could end up devastating and deeply traumatic for people who have had a home invasion, for instance.
I don't mean to go political, but the idea of someone having means to protect themselves is vital to a society and the laws around them. Lots of places the police arrival time can take more than 10 minutes, and if someone is there fucking your shit up and threatening you with a gun, sometimes some action is warranted there.
Obviously Dan can't just straight up murder someone, but if someone literally has a weapon or gun as a method to defend themselves while infiltrating someone's house, I don't understand how Dan wanting to have means to protect himself makes himself out as a bad person. I didn't take his tone or message to be that he's going to vigilante-style murder people if they're trying to steal a TV haphazardly, but the means to protect yourself outside of being like "WHERE'S THE COPS!" is an important life skill to know.
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