Homeowners armed with rifles and body armor patrol their neighborhood

[Sherman A. House DDS]

These guys sound like they take, "The Walking Dead," a bit too seriously.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jwperry]

Vigilantes protecting their turf? Cool, I think I've seen movies about this before.

[Kyle Reese]

These guys sound like they take, "The Walking Dead," a bit too seriously.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Who gets to play Shane, the Governor and Negan?

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

[45dotACP]

This is an interesting situation which present some intriguing points of law, which is lawyer-speak for: "This is going to cost you a shit-load of money in attorney's fees."

Start of a protection racket you think?

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

[Joe in PNG]

Vigilantes protecting their turf? Cool, I think I've seen movies about this before.

Isn't that also pretty much the plot of pretty much every "Knightrider" and "A-Team" episode?

[Rex G]

When stopping to fuel one's vehicle, at night, in some parts of the Houston* area, donning hard exterior armor and slinging a rifle is probably a reasonable idea.

Better idea: Monitor fuel levels, and plan fuel stops for daylight hours, in better parts of town. I am never going to tell someone not to be armored, so, wear low-profile armor as deemed necessary. Carry weapons with discretion, and, of course, be quiet about it.

*I am not picking on Houston; quite a few metropolitan areas have their Little Mogadishus.

[StrikerFire]

Sometimes I'm very confused by your overall logic. This is one of those times.

Both people would likely be alive and (presumably) free if Zimmerman had stayed in his vehicle that night. TM wasn't a choir boy, but he hadn't done anything wrong.

As someone who has been followed (not just the scenario above) to the point of harassment by overzealous neighborhood watch volunteers (as a teenager no less). I can commiserate with a desire to punch someone following you in the dark. Hell, as far as we know, TM never was a criminal, even when he punched GZ. He may have felt his life was in danger being followed by a strange dude in the dark and was acting in self defense. We'll never know, because as you so eloquently pointed out one of them is alive and the other is dead.

You forgot to mention our favorite choir boy - after punching Zimmerman to the ground - fully mounted Zimmerman and bashed the back of his head into concrete giving him an "educational beatdown." That bashing of the head into concrete was the illegal use of deadly force. Travon didnt stand his ground, walk away etc while Zimmerman was on the ground. He became the aggressor and used illegal deadly force. Zimmerman shot him legally fearing for his life.

[Cypher]

You're being generous. I'll be frank and people will freak. Depending on the circumstances, there is a very good chance I would view such an individual as an immediate threat to my family and act accordingly (and no I won't argue about this on the internet).

That's kind of where I'm at with it. At some point they're either going to try to "detain" the wrong person. I want to know how the police or any first responders are going to respond when they arrive on scene and there's a group of armed men on site.

[Zincwarrior]

That's kind of where I'm at with it. At some point they're either going to try to "detain" the wrong person. I want to know how the police or any first responders are going to respond when they arrive on scene and there's a group of armed men on site.

When I lived in the bad part of the LA basin I can guarantee if PoPo rolled up on a bunch of armed guys it would have been a bunch of very dead armed guys in seconds. They did not mess around.

[hufnagel]

I would consider a "herd immunity" mentality to be a safer operating method: I'll visibly show signs of protecting/patrolling my property, while others do the same, and everyone does so at random times. By doing that even those who don't partake would benefit due to presence of armed/active resistance in the area. I wouldn't draw down or shoot an active criminal on someone else's property, but I can certainly play the role of Good Witness and dial my phone. That overall may (or may not) have the desired deterring effect.