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The State of Texas gives its citizens the right to use deadly force to protect property. Joe Horn, a resident of Pasadena, Texas, recently exercised that right when he shot and killed two men he observed breaking into a neighbor's house.

A few days later an off duty deputy constable shot and killed a man who attempted to rob him as he was working at a business owned by his family. Joe Horn has been styled a vigilante. The deputy constable has not. In each case the criminals were apparently shot in the back.

In Joe Horn's case the law does not require him to allow a fleeing suspect to escape. In the case of the certified peace officer, were he working in an official capacity, the law forbids him to shoot a fleeing suspect. In fact, the deputy constable also fired at the dead man's accomplice who was in an automobile, driving away from the scene. Joe Horn is the vigilante. The deputy constable is not.

There has been a storm of protest in Joe Horn's neighborhood. Because the men he shot happened to be black and also happened to be illegally in this country, the local "New Black Panther Party," under the leadership of a gentleman called Quanell X, has led demonstrations calling for Joe Horn's head on a platter. One of the demonstrators remarked to a television reporter that the crime of burglary does not carry a death penalty. To him I would respond that every form of endeavor has its unique occupational hazards. When one decides to enter into the field of burglary as a means of earning ones livelihood, he or she should take into account that being shot by an armed citizen is a very real occupational hazard.

The deputy constable has been praised for his quick thinking, Joe Horn faces grand jury action. The irony is that Joe Horn's actions were protected by current law while those of the deputy constable are prohibited. A certified peace officer may fire only to protect his or her own life or that of another person. Firing at a fleeing suspect is not allowed.

If a private citizen acts to prevent a crime and the criminal is killed or seriously injured some people are quick to apply the label vigilante in its pejorative sense. Their point is that stopping crime and dealing with the criminal element is best left to professional law enforcement agents. In a perfect world that would be true. In a perfect world any report of a crime in progress would result in the apprehension of the criminal due to the rapid response of professional law enforcement agents.

As a burglary

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