06-16-2011, 11:35 AM
Again, Bob and Bullwinkle, there is no legitimate question that a person has a legal right to take the alleged action and I agree that we do not have all of the facts or both sides of the story. What I am saying is that it is immoral to kill a neighbor's dog without justification and that one has a moral responsibility not to harm the neighbor's dog unless it is necessary to do so.
I am also saying this is the wrong place to convene a jury on an incident on which we do not have both sides of the story.
As for the italicized scenario in Bob's post, that hypothetical describes an imminent danger to the sheep. On those facts, both the law and, I suspect, the community's sense of what is right and moral would support killing the dog.
I think it is important to maintain a clear distinction between the law and behavior that shocks the conscience and is immoral. My concern is that in this country and in Hawaii we are seeing incidents of the assertion of perceived legal rights, without regard to moral responsibilities, coupled with gun fetishism. It's a bad mix.
But then, we are getting quite far afield from what occurred, if anything, in this instance --- a matter on which we should refrain from passing judgment, except in the privacy of our own homes.
I am also saying this is the wrong place to convene a jury on an incident on which we do not have both sides of the story.
As for the italicized scenario in Bob's post, that hypothetical describes an imminent danger to the sheep. On those facts, both the law and, I suspect, the community's sense of what is right and moral would support killing the dog.
I think it is important to maintain a clear distinction between the law and behavior that shocks the conscience and is immoral. My concern is that in this country and in Hawaii we are seeing incidents of the assertion of perceived legal rights, without regard to moral responsibilities, coupled with gun fetishism. It's a bad mix.
But then, we are getting quite far afield from what occurred, if anything, in this instance --- a matter on which we should refrain from passing judgment, except in the privacy of our own homes.