By BARBARA SIMPSON
Every once in a while, I see a news headline that really catches my attention — not because of the overall subject matter but because of what an “expert” says about it.
This happened recently in a news report from Florida in which a homeowner shot at a suspected burglar who was accused of breaking into several homes. He didn’t hit him; he just shot at him.
The sheriff praised the homeowner, and urged residents to use lethal force against intruders because it would save the taxpayers money! In fact, he added, that an intruder’s chances of reoffending are zero if he gets shot by a homeowner!
That caught my eye — mainly for the basic honesty and common sense of the statement. You don’t see that often — if ever!
The sheriff in question is Bob Johnson of Santa Rosa County.
As reported in Breitbart, Johnson said, “We don’t know what homeowner — which homeowner — shot at him. I guess they think they did something wrong, which they did not.”
“You’re more than welcome to shoot them in Santa Rosa County, and we prefer that you do actually.”
The sheriff elaborated on that in the coverage of the incident in the Pensacola News Journal.
He continued, “So, whoever that was, you’re not in trouble. Come see us. We have a gun safety class we put on every other Saturday. If you take that you’ll shoot a lot better, and hopefully, you’ll save the taxpayer’s money.”
He doubled down on that as he was interviewed on Fox and Friends. “If someone breaks in your house in Santa Rosa County and you shoot and kill them, the changes of them reoffending after that are zero, and we like those odds.”
He added, “So in Santa Rosa County, if you break into a house, you’ll roll the dice.”
Sheriff Johnson not only has a sense of humor, he is very practical and isn’t afraid to express his views publicly.
The suspect in question in this incident turned out to be 32-year-old Brandon Harris, who was captured after leading police on a foot chase through neighborhoods.
The sheriff described the chase, saying the suspect jumped fences and was breaking into houses until he was finally cornered inside a house. He broke out a window in a bedroom as police entered and arrested him.
Harris was no innocent. He has a substantial record and, according to reports, he was wanted on warrants involving felony violation of probation, battery, and aggravated assault with a weapon.
Clearly, this was not someone a resident would want to have breaking into his or her home.
Area residents were terrified by the incident and Philip Marschke told of a call from his wife. He was away on business, and she phoned him to tell of this man charging to their house and trying to get in. Marschke’s young daughter saw what was happening and got into the house just in time for her mother to lock the door. Harris got there and tried to pull the door open. He didn’t succeed.
The sheriff said, the wife told him, “The man smiled at her through the window of the door, as though he was trying to reassure her it was okay for him to come inside.”
Fortunately, he didn’t get in and it wasn’t reported who might have shot at him to get him away.
Reporters from NPR spoke to several criminal attorneys and not surprisingly, the consensus among them was that they do not agree with the sheriff that it’s okay to shoot at someone under those circumstances.
One attorney, Jude Faccidomo, said, “It’s wildly irresponsible, because it essentially encourages people to use deadly force without giving it more consideration. . . . There’s often times that somebody is not an imminent threat to you.”
He may be right but under those circumstances, how do you know the intent of the person trying to get into your house — or who already is in your house?
I don’t know about you, but it seems the better part of valor to take all precautions to protect yourself and your family.
The sheriff’s department has said that Harris’ new charges for the incidents include one count of attempted burglary with assault, one count of resisting arrest without violence, two counts of burglary to an occupied dwelling, criminal mischief, attempted larceny, and burglary to an unoccupied dwelling. He had a busy night!
That’s quite a list of offenses and the cost to the county is not estimated but surely it will be a lot, including his jail time, court time, and final sentence.
As crass as it sounds, the statement from the sheriff about how shooting him would save the county money is not far off the mark — as harsh as it might sound to some.
The anti-gun movement in this country is getting a lot of attention again and there are those who would like to see all such weapons gone! They even are calling for police to be disarmed.
You may not realize that in England they did just that, only now to face an epidemic of knife crimes against police as well as average citizens.
They tried ridding the country of guns in Australia only to be left with rising crime rates using other weapons.
The conclusion is that bad, evil, criminal people will find a way to commit their crimes against the innocent, regardless of the law.
The innocent need a way to protect themselves and if a gun is the way, I would not object.
In case you are wondering what the people of Santa Rosa County think of their sheriff, Johnson told Fox and Friends that he enjoys great support in his county, and he added, “I tell everybody: 99 percent of the people here love law enforcement, and the other one percent are in my jail currently.”
You gotta love this guy! We need more law enforcement officers like him!
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