I think it’s a combination of fear/paranoia and excitement. Along the lines of what @prooftheory said, a big part of the problem here is that American gun culture is so focused on fantasizing about scenarios where a gun is necessary.
Almost any other form of “self defense” instruction focuses primarily on avoiding and defusing conflict, and relies on violence (martial arts, pepper spray, etc.) only as an absolute last resort. In theory, self-defense courses involving firearms should take the same approach, and I suspect they do in truly professional environments like the military and (at least some) police departments. But the average civilian gun owner (especially in stand-your-ground states) gets his head filled with NRA fantasies where they assume that everyone is carrying a gun, that anyone who approaches you is trying to kill/rape you and/or rape your wife/kids (I don’t know why soooo many gun nuts are so obsessed with the idea that violent rapists are lurking outside every bedroom window, but it comes up an AWFUL lot, especially the fantasies about wives getting raped…), and that you can be a hero by shooting first.
So of COURSE when a person of the wrong pigmentation shows up unexpectedly on their private property, they both jump to the conclusion that the person must be there to kill them AND get really psyched to finally use the expensive bang-stick they bought under the assumption that a violent home invasion was inevitable.
I live in Texas. This has been my rule of thumb for how rural folks regard trespassing:
No sign in yard = “No trespassing”
“No trespassing” sign in yard = will shoot you if you trespass.
Trump sign in yard (yes, there are still a lot of them) = will shoot you even if you don’t trespass.
It’s not hard to find approximately where this guy’s house is. He lives on an extremely short street in a small subdivision. He doesn’t have any yard signs as far as street view shows. So I need to recalibrate that rule.
Anyone who thinks guns are a solution tends to be the problem.
It should, but unfortunately past examples show that “I thought they might be a thief” seems to be a justification, even when shooting someone in the back as you chase them from someone else’s property. Though ultimately “stand your ground” laws are just a justification for shooting brown people, period, so they routinely get applied in ways that make no logical sense if you take them at face value.
I mean, that will be the defense, and historically it has worked. It doesn’t matter if the shooter was the aggressor, if they threatened or even assaulted the victim - if the victim runs, they’re guilty, if they tried to defend themselves the shooter can claim “self-defense” despite that making no sense. Was the victim brown/foreign? That, by itself, is a “defense.” The victim may have messed with someone’s property? Oh, that’s definitely a defense, even if untrue.
Unfortunately it ain’t just Texas. The kid shot at while asking for directions? Michigan. Trayvon Martin was Florida. Most of the US (38 states) has “stand your ground laws,” and while they’re not all equally bad in how they’re enforced, most are pretty bad in the effects they have. And beyond that, the fact that the US has such a gun culture is a problem in itself. The Michigan case was prosecuted, but the shooter felt they were in the right and legally justified. The gun culture is nation-wide, you’re just statistically more likely to encounter it, at any given time, in some places.
That may be an oxymoron. Gun courses involve training on safely handling and accurately shooting a gun. (Most gun owners don’t even have that.) Some may brand themselves as “self-defense” courses, but that’s what they teach. (A few combine gun training and martial arts, to teach the best way to shoot and/or punch someone.) There may be discussion of when you’re legally allowed to shoot someone, but the presumption, in owning a gun and in the classes, is that you’ll use it, even if only to threaten someone.
My girlfriend lives in one of the tonier parts of Dallas (in the house she inherited from her parents), and oh, the wailing and gnashing of teeth from up and down the block when “the help” (housekeepers and lawn crews) park their ordinary cars on the street.
Since we moved to SoCal, this is a huge deal. We haven’t been shot at, but spoken to in a somewhat menacing manner. Once by next door neighbors. That we hadn’t even met yet (literally told to move our moving truck); Howdy new neighbors, not so nice to meet you! People here stack shit in their driveway, and then threaten you if you park in front of their house because that’s where their car goes because they won’t use their own driveway. Bonkers.
Texas has nothing on California when it comes to people losing their damn minds.
I mean, this is the state where for sure people put fake no parking signs in front of their residential home. Not only billionaires, but millionaires here in Brentwood. :-). Sigh.
As a former resident of both states, I kind of have to agree. The menace and not so subtle implications of violence are worse in Texas, but I was kind of shocked at how many vocally and reactively entitled people there are in California. I was young and (more) naive, but all I could think was “You live in paradise; what do you have to be such an asshole about?”
[T]he homeowner told a 911 operator after the shooting that “I just killed a guy,” adding that the driver “started racing away and I ran after him. He pointed a gun at me, and I shot.”
That’s quite a feat by the driver: the driver’s racing away, such that the homeowner has to “run” after him. Racing away backwards. Yet at the same time, the driver’s pulling/aiming a gun forward… while racing backwards. (Or, he’s racing away forwards, while aiming backwards?) Either way, sounds so plausible… The one thing that gives me pause: the homeowner doesn’t apparently utter the magic incantation: "I felt concerned for my life." Why not? What’s he hiding? Something doesn’t add up.
Depressing Prediction: given the ethnicity/religions of the parties involved, there’s already a GoFundMe for the homeowner and Kyle Rittenhouse’s lawyer is clearing up space to handle this guy’s defense also. An all white/Christian grand jury will ensure he’s never sullied by an indictment. Homeowner will ascend to the pantheon worshipped by the likes of OANN and Pamela Geller.
Some people have an expansive sense of property rights when it comes to street parking. I vividly remember going to a neighborhood association meeting where a business owner was seeking the neighborhood’s blessing on a city application to waive minimum off-street parking requirements for his business. My then-wife and I were the only people in favor. One guy came to the meeting even though he had moved away from the neighborhood because it had too much street parking to speak against this. The mind boggles.
This was in a liberal neighborhood in a (relatively) liberal city.
But I think a previous poster had it right. Gun rage may not be as bad as road rage, but it up there. Once you have your pistol out, someone’s gettin’ it.
Turner did initially try to claim he saw Dghoughi pull a gun. Of course that’s complete BS, there was no such gun, the windows were up, and the victim was driving away at the time of the shooting.
I live near a junction that people pull up lost in front of our driveway all the time. If I’m around I’ll offer directions. They’re just getting off the road.
Delivery people a lot of the time. It’s what I would assume if someone pulled in.
