It is one of those sad, but schadenfreude-inducing facts of life that some of the most violent, psychopathic individuals in the world are the moralizing element. Take this, for instance. Homes invaded by the Kommando Korps of the Keystone Kops because the men and women inside decided to blow some of their money on a friendly game of Texas Hold'Em. One would think that the hallmark of a civilized society is that it would not unleash such martial force on peaceful, victimless criminals, but then there is a certain rank hypocrisy inherent to the legalists.
Ironically I have been called violent, merciless and a whole host of names by moral legalists because I whole-heartedly believe that there is nothing morally wrong with blowing someone away for attacking you with serious intent to injur or who breaks into your house. Yet the moral legalists never see anything askew with sending in the local Kommando Korps because someone might flush a dimebag of marijuana or a few rocks of crack down the toilet. I guess it begs the question of how much value they place on human life in the first place if they are willing to risk such serious loss of life over such a petty crime.
What's worse is that in cases like Salvatore Culosi's death, the gambler wasn't even a big time offender until some local pig from the vice squad kept manipulating his ego into betting higher and higher with his buddies. They started out at $50 or so a night, but the local pig got them up to thousands of dollars to make his quota, then called in a SWAT unit to deliver the warrant--and the offenders were all white collar professionals.
Self defense is always different when we're are faced with our lives or the life of someone disrespecting us...
Can't say I know what I would do.
Can say, I'd hope I would handle the situation merciless...
Kill or be killed.
I pray I never am in that very situation.
The difference is that you will probably not be wearing all of the armor necessary to stop a respectable caliber bullet, while holding a small assault weapon. The reality is that the average SWAT officer could be shot several times by a typical suspect and probably only have some bruises or at worst, some cracked bones. There is nothing life-threatening about them facing off against a scared gambler or a middle-aged woman holding a .38 revolver.