How is property worth pointing a gun at someone over? It's a car. Cars can be replaced.
However, the real problem was pulling a gun FIRST instead of hollering across the road or from a porch. A street punk would normally run--somebody legitimate will respond.
This idiot cop is actually lucky she wasn't a true violent criminal who had a hidden lookout. Getting that close with a drawn gun if there was a hidden lookout would have gotten him shot.
Edit for the downvotes: it's not just a car to me, and it's not just about the monetary value. It has sentimental value and I wouldn't be able to replace it easily. I don't see what's so controversial about attempting to protect one's property. That said I did find this story disturbing and I'm not trying to imply that the woman did anything wrong. I was simply replying to the point above.
deter? The very first thing I was taught with a gun, was not to point it at anything you didn't intend to shoot. Any time you introduce a lethal instrument to a dispute you've put a lethal conclusion on the table.
Downvoting you for it isn't my style, but I can understand why others would.
This article is about a man who misinterprets a car purchase and pulls a gun to "protect" property, which was not his and was not being stolen.
If someone pulls a gun to "defend their property", they better be really damned sure it is their property and the property was being stolen (not a {leinholder, repoman, undercover police officer, deaf person, autistic person, etc}). The risk of making the wrong decision may not be high, but the impact of the wrong decision is.
Worth it or not, it's legal in some states and in some circumstances. I'm not sure about TN, where this occurred.
> It's a car. Cars can be replaced.
That car was purchased with money, which presumably was obtained through labor. Your labor, once expended, cannot be reclaimed. The moral argument can be made that theft of property is equivalent to theft of a portion of one's life.
That's bullshit but even by that logic, killing the thief would not be a proportional response.
Plus most cars are insured to cover theft and since it was in the driveway, it possibly could have been covered by homeowner's insurance.