plthijnx and I live in a tough 'hood

[Nothing But Net]

It's a quiet Saturday afternoon, a couple of blocks away from plt and NBN.

Four armed men burst into your home. Do you:

A) Lock yourself in a closet

B) Dial 911

C) Disarm one of the intruders and shoot him to death with his own weapon

<a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/3733289.html">Story</a>

[capnhowdy]

D) Have your SKS ready and demobilize the whole lot immediately.

[xoxoxoBruce]

OK, what's "Envíos Catrachos."?

[slang]

It's nice to read that in some parts of the US, you are still allowed to fight and stand your ground as opposed to fleeing your own home until the intruders have left.

[Elspode]

Bravo for the victim for taking out the bad guy. Of course, I'm sure that the dead invader was probably a victim of a difficult upbringing, and society is to blame, but nevertheless...

uMMMM... Switch the paper licence plate real fast and get one of those el cheapo paint jobs for the car?

[Tonchi]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

OK, what's "Envíos Catrachos."?

The "envíos" part is easy, an envío is something being sent (from enviar= to send), and by extension it also means the cost of the freight. I get to use the word a lot while corresponding with Spanish-speaking buyers through my net store. But there is no meaning I could find for "Catrachos", and in most such cases it turns out to be somebody's name rather than a spoken word with a specific meaning. My guess is this was a pick-up and delivery van belonging to a local Hispanic family business. But I would not discount the possibility that catrachos is barrio slang from a place like El Salvador so the owner named his business that and the word really means something but only to a specific group.

This is why interpreting during a trial can be so dicey. Some ethnic groups use a completely different vocabulary for many common objects and have slang terms which are incomprehensible in neighboring countries. For the O.J. Simpson trial, they had to bring in an interpreter who had been born and raised in the same Central American country as the maid who was going to testify because there was no Court interpreter in Los Angeles who could understand her. The surviving morons who tried to rob and kill the man in the story will EACH be given an interpreter versed in his dialect at the expense of the taxpayers, and the defendants may hold up the trial if they are illegals from some uncommon area and do not feel that they are being provided adequate coverage. They have their civil rights, you see. These interpreters will cost the county many thousands of dollars, all to guarantee a fair trial to people who were caught in the act and are already known to be guilty. Oh well, it keeps some of us employed

[wolf]

The plea bargain is a longstand American Tradition.

Of course I'd much rather brand these assholes "Illegal: shoot on sight on U.S. Territory" across their faces and dump them back into their home country.

I dug this statement, which closes out the article: A gun is a universal language.

Like love.

Originally Posted by slang

It's nice to read that in some parts of the US, you are still allowed to fight and stand your ground as opposed to fleeing your own home until the intruders have left.

You can do that in Colorado which has a "make my day" law. Just be sure the intuder falls forward dead into your house and not backwards out the door.

[MaggieL]

D) Shoot him with *your* gun, *then* take his.

Carefully. Criminals frequently have crappy or poorly maintained weapons they know little about operating.

When a news photog was taking pictures of Gwennie and me for a forthcoming "Philadelphia Weekly" article, we got into a conversation about the drug dealers down in Philly who frequently shoot bystanders while trying to eliminate of competition.

For example, in the recent trial for the murder of Faheem Thomas-Childs, the evidence showed five shots fired by the Broaster gang, and Johnson and Spady (who were convicted of murdering the boy) fired *42*...and *nobody* hit who they were shooting at.

Originally Posted by Philly Inquirer

Prosecutors now say two rival North Philadelphia gangs had not one, but two raging gun battles over two days in February 2004, in which none of more than 90 bullets fired hit its intended target.

The photog said that once, while covering a court beat, he'd asked a dealer why they seem to have *so* much "collateral damage". The answer was: "We're all high and nobody knows how to shoot."

[slang]

Originally Posted by marichiko

You can do that in Colorado which has a "make my day" law. Just be sure the intuder falls forward dead into your house and not backwards out the door.

So it's a "make my day, please fall inside" law. Good.

There are some states that you not only have to leave when an intruder breaks in, but you must also have low cal sandwhich fixings ready with a six pack of cola beverage, as well as having the TV remote included with that package.

There is no law at this time that the TV remote must have multilinguial instructions available, which is truly a violation of civil rights.

[BrianR]

Hell, drag em inside after they fall. Why quibble over a few feet?

The only side of the story the cops should hear is YOURS! Dead men tell no tales.

[Elspode]

Originally Posted by slang

So it's a "make my day, please fall inside" law. Good.

There are some states that you not only have to leave when an intruder breaks in, but you must also have low cal sandwhich fixings ready with a six pack of cola beverage, as well as having the TV remote included with that package.

There is no law at this time that the TV remote must have multilinguial instructions available, which is truly a violation of civil rights.

Better make that low-fat sandwich fixins as well, because you'll be sued for contributing to their future heart attack or obesity problem as well. Let's hear it for victim mentality!

Originally Posted by BrianR

Hell, drag em inside after they fall. Why quibble over a few feet?

The only side of the story the cops should hear is YOURS! Dead men tell no tales.

Indeed, they don't. Apparently, in Colorado, an intruder may prance around your yard all they want and all you can do is to tell them to not trip over the garden hose. However, once they cross your threshold, the laws of the old West apply, and you are free to shoot the sucker between the eyes and skate. However, if the deceased is inconsiderate enough, and you are fast enough on the draw that you shoot him just as he attempts to step over the doorway, and he falls backward out of your house, his loved ones will complain that he was but an innocent collecting donations for the Kiwanis Club and you may end up down in the state pen in Canon City. Even Colorado will let a home owner get away with only so much. After all, what if people started shooting girl scouts selling cookies?

[wolf]

The important factor, of course, is that in states without a castle doctrine, you have to shoot your intruder front to back. They are actually allowed to fall OUT your door, but must do so because they have been blown through it from the impact of the rounds, just like in the movies.

(This statement is not to be construed as legal advice of any kind, especially in New Jersey, New York, California, and Maryland)