Originally Posted by bulldogg

Those days went goodbye with mandatory sentences and the three strikes rule as far as I can tell. My cousin was convicted at the age of 12 as the "youngest hitman in the state of California" according to the Oakland Tribune of the day. He was caught when he had a change of heart and brought his victim to the emergency room after beating him half to death with a 2X4 for $1000. The cops asked him what happened and he came clean expecting to receive a lenient sentence in exchange for cooperating. He'd seen too much tv.

He received the maximum sentence owing to the public outrage of the brutallity of it all and rightly so. But to my cousin he felt betrayed and figured he would have gotten the same sentence anyway so... he never made that mistake again. He is the only man I am truly scared of being in the same room with and wouldn't do it without a gun even though he is family and tells me he really "likes" me. And there are thousands like him who would not lose a wink of sleep over killing you and your family simply "because" so if a criminal breaks into your house how do you know if it is someone like him or some "gentleman"? You don't and in my judgement you err on the side of assuming the worst and protecting your family.

You shoot, and you shoot to kill without warning.