They'd Rather I Had A Candle...

Ex-UPS Worker Gets 100 Years for Home Invasions

GREENBELT, Md. – A man awaiting trial in the deaths of a mother and her daughter has been sentenced to 100 years in prison for crimes committed during dozens of armed home invasions and burglaries.

Jason Scott was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. A judge said he'll be remembered as one of the "most hated" people in the county and that he was a "tsunami" of crime.

Read the article. This dude was an honest-to-goodness psychopath. Armed home invasions. Carjacking. Child pornography. And, finally, like so many psychopaths, eventually murder. He used the information he received working for UPS for choosing his victims - if that doesn't scare you, it should. They know your address, they know when you're home (or not), they've got valid reason to get up close and personal with your home and possible home defenses.

And yet there are still those who think the best way to deal with psychopaths like Scott is to take away my guns and light a candle.

People like Scott - those that completely and utterly eschew the moral and legal code that allows society to function as it does - are the very reason we are armed. As much as we might wish it were otherwise, there are those among us that do not abide by the rules that define us as civilized. They would rather prey upon those weaker than themselves than stay within the confines of what is considered legally and ethically correct - and by "weaker", we often mean "follow the rules to their own detriment"...

And those of us who acknowledge that evil is out there are ridiculed as "knuckle-dragging neanderthals" and "beer-swilling rednecks." Because we are not blind to the ugly side of humanity, we are mocked and shamed by those who consider themselves our moral superiors - as though there is anything approaching morality in allowing evil to walk unfettered among us. They call us paranoid for taking steps to provide for our own protection, even though case law proves that the police are under no obligation to do so.

If you were to suggest that you don't believe in fire extinguishers or smoke detectors because "that's what the fire department is for", you'd be thought a loon. If you never clicked your seatbelt because "well, if there's an accident the EMTs will fix me up", people would think you were taking unnecessary risks. If you didn't have health insurance because "that's just for sick people", folks wouldn't be too sympathetic should you require hospitalization. Yet all of these things are simple precautions against statistically unlikely events - much like carrying a firearm because you might encounter a goblin.

As Mr. Scott proves, goblins can find their way into even the most bucolic little 'burbs - so be prepared!

That is all.

Another dispatch from

(image courtesy of Robb Allen)