Guns don't kill people

People with guns kill people.

The 911 call came from a Pasadena, Tex., resident, who alerted police to two burglary suspects on a neighbor's property. Before he hung up, two men were dead by his hand.

Joe Horn, 61, told the dispatcher what he intended to do: Walk out his front door with a shotgun.

"I've got a shotgun," Horn said, according to a tape of the 911 call. "Do you want me to stop them?"

"Nope, don't do that - ain't no property worth shooting somebody over, OK?" the dispatcher responded.

"Hurry up man, catch these guys, will you? 'Cause I'm ain't gonna let 'em go, I'm gonna be honest with you, I'm not gonna let 'em go. I'm not gonna let 'em get away with this ----."

[...]

Dispatcher: "I want you to listen to me carefully, OK?"

Horn: "Yes?"

Dispatcher: "I got ultras coming out there. I don't want you to go outside that house. And I don't want you to have that gun in your hand when those officers are poking around out there."

Horn: "I understand that, OK, but I have a right to protect myself too, sir, and you understand that. And the laws have been changed in this country since September the First and you know it and I know it."

Dispatcher: "I understand."

Horn: "I have a right to protect myself ..."

Dispatcher: "I'm ..."

Horn: "And a shotgun is a legal weapon, it's not an illegal weapon."

Dispatcher: "No, it's not, I'm not saying that, I'm just not wanting you to ..."

Horn: "OK, he's coming out the window right now, I gotta go, buddy. I'm sorry, but he's coming out the window. "

Dispatcher: "No, don't, don't go out the door, Mister Horn. Mister Horn..."

Horn: "They just stole something, I'm going out to look for 'em, I'm sorry, I ain't letting them get away with this ----. They stole something, they got a bag of stuff. I'm doing it!"

Dispatcher: "Mister, do not go outside the house."

Horn: "I'm sorry, this ain't right, buddy."

Dispatcher: "You gonna get yourself shot if you go outside that house with a gun, I don't care what you think."

Horn: "You wanna make a bet?"

Dispatcher: "Stay in the house."

Horn: "There, one of them's getting away!

Dispatcher: "That's alright, property's not something worth killing someone over. OK? Don't go out the house, don't be shooting nobody. I know you're pissed and you're frustrated but don't do it."

Horn: "They got a bag of loot."

Dispatcher: "OK. How big is the bag?" He then talks off, relaying the information.

Dispatcher: "Which way are they going?"

Horn: "I can't ... I'm going outside. I'll find out."

Dispatcher: "I don't want you going outside, Mister..."

Horn: "Well, here it goes buddy, you hear the shotgun clicking and I'm going."

Dispatcher: "Don't go outside."
On the tape of the 911 call, the shotgun can be heard being cocked and Horn can be heard going outside and confronting someone.

"Boom! You're dead!" he shouts. A loud bang is heard, then a shotgun being cocked and fired again, and then again.

Then Horn is back on the phone:
"Get the law over here quick. I've now, get, one of them's in the front yard over there, he's down, he almost run down the street. I had no choice. They came in the front yard with me, man, I had no choice! ... Get somebody over here quick, man."

Of course, they wouldn't have been in the yard with Horn if he had done what the dispatcher told him to do, which was to stay in the house.

So after five minutes of explaining to a police dispatcher his desire to use his shotgun, he had no choice but to step outside his home and do what he wanted to do. His hand was forced. By the people robbing a house other than his, who never attempted to enter his house. The panic in his voice was clear as he faced a clear and immiment threat: "Well, here it goes, buddy. You hear the shotgun clicking and I'm going. ... Boom, you're dead."

Someone who quotes to a police dispatcher the law regarding his gun and when he's entitled to shoot people, and then ignores repeated orders from the dispatcher to stay inside his home wasn't forced to do anything. This is a person who had a gun and wanted to use it. After all, what's the point of having a gun if you can't shoot it? Most people who don't want to shoot people don't own guns. And people who want to shoot people shouldn't own guns.

Two days later, Horn issued a statement through his attorney.

“The events of that day will weigh heavily on me for the rest of my life," it said. "My thoughts go out to the loved ones of the deceased.”

It's tragic that he didn't understand the gravity of the situation when he ignored the orders of a police dispatcher and went outside to play cowboy. "Well, here it goes, buddy. You hear the shotgun clicking and I'm going. ... Boom, you're dead." These are not the words of someone who understands the stakes. It's tragic that two people are dead and that their families' lives are forever altered (Horn's life isn't likely to get better either, by the way) because he didn't understand how fucking serious a responsibility gun ownership is.