Would You Shoot Someone Over A Melon?

I absolutely HATE thieves! Misdemeanor or felony it doesn't matter. I figure if they steal they will also commit other crimes against society rendering them only a little above pond scum. Those of you that have had something of value stolen from you may understand better than others.

Even stealing to feed ones family should not occur as they may be stealing what another needs to feed their family, to raise taxes to keep a roof over them family, etc.

Would I shoot someone over the theft of a melon? No, I seriously doubt it, not even if they came back repeatedly----but I would certainly feel like it.

Couple of summers ago,we had people starting to steal melons
at first I ran them out,they used the "me no know,no habla ingles"
defense

Finally had enough; next one I caught I fired #4's over his head and he dropped the melon;at which point I explained he owed me $10 for damages,which he promptly paid.

Next day they returned with a deputy sheriff (at this point I figured I would be arrested)

The officer asked a few questions and explained to them that I was fully within my rights as a Texas citizen and told them had it been at night,I could have used deadly force.

Since then, there has been no more stealing of any kind.....the word gets around.

Would you shoot a person over a mellion? It depends if they were to back up a little so that it wouldn't have to get blood on my melon it would be fine if they have done something to that I would be willing to shoot them. What you should have asked is whether you should shot a person over stealing a watermelon .

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God must have loved stupid people because he made so many of them.

The answer to that question is one that the melon thief needs to determine before he/she sets foot on my property.

I will neither confirm nor deny, but I will say that the first shot is usually a warning.

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I carry a gun because a cop is too heavy.

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bout 50 years ago a great uncle of mine had a melon patch///well some smart alec kids were stealing his melons. he put up a sign saying one melon is poisioned.....a few days later on his sign someone wrote..now there is two............

my melon patch is behind my house..you would have to walk by my house....unless you are a close friend,,you will get the heck out there one way or another.

I learned everything I know about melon protection from Charles Bronson in Mr. Majestik.

I'm not going to kill someone over a melon. No way, no how. I couldn't live with the thought that I sent someone to eternity over a melon. Now if we were talking about a threat to my family or my own life, it would be a different matter.

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He could have the melon.

Things just happen out in the middle of nowhere

Don't carry a Gun without intentions of using it if I have to.

big rockpile

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dh's Uncle got so tired of the town kids sneaking out to his riverside farm and stealing watermelons that he waited for a moonless night. Tears of laughter were leaking down his face next day as he told us what happened when that car load of town kids slowly rolled past the house with no lights on and stopped down the road at the field. He was sitting out in the side yard and could pretty much see and hear everything. He said those kids were shushing each other so much it was like a bunch of flat tires. Then they heard a godawful moaning and huffing....and all of a sudden it was elbows and #$$$@# getting back across the fence and in the car and tearing out of there. Uncle Dale had staked his bull out in the watermelon patch. And that old bull didn't like being wakened either. Later Uncle Dale said every time he saw those kids in town they'd suddenly have something else to do somewhere else real sudden like.

We live in town, and we both have brown thumbs (we're TRYING to do better, really), so...

Even though I identify as a liberal, I have no problem with thieves being inconvenienced. This could be a load of rock salt shot into a nonvital area, or a bull staked in the watermelon patch, or whatever. In fact, I think that deadly traps in a home or business should be legal, especially if someone is getting robbed again and again. The way I see it, thievery should carry some risk, and not just of getting caught and sentenced.

I don't think that I'd shoot to kill over one watermelon. Since we're in the city, I probably wouldn't shoot at all. However, I might use a baseball bat to convince a thief that the price of whatever is more than s/he's willing to pay.

My husband, on the other hand...

He installed a new radio and CD player in his car, and had the front window tinted. Not less than a week afterwards, someone smashed in that front window and stole the radio and player. We'd spent less than $1K on the improvements, but it cost us more than $3K to repair the damage. If my husband had come across the thief in the act, I'm sure that he would have inflicted bodily harm on him. After my husband learned how much the damages were, if he knew who and where the thief was, I'm sure he'd have killed him. Not saying I condone it, but my husband was STEAMED.

I didn't vote because sic dogs on him and go after him with a baseball bat was not one of the choices. (Nice, Lynn, the bat is my weapon of choice as well ) And I've lived near those who think they can steal because "No habla" Trust me, they understand a screaming lunatic and a big dog coming at them.

Neither was setting out some of those nasty foothold traps right where someone would stick a hand. But Your Honor, I thought it was raccoons getting into my garden. I wouldn't think it was thieves!!

If someone kept coming back, or went after my livestock or anywhere near my house, hell yes I'd shoot. I am a small woman with a very pretty daughter to protect and a good friend who's a great defense attorney. I'd take my chances with the law. I will not take my chances with thieves and vandals only being after a few melons!

C'mon...shoot somebody over stealing one lousy melon. Pffftt. But I catch you with two and you better be sportin' a flak jacket.

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He who does not protect his melons, will have no melons... whether the melon snitchers (ah, the blueberry snitch'in thread) be two legged or four legged.

If I had 100 acres of melons, (probably, in the current world, a variety of hybrid melon, for maximum profitability) I'd care not, if someone sneaked in and picked one melon. However, if I caught them filling up a trailer with them, I'd have to insist on getting some free 'mulch' out of the deal, and possibly a truck and trailer as a bonus. There are degrees of thievery... minor thievery gets minor punishments (usually harsh words), whereas major thievery gets major punishment (the surrender of all physical assets, and set upon the road walking, if they're lucky, with underwear and shoes, and their lives... Of course, call the Sheriff, and have them prosecuted to the full extent of the law...) I am of the opinion that the only good thief is a mulched thief...

If I only had a small patch of melons, and the world as we know it is just a far off faint memory, any snitching of anything would be met with a lifetime of slavery, if the said snitch was lucky. Eat my last source for anything (open pollinated food) before it's fully ripe, and seeds could be harvested for the next season...and it's time to get medieval on said snitch... If it comes down to NEVER eating watermelon (or squash, or corn, or any dang thing that I've tended, and risking my entire future on) again, forever, or some worthless snitcher, well, I'll let you guess what I'd choose. Hard times call for hard choices.

I've come home to find neighbors picking my Mushrooms and Raspberries.Had one neighbor steal half my Chickens one at a time.Had another neighbor steal all my Hunting Dogs,sold them for money for down payment on a House.

One Melon might be the way it starts.

big rockpile

__________________
I love being married.Its so great to find that one person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.



If I need a Shelter
If I need a Friend
I go to the Rock!

Not enough real reason to shoot someone anywhere I can think of in the US that I know of. Practically speaking too, there is just no justification for that type of response either. Guns are only good for personal protection from some danger. Those laws about stealing a mans horse in the 1800s were probably based on the personal endangerment due to being stranded in the boonies and dying. Still, just showing someone the business end has a very definite effect. Having put a gun on someone a few times over the years its undeniable that you have their attention. Secondly they aren't llkely to ever come back again because all they want to do is leave..................

Uncle Dale had the BEST solution ! EXCELLANT!! Now, where can I find a bull?

you guys are NOT thinking out-of-the-box!

I say, SHOOT THE MELON!

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...'o shame on the mothers of mortals, who have not stopped to teach; of the sorrow that lies in dear, dumb eyes; the sorrow that has no speech... from -'Voice of the Voicless', Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Well now Texican, you certainly have a thought provoking way about you.
If the Melon stolen was your seed source, that would raise the bar considerably as to the level of the offense.

I am reminded of the novel "The Grapes of Wrath" where a family that has been hungry for a long spell comes into a wee bit of cash and proceeds to squander it on Caramel sweet rolls and other treats of dubious nutritional value. The rational observer would think folks that were desperately hungry would buy meat, or veg or a soup first. The author uses this to show how folks that are desparate tend to fixate on that one special treat they miss the most, and hence gravitate to procuring sweets and pleasurable treats in an irrational and almost obsessed fashion. Almost like they need it to feel human again.

Perhaps this phenomena explains why people steal melons and walk right past potatoes, string beans, and radishes ?

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Suppose you had hundreds of thieves stealing only 1 melon each from your 100 acre patch? The net result is about the same as 1 thief steal 1 melon from a small patch. At what point do you feel minor become become major thievery?

I have to disagree with you on there being degrees of thievery, it's thievery regadless of the amount involved.

Getting away with stealing 1 melon usually encourages a 1 melon thief to upgrade his thievery to become a 2-4-10 or a truckload of melons thief.

I do agree with your thought that the only good thief is a mulched thief...