The few unlucky people that have been instructed by me, receive several mantras and the first one is: The first casualty of carrying concealed is the Ego.  When you decide to have a gun with you and to travel outside your home, you will learn to endure the verbal “slings and arrows” and that they are not there to right wrongs, defend maidens’ honors soiled by a mouthy sailor or to stop any petty (or major) crime in progress that offends your sense of order in society. In most localities you are not allowed to defend property and I do not recall one state where you are allowed to pursue and use deadly force against anybody once the crime has ceased.

We have this case in Detroit where a home owner, Tigh Croff, arrived home to find it being broken into and now he is facing hard time for chasing down and killing one of the perps. It was the third time that his house had been broken in during the same week and I am guessing he was incensed like anybody else would be. But he had a gun and an unchecked ego:

“He turned around and looked dumb. He had that ‘mercy’ look,” Croff told police after the shooting, per Detroit Police Sgt. Gary Diaz. “I told him he was gonna die, and I shot him.”

Ego, just like alcohol, does not combine well with firearms. Words don’t hurt, gang rape in the local house of detention does.