Urban Ground's author, Robbie Cooper, insinuates that crime doesn't pay in Texas. While many state legislators debate whether or not private citizens should own guns, Cooper points out in his article that the Texas Castle Law is keeping criminals at bay. According to this law, a citizen defending his/her property can use deadly force (a gun) against anyone that threatens a home or business in order to protect it's legitimate inhabitants. If the intruder is killed, this action is considered "justifiable homicide" by Texas law.
Writing to a conservative audience, Cooper sarcastically comments that this particular criminal had "bad karma" on the day he died (while attempting to rob a cell-phone store). Though many states disagree, some Texans believe that legitimate gun ownership by private citizens is an obvious deterrent to criminal activity.
While strikingly unsympathetic to the criminal's plight, Cooper focuses on the beauties of the "castle law" by explaining that instead of cowering and retreating from the robber, the store owner was able to chase the robber off with his gun and even run out of the store after him. Tauntingly, Cooper encourages criminals to move to crime-loving (anti-gun) cities such as Chicago or San Francisco, arguing that Texas is too "heavily armed" for their pilfering pleasures.
When contemplated logically, this argument does make sense. After all, most burglars are smart enough to cover up their face (as the men in this article did) to avoid being caught and thus suffering the penalties of the law for their crime. With this evidence of their intelligence, it seems reasonable to assume that if they know they could get shot in one state and were guaranteed safety in another... that they might make a decision that is in their own best interest.
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