Comforting Choices

"This is just an absolute nightmare, this whole thing. People need to know that this is what can happen to you and which side of the victim line do you want to stand on? Lying down dead or in court? That's the way it seems it has to go." Ian Thomson

All civilized societies must have laws so that order and good governance may be achieved. Laws that are enacted for the safety and security of the country and its population are there to ensure we have trust and confidence in our lawful governing bodies, our system of jurisprudence and the forces entrusted to uphold the law.

There are instances when we just shake our heads in disbelief, however, as when the law is interpreted to its last letter, and the end result seems to favour the law-breaker more than it does the innocent victim of crime.

In Canada we see the occasional - and in these instances truly each and every of these distinct cases appear on their merits and their execution inimical to their first purpose; the assurances of safety and security in the implementation of justice - occurrence that draws attention to reactions needful of correction.

When a Toronto greengrocer is arrested and charged with the offence of taking the law into his own hands by apprehending a serial thief. When, as another example, an Alberta farmer corners and shoots one of a handful of would-be thieves attempting to deprive him of his personal possessions.

Or when, as occurred more recently, a quiet man with a disagreement with one of his neighbours wakes one night with the realization that three masked intruders on his property are intent on firebombing his home. And when the man confronts the three, shooting a warning shot into the air above their heads, he is charged with an indictable offence.

"I was horrified. I couldn't believe it. I didn't know what was happening. I had no idea what was going on", said Ian Thomson of southwestern Ontario, describing his reaction witnessing three masked men in the process of firebombing his Port Colborne home. He has proof; videos of his attackers throwing six Molotov cocktails at his house - and doghouse, singeing one of his dogs.

It was the video footage, handed over to Niagara Regional Police that gave the police evidence they would use to charge him with careless use of a firearm. Mr. Thomson is a target shooter and a hunting-safety instructor; he did not aim directly at the intruders intent on killing him by arson. But his collection of guns was taken from him, along with his firearms license.

"If the public are (sic) wondering can you run out of your house and [fire a handgun at an intruder], the bottom line is, according to the laws of Canada, no, you can't", archly explained Constable Nilan Dave of the Niagara Regional Police Service. "That's why the courts are there, to give a person an opportunity to explain their actions."

Much consolation that is to Mr. Thomson, who was put in fear for his life by the violently malicious event. He will be most interested to hear the reasons why two men who were complete strangers to him decided to firebomb his home, and were not the least bit perturbed that the man sleeping inside the home might be burned alive.