Most of us have been entertained by one of the many TV shows poking fun at the world’s dumbest criminals, but it can’t be very much fun to be one of those would-be lawbreakers.
That’s exactly how the young man must have felt last week after trying to break into Eric Zamora’s house in Lake of the Woods in Orange County. Zamora, a former amateur boxer and the head trainer at Zamora’s Boxing Gym in Culpeper, didn’t exactly invite the young man he described as “reeking of alcohol” in with open arms.
Zamora confronted the man around 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 5 with his wife and two young daughters in the house and put his training to use, striking the would-be intruder and holding him down until the authorities arrived.
We’re not saying what Zamora did was right or wrong, but the incident does raise an interesting question: How far do you have the right to go to defend your family and home?
Virginia may not always officially recognize the full scope of Castle Laws, those that protect people from prosecution when defending themselves from attack in their home, but deadly force is often used in the Commonwealth without prosecution when people fear their lives are in jeopardy.
Zamora knew the dangers of confronting the stranger on his property. The man could have had a gun or been just as well trained. But he made the decision to protect his family, and can anyone really argue with that?
We’re not saying citizens should run out and start fighting crime in some sort of vigilante frenzy, but we’re also not saying that we should stand idly by while ourselves or our loved ones become victims.
At some point in our lives we may all be faced with a fight or flight situation, and we have to decide for ourselves if what we’re protecting justifies the risk.
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