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Lawmakers added $1 to car insurance policies. That money paid for Flock cameras

texastribune.org

81–90 of 324 posts

Re: Lawmakers added $1 to car insurance policies. That money paid for Flock cameras

#81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Texas I'm surprised it's not legal to shoot a catalytic converter thief if caught in the act. That's what they used to do for cattle rustlers.

I would love to live in a world where thieves feared for their lives.

This is why Texas has the lowest rate of crime in the US.

Re: Lawmakers added $1 to car insurance policies. That money paid for Flock cameras

#82
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I kill you over a $2K catalytic converter, my sanity is gone. I could never sleep at night without thinking about what I have done.' A life is worth a lot more than $2k for my sanity.

It's not just $2k lost here. There's a lot to be said about the immeasurable value of a high-trust society. As another commenter said: It's incredibly easy to not get shot; don't burglarize someone's home the same way you wouldn't jump in front of a moving train.

Holding the threat of death over people isn't the way to a "high-trust society." Maybe you think it's the way to something similar, but you have to give up the word "trust" because it doesn't apply here. If the only reason I think a man isn't going to rob me is because I will shoot him if he does, I don't trust that man.

A society which only has low crime because everyone is able to use lethal force to defend themselves and their property isn't one I would call higher "trust" than one that maintains the same crime levels without that threat.

Re: Lawmakers added $1 to car insurance policies. That money paid for Flock cameras

#83
post #63
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A catalytic converter can be replaced, a life cannot. So don't go around stealing catalytic converters. Same deal with states with "stand your ground laws". It's astonishingly easy to not get shot: don't invade someone's home. And on the "replacing" part- on whose dime? What if someone's only means of transportation is affected, and they lose wages or outright lose their job? Are you going to pay for it? Of course…

> Same deal with states with "stand your ground laws". It's astonishingly easy to not get shot: don't invade someone's home. Florida road rage incident leaves 2 girls shot after fathers' stand-your-ground gunfight https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/florida-road-rage-incident-...

I was referring to homes. This situation likely could've been avoided by not engaging in recklessly stupid behavior like road rage and escalating the situation (with one's family present, to boot).

Also, a news article of some random altercation doesn't change anything about what I said: It's simply impossible to be shot (or clubbed, or beaten up, or whatever) by someone in their home for invading, if you never invade people's homes in the first place. So don't do that. And don't steal catalytic converters either.

Re: Lawmakers added $1 to car insurance policies. That money paid for Flock cameras

#84

For a country that staged a revolution over a tea tax modern Americans sure seem to love having their rights trampled.

Because many people agree with having cameras to help reduce/monitor crimes.

From their views, the right isn't trampled. It's a win

Re: Lawmakers added $1 to car insurance policies. That money paid for Flock cameras

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to voting turnout: yes. That's the thing the 70+ year old voterbase learned from their peak working year. And yet there are still so many working class people who try to profess how "voting is useless, it doesn't change anything".

In American style representative democracy there certainly are places where voting is useless depending on your political affiliation.

Useless because everyone around you genuinely thinks differently from you? Or useless because said 70+ yo retired asset owners with more means to vote without more than the working class?

Big difference in issue. You can't gerrymander a local bill so those kinds of votes are arguably more important than nationals. And you'd be surprised how big a difference a visit with a few dozen of your peers can make to a townhall meeting. That's something we seem to forget until our backs are truly to a wall.

Re: Lawmakers added $1 to car insurance policies. That money paid for Flock cameras

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Texas I'm surprised it's not legal to shoot a catalytic converter thief if caught in the act. That's what they used to do for cattle rustlers.

My comment may sound cliché, but I genuinely believe this, no material possession is worth more than a human life. A catalytic converter can be replaced, a life cannot.

Life is pretty easy to make actually

Re: Lawmakers added $1 to car insurance policies. That money paid for Flock cameras

#88
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My comment may sound cliché, but I genuinely believe this, no material possession is worth more than a human life. A catalytic converter can be replaced, a life cannot.

> A catalytic converter can be replaced, a life cannot. So don't go around stealing catalytic converters. Same deal with states with "stand your ground laws". It's astonishingly easy to not get shot: don't invade someone's home. And on the "replacing" part- on whose dime? What if someone's only means of transportation is affected, and they lose wages or outright lose their job? Are you going to pay for it? Of course…

Yeah. There were times in my life I would have put my life on the line (and that of the thief) to defend my vehicle and the tools within it. Those fed myself and my family. I would have had no reasonable means to replace my tools, and barely reasonable means to replace the damage a catalytic converter theft would have caused me.

Today it's trivially easy for me to say "property can be replaced, a life cannot" since I am exceedingly privileged. I would not put my life, or anyone else's on the line to defend anything but my and my family's personal safety. But I remember what it was like to not be so ridiculously privileged. So I get it.

Only someone who has never lived a hard day in their life can spew such stuff at other folks. It's entirely circumstantial.

The laws should reflect the prior case, not the privileged one. At least if you want to disincentivize criminal behavior.

Re: Lawmakers added $1 to car insurance policies. That money paid for Flock cameras

#90
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Legal” murder makes absolutely no sense. If its legal its not murder. You mean “legally kill”

It can also mean unjustified/immoral killing, which can be a useful definition (otherwise e.g. a true dictator can never murder anyone).

That’s not a useful definition in a democracy. Who gets to define what’s justified if not the duly elected legislature? I bet if you put the current Texas law on the ballot today you’d get the same answer.
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