on kodiak island in alaska, there is one cigarette vending machine located in the cafeteria of a local fish processing plant [cannery, baby!] the trick was to go lateish at night, when very few souls were around.

this was extraordinarily frightening, given the fairly long journey through brightly-lit hallways to get to the cafeteria, and the ancient machine's inability to accept anything except quarters, and the loud crashing jangle the change machine next to the cig machine made.

ahh, memories. glad it didnt have age-verification. it even gave you free captain's keg-printed matchbooks if you pressed the button hard enough, even though the captain's keg closed twenty years earlier.

actual*

definitely self-defense.

have any of the 'he's a murderer' set actually been burglarized? do you know the pain, frustration and anguish of coming home to a house that has been ransacked? the disgust at your most valuable possessions taken by lazy, shiftless, or desperate scum? indifferent police officers who wearily, dutifully ask for figures and serial numbers, promise to follow up and never do? children growing who will never receive that heirloom ruby ring or fifth-generation gold pocketwatch?

well, i have, and if i'd had a clear shot at the backsides of my robbers, i would have delighted in taking it. thank God i live in alaska, where you have the right to protect your life and property and that of your neighbors whenever it, not you, is threatened.

and i have not heard of a single case of children, friends, or spouses being mistaken for burglars and shot. plenty of actualy, nasty burglers taken down, though :)