Robber Defended by Illiterate Product of Our Schools

I am always interested in news about ordinary citizens defending themselves from violent criminals. The following was reported by WFTV, Orange County, Florida on July 25:

Deputies say Miguel Jimenez was walking into his apartment at Villa Tuscany near Ocoee when 18-year-old Andri Benjamin ran up, put a gun in his face and tried to rob him.
But Jimenez was carrying a loaded revolver and a concealed weapons permit to go along with it.
He pulled his gun out and shot Benjamin several times, killing him.

There are lots of these stories. But what really struck me was to be found in the comments section in which nearly all commenters said that the would-be robber had it coming:

U guys are racist and has no heart bra that was my friend who got shot and killed me and him went to the same school we was in the same class telling jokes and we graduated togther. he had job i dont know why he did somthing like this but this is life everybody makes mistake. but to that guy Miguel Jimenez you didnt have to shoot my homeboi seven time you could at least shot him at leg but new you gonna shoot my dawg seven time to he bleed and die. now i got to go to my dawg funeral what type of stuff this since you all big and bad why you aint shoot the other victim.this is bull but i aint got say no more imma let GOD handel this. R.I.PAndri Benjamin

Jul. 26, 2009 11:34pm EDT | from zoe

Wow. "... me and him went to the same school we was in the same class ...." What does that say about the robber, given the literacy shown by Zoe?

Why should a guy get killed just for making a mistake like shoving a gun in a victim's face? What a thought process we see in the likes of Zoe.

As for Zoe's logic against all the racists who think robbers who shove guns in victims faces deserve to get shot, "why you aint shoot the other victim[?]" The other robber who did not get shot is a "victim" now? By the way, the race of the deceased criminal was not mentioned in the print article.

Watch it folks, the schools are letting the Zoes of the world out on the street. And they are voting, too.

New Constitutional Right?

Every state, as far as I know, recognizes a right to self-defense as a matter of state law. Nowhere in the United States Constitution is there an enumerated right of self-defense. The Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution -- long (and foolishly) disliked by certain conservatives because of its use to support a woman's right to have an abortion -- states, "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." Will a right of self-defense be the next unenumerated right recognized by the courts?

An interesting blog run by Law Professor Eugene Volokh discusses whether self-defense is now a constitutional right implied by the Heller v. District of Columbia decision that struck down DC's gun ban in part to permit self defense in the home.