I agree that Knight went to far, but also, from his side, I get it. Still though, too far.
What I wanted to put out there for many in this thread is that there is a difference between living in a highly urban area and lving in the country. RCMP response times are longer and it is far easier for thiefs to dissappear down back roads, oil leases, etc. The chances of getting caught are far smaller as there are also less people to see, which makes areas like this prime targets for thiefs stealing machinery, ATVs or fuel - which can have huge economic and impact on people. It's also not the type of setting where your ball goes into your neighbour's yard (which is usually a 1/2 mile away) or you cut through their farmyard as a shortcut (the only place to generally go from their farmyard is their fields). If a stranger is in your farmyard, particularly at night and hasn't come straight to your house, there's little chance that they're up to anything good. Almost zero.
While it's not the wild west anymore, there is still an independence in rural alberta unlike that in the cities (I've lived in both and currently live in a more rural area). People are used to being self-sustaining in more ways that just economics and most have guns whether for hunting, predator control or fun. Sidebar - We get calls regularly from people complaining that their neighbour is going to shoot their dog. There's not much we can do as it's completely legal in this Province to shoot a dog that is harassing your livestock. Combine guns, frustration, independence and a spark (in this case a guy stealing an ATV) and bad things happen.
Again, while I don't agree with what Knight did, I think that there needs to be some cognizance that using examples of things in a city are often not good comparators to what happens in the country, even though philosophies being applied to those actions are the same. Just putting some of that out there.
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