At some point in their lives, all little boys want to be cowboys. Most grow out of it. And then there’s the Oregon House.
On Monday, the House passed a resolution making “the Code of the West” the “model of conduct in [the] State of Oregon.” The “Code of the West” is a mix of platitudes (“Do what has to be done”) and obscure precepts (“Ride for the brand” – WTF?) that’s pretty bland in itself. But do our legislators really have nothing better to do these days than play cowboy?
Yippee ki-ay and WTF?
This article appears in Mar 31 – Apr 6, 2011.
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What this means, among other things, is in the state of Oregon, you can use necessary force in defense of yourself, your property and your family. Unlike some other states where in order to avoid incarceration you must prove that you exhausted every possible recourse, including abandoning your property before you resorted to force in your defense. In Oregon you can stand your ground and use whatever force is required in defense of yourself and your family. You don’t have to run away and hide like a California yuppie, and if you can realistically say “I feared for my life” You can kill the son of a bitch! So Yippee ki-ay and WTF right back at ya asshole. In this case they got it right!