Mrs. Smallholder has always been a big fan of firearm control.

The Foreign Minister will recall our heated college debates over the Second Amendment. I was always firmly convinced that the “well-regulated” part of the Second Amendment gave the (state) government the power to, well, regulate, firearm ownership and use. But I admitted that rifles and shotguns ought to be available to the citizenry (not as a right but as a reasonable tool). Mrs. Smallholder wanted to get rid of all the guns.

It is remarkable what farm life will do for you.

When the Maximum Leader and I were decrying the New Orleans gun seizures on the phone, we digressed, as we are wont to do, toward self-protection laws.

Evidently, Louisiana law says you may not use force to stop property crime.

In Virginia, you can shoot a burglar who is in your home. The assumption is that you have a reasonable concern about the safety of your family in the midst of a property crime.

In Virginia, you are also allowed - nay, required - to shoot dogs harassing your livestock.

So I posited the question to Mike: If I looked out my window and saw cattle rustlers trying to load Bonnie into the back of their truck, would I legally be allowed to shoot them?

The Maximum Leader and I regretfully concluded that I would probably get in serious legal trouble because the thieves were not physically inside my domicile.

My dear pacifist wife, th one who didn’t want me to get the .307, piped up from the peanut gallery:

“Who cares if it’s legal? If someone tries to steal our cow, shoot them. We’ve got pigs. Who’s going to know?”