In the 80’s it was New York City’s Bernhard Goetz. Now, in 21st Century America, we have Houston’s Joe Horn. There is no question that Joe Horn ended the lives of the two men he watched stealing from his neighbor. Horn shot the two men killing them both. Joe Horn pushed outside, directly defying instructions from a 911 dispatcher to stay safely inside his home as police arrival was imminent. The police arrived on scene seconds after Joe Horn had killed the two men.

More than two weeks after these killings; no charges have been filed against Horn.

The entire 911 calls between Joe Horn and dispatcher. He called back after killing the two men.

Have Americans gotten so attached to “stuff” that it’s okay to take a human life to protect that “stuff” even if it’s not your “stuff”? Or is this about something else? Is this about the illusion of powerlessness against crime and criminals?

“What’s missed in all this rhetoric,” wrote Kay Walton of Houston, “is that the general public is fed up with being victimized by thugs, punks, and trash who prey on defenseless people.” But are these people’s fears justified? How bad is the crime in Houston? And what is it about Texans that leads many of us to believe Horn’s actions were justified? I posed the question to some sociologists, attorneys and a criminologist.

Stephen Klineberg, a sociology professor at Rice University, suggested it was part of our culture to see things in terms of good and evil and feel a compulsion to take the law into our own hands. “With all our sophistication, we’re still a part of the Old West,” Klineberg said.

Our laws, including the recently passed “castle doctrine,” seem to underscore that fact. Texas is among a minority of states that allow their citizens to use deadly force to protect not just life but property under certain circumstances.

As far as crime goes, Klineberg notes that, according to his Houston Area Survey, crime has eclipsed traffic and the economy as the issue people see as the region’s biggest problem.

But is it really? Bob Walsh, professor of criminal justice at the University of Houston, says that despite the media hype and politicians’ focus on crime in campaign speeches, perception is not always reality.

As my colleagues Matt Stiles and Mike Glenn reported in October, the rate of all violent crimes — murders, rapes, aggravated assaults and robberies — decreased 20 percent from 1990 to 2006. The drop in the nonviolent crime rate, such as burglaries, thefts and stolen vehicles, is even more dramatic: about 42 percent.

That said, I suppose I could keep trying to roll my Sisyphean rock up the hill and keep insisting that it’s a bad thing to kill other people when we don’t have to.

But maybe I’d be better off leaving you with the comments of Patrick McCann, president of the Harris County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.

“At the risk of being quoted, I’m not going to weep for those two,” he said of the burglars. “I guess what this comes down to, was this good judgment? No. Was it legal? Probably. Is it something that anyone is going to indict him for? Probably not.

“We are in Texas. Things are different here.” Missing trees for the forest, Lisa Falkenberg, Houston Chronicle

Another question: Honestly now, do YOU think a black man shooting two white men dead after declaring “I’m going to kill ‘em.” to a 911 dispatcher would still be walking the streets of Texas?

Your turn.