The Maryanne Godboldo question: When do parents have the right to shoot back against state-sponsored kidnappers?
The story of Maryanne Godboldo and how armed government agents broke down her door and attempted to kidnap her daughter because she wouldn’t feed her psychiatric drugs brings to light an important question: When is it justified to shoot back? I’ll explore both sides of this argument here and then share my own views. On the “shoot back” side of the argument, this woman had every right to defend herself against armed assailants who were engaged in acts of violence (breaking down her door) and who conspired to kidnap her daughter. In the legal world, the term “conspiracy” simply means more than one person was involved in planning the event. This was, without question, a conspiracy to kidnap a human being.