Trying to understand the situation.

If this was a western movie and the main characters were an Outlaw and a Sheriff, then what has happened so far is that: Some time ago the outlaw Sad Man rode to the neighbors ranch and was going to take over the household but the neighbor sent a message to the Sheriff with the big gun. The Sheriff responded to the call for help and sent a posse to drive the outlaw away from the ranch and back to his own ranch.

The outlaw’s habits and deeds were investigated and it was agreed that he was a real bad dude, like he even mistreated his own ranch hands.

After a while the Sheriff gave the big gun to his brother with the approval of the towns people.

Now the new Sheriff with the big gun didn’t like the Outlaw and the fact that the Outlaw still had some small guns and the suspicion was that the Outlaw may have been building some big guns of his own. So, the new sheriff recruited some men and surrounded the Outlaw’s ranch, then he said to Sad Man; I want to see all the work that you have done and all material that you have used in making the big guns. The Outlaw responded that he did not have any big guns and was not making any such things. Outlaws are usually notorious liars so it was agreed to send inspectors to find out if he was telling the truth.
The ranch is very big and it is difficult to inspect every part thoroughly, besides he could have hidden the evidence. Little bit of time has passed and so far no significant ‘big guns’ have been found.

Will the sheriff shoot the outlaw anyway? Will other ranchers approve the shooting of one outlaw? Will the outlaw’s ranch hands retaliate? Can the outlaw get other ranchers on his side?
To be continued.

Perhaps the Sheriff should ask the Outlaw to surrender and come out peacefully or force would be used to get him out.

Questions still remain: The town’s people should know how bad the Outlaw is. Is he a constant danger to the neighbors? Can he build big guns? Can he destroy or disrupt the operation of the Sheriff’s office? What are his motives for doing the bad things that he does?

If the situation was only a story, it would be easy to put an ending to it that would be happy or exiting or sad, but since it is reality the outcome is difficult to predict. Usually aggression breeds retaliation and that feeds on itself. Kind of a never-ending story.

One thing is certain, if war brakes out people will die.

Johannes