What is the law? Shoot 'em or not?

[anifani821]

Originally Posted by hbaxter

When they bust down your front door, they are in your face with guns so quick, you would not be thinking of where is my pepper spray, or my freeze gun. You would have to be waiting at both doors with a gun before they come in and they come in when they think you have gone to bed or retiring for bed.

That is so scary. Did they come in your front door? How awful. No, you wouldn't hardly have time to do much at all except try to figure out what the noise was. By then, they would be right at you, I would guess.

Do you have any idea why they WANT people to be home? I flat out asked a police officer about this and he said they dont want to waste time looking for stuff - they want the residents at home so they can intimidate them into telling them exactly where to go to get whatever they want.

In one case, I was told they asked the homeowner for his car keys and then loaded up the car with the stuff they took out of the house!!!!

I don't know about everyone else, but I don't keep but a few dollars of cash in the house. I bet I never have more than $40 at any one time. SO if they are thinking they are gonna get money, they would just get mad at me, cause I don't keep cash around. And I have a safety deposit box where I keep anything valuable (like jewelry).

It used to be robbers only came in when they knew no one was at home.

[Metallisteve]

For those that think shooting someone just because they're stealing your stuff is not cool...let me put it into perspective...

Whether the intruder is armed or not, they've made a conscious decision to do something illegal...and if they know someone is home, they've made a decision to instill enough fear into another person as to make them think they may die. In my opinion, that's just as bad as holding a gun to their head (and I could argue, pulling the trigger too). For that reason, anyone who attempts to break into a home should be treated as a lethal threat. There can't be a set amount of circumstances or time that has to be met before a law abiding innocent homeowner can determine to shoot or not. That'll make that person a DEAD law abiding innocent homeowner. And this is where Castle Doctrine comes into play. It basically up's the ante for the bad guys by saying if they want to kick in a door, know that the owner is allowed to shoot to kill...and your family will have zero recourse against them in civil court.

There is an ultra-fine line in the mental make-up of someone who just wants to steal your crap and run and someone who wants to kill you. The person who just wants to smash and grab may teeter to the bad side of that line in an instant, unknown to those around them. Corner them, let them hear the police outside, let the cocaine in their system kick in (or go away and leave them freaked out)...any number of things can make the situation go from scary to life threatening. And because the homeowner was sitting there minding their own business until the thug came along and decided to put them into this awful scenario, the homeowner should ALWAYS have the upper hand when it comes to laws and outcomes...including being able to eliminate that threat from the moment it appears. Every second that elapses between the appearance of the threat and the elimination of it grows the possibility of bad things happening to the homeowner exponentially--so why should a homeowner have to think twice about defending their life and property? Simply playing passive and accepting what happens is not an option. If this were an acceptable mentality, we'd all be paying high taxes on tea and speaking with a funny British accent!