Question about defending your home in Los Angeles (attorney, house)

[West of Encino]

What should people in Los Angeles, or Southern California, do if someone tries to break into their home?

I guess by now, LA is getting strict with firearms. Booby traps are illegel. I heard that homeowners are now getting arrested if they terminated an intruder.

Would it be best to rig your home with a security alarms and systems? Hire security guards?

[jeepejeep]

Yes, get a good alarm installed and get a BIG dog. Rottie or bigger. A determined criminal can pick up even a shepherd and break it's back. It's been done. As for defending yourself with a gun in The Peoples Republik Of California, you're on your own but if you shoot someone, you will be punished for it. Cal. just ain't America any more.

[Charles]

Do you want the least overall risk?

Don't get a gun and don't get a potentially vicious dog. Statistics indicate you are more likely to be shot by that gun or that gun will be involved in an accidental shooting than it will be used to defend you during an intrusion.

That dog is more likely to bite some kid and, besides possibly disfiguring him for life, place your estate in a litigious situation.

Alarms are not too expensive if you've already got your house wired (we pay about $32/month for ADT).

Outdoor lighting, motion sensors, neatly trimmed bushes, etc.

Protection Or Peril? Gun Possession Of Questionable Value In An Assault, Study Finds

[ferretkona]

Originally Posted by Charles

,,,Don't get a gun and don't get a potentially vicious dog. Statistics indicate you are more likely to be shot by that gun or that gun will be involved in an accidental shooting than it will be used to defend you during an intrusion.

That dog is more likely to bite some kid and, besides possibly disfiguring him for life, place your estate in a litigious situation.,,

Yeaaaa, I am calling bs on that, you are going to have to show your source for these "statistics". Both for the firearms and dogs. Course you might have some unfriendly firearms there in Alabama.

Anyone in my home un-invited will receive a free bullet in their forehead. I would rather the intruder carried out on a gurney than I. If I am arrested, my attorney will have me out soon enough, he would have a hell of a time getting me out of the morgue.

The law states a burglary at night is a armed robbery, no weapon needs to be seen to shoot first.

[West of Encino]

Originally Posted by Charles

Do you want the least overall risk?

Don't get a gun and don't get a potentially vicious dog. Statistics indicate you are more likely to be shot by that gun or that gun will be involved in an accidental shooting than it will be used to defend you during an intrusion.

That dog is more likely to bite some kid and, besides possibly disfiguring him for life, place your estate in a litigious situation.

Alarms are not too expensive if you've already got your house wired (we pay about $32/month for ADT).

Outdoor lighting, motion sensors, neatly trimmed bushes, etc.

Protection Or Peril? Gun Possession Of Questionable Value In An Assault, Study Finds

What about baseball bats?

[ferretkona]

Originally Posted by West of Encino

What about baseball bats?

For the homeowner or the robber?
I will stick with my Glock.

[West of Encino]

Originally Posted by ferretkona

For the homeowner or the robber?
I will stick with my Glock.

For the homeowners. Also, I believe their windows should be made out of plastic and a attractive looking steel door for the front.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by ferretkona

show your source for these "statistics".

Study Shows Those Armed More Likely To Be Shot | CommonDreams.org

Penn Medicine News: Protection or Peril? Gun Possession of Questionable Value in an Assault

Women Against Gun Violence

[bhcompy]

Pump action shotgun is a great deterrent. The sound of cocking it alone and the ease of aiming and destruction it causes to ones body makes it perfect for deterring someone from trying anything if you manage to get your weapon. As far as use, if you feel threatened you are allowed to use deadly force.

Summary of the law:

California Penal Code § 198.5 sets forth that unlawful, forcible entry into one's residence by someone not a member of the household creates the presumption that the resident held a reasonable fear of imminent peril of death or great bodily injury should he or she use deadly force against the intruder. This would make the homicide justifiable under CPC § 197. CALCRIM 506 gives the instruction, "A defendant is not required to retreat. He or she is entitled to stand his or her ground and defend himself or herself and, if reasonably necessary, to pursue an assailant until the danger ... has passed. This is so even if safety could have been achieved by retreating." However, it also states that "[People v. Ceballos] specifically held that burglaries which 'do not reasonably create a fear of great bodily harm' are not sufficient 'cause for exaction of human life.'”

Jury instructions a judge will give in trial:

506. Justifiable Homicide: Defending Against Harm to Person Within Home or on Property

The defendant is not guilty of (murder/ [or] manslaughter/attempted murder/ [or] attempted voluntary manslaughter) if (he/she) (killed/attempted to kill) to defend (himself/herself) [or anyother person] in the defendant’s home. Such (a/an) [attempted]killing is justified, and therefore not unlawful, if:

1. The defendant reasonably believed that (he/she) was defending a home against <insert name of decedent>, who (intended to or tried to
commit ___________ <insert forcible and atrocious crime>/[or] violently[[,] [or] riotously[,]/ [or] tumultuously] tried to enter that home intending to commit an act of violence against someone inside);

2. The defendant reasonably believed that the danger was
imminent;

3. The defendant reasonably believed that the use of deadly
force was necessary to defend against the danger;

AND

4. The defendant used no more force than was reasonably
necessary to defend against the danger.

Belief in future harm is not sufficient, no matter how great or how likely the harm is believed to be. The defendant must have believed there was imminent danger of violence to (himself/herself/[or] someone else). Defendant’s belief must have been reasonable and (he/she) must have acted only because of that belief. The defendant is only entitled to use that amount of force that a reasonable person would believe is necessary in the same situation. If the defendant used more force than was reasonable, then the [attempted] killing was not justified.

When deciding whether the defendant’s beliefs were reasonable, consider all the circumstances as they were known to and appeared to the defendant and consider what a reasonable person in a similar situation with similar knowledge would have believed. If the defendant’s beliefs were reasonable, the danger does not need to have actually existed.

[A defendant is not required to retreat. He or she is entitled to stand his or her ground and defend himself or herself and, if reasonably necessary, to pursue an assailant until the danger of (death/bodily injury/ <insert forcible and atrocious crime>) has passed. This is so even if safety could have been achieved by retreating.]

The People have the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the [attempted] killing was not justified. If the People have not met this burden, you must find the defendant not guilty of [attempted] (murder/ [or] manslaughter).

[uptown_urbanist]

Originally Posted by bhcompy

Pump action shotgun is a great deterrent. The sound of cocking it alone and the ease of aiming and destruction it causes to ones body makes it perfect for deterring someone from trying anything if you manage to get your weapon.

:

I always wondered, but have never bothered looking into, whether they sell something that makes that noise without actually being a gun? It seems like there'd be a market for that...

I've seen target practice papers (demonstrating good aim) posted up on peoples' windows in LA. It made a graphic point.

Our technique is just to keep the doors locked, have a motion detecting light, and know our neighbors. I'm amazed at reading police reports just how many of the reported burglaries involve people who left a window open or a door unlocked while they went to work. Common sense precautions can go a long way towards prevention, since in most cases burglars are looking for easy opportunities. My parents recently had an attempted break-in; they had safety pins in their windows, so the burglars went on to the next house.