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Training and Use of Lethal Force...Lesson 12
RugerNiner
Member Posts: 12,636 ✭✭✭
LESSON #12
A Stranger in Your Home
The issue is complex, and gun magazines try to tell us how to deal with a stranger in our home. Those experts fail to take into account that there are many reasons a total stranger can be in your home and NOT break a single law. You can't shoot someone just for being IN your house or ON your property.
Yes, there are "make my day" laws, but the gun writers don't tell you about the folks in jail or court for trying to take advantage of such laws.
If you ask a police officer, they can tell you about common and frequent calls from citizens who find strangers in their home for very legal reasons. That seems hard to grasp, but it is very true.
Take the example of this call. A frantic homeowner reports a stranger in their home. When police arrive the man is seated in the kitchen. Officers approach with caution and ask the man who he is. His answer is mumbled and they note a hospital band on his arm. He had walked away from a nearby rest home and wandered into the house. He has violated NO law. Yes, you should be concerned for your safety in such cases, but he posed no threat. He couldn't be shot just for sitting in the kitchen.
Most trespass laws require you to tell the person to leave before the law kicks in. It is hard to find a trespass law that is a felony. Most are minor crimes.
Some will claim they have a law allowing lethal force to protect property or prevent trespass. You just keep thinking that and you will find yourself in deep legal peril. Besides, shooting someone for trespass or a property crime is rather silly and not wise. Is that VCR worth $10,000 in legal fees to prove you are right?
Drunks frequently walk into wrong apartments, or the wrong house. Again, it is not worth shooting someone for that. They can wander in at any hour. Drunks and those with mental problems have little respect for time.
Also keep in mind that 85% or MORE of all home burglaries are via UNLOCKED front doors. This is where they just walk in and take what they want and leave.
The concept that we will be dealing with an armed and/or insane gang-banger caving in our door in the middle of the night are rather far fetched but not impossible.
The gun community has taken a beating when gun owners have shot friends or family members thinking they were intruders. A lot of that problem is from the machismo and bravado of protecting MY property.
Self-defense is SELF defense, not property defense. Many will argue that a criminal will hurt you if they are involved in a criminal act. That is valid, and we have a right to protect ourselves from potential threats but not for the retention of a stereo.
If you buy into the "shoot anyone I don't know in my home" you are in serious trouble. Shooting at shadows and unidentified targets is asking for trouble. As a police officer we got numerous calls of strangers in homes that turned out to be unexpected guests, family members and others that entered the home unknown or unexpected by the occupants.
Teenagers will invite other teens into the homes at odd hours or without your permission. In one case a young girl invited a young boy to come into the house after the parents went to sleep. He watched the parent's bedroom lights go off and waited a while and then crawled in via a window that was left open. The father decided to go to the bathroom and discovered the youth climbing in a window. The father got a gun and held the youth at gunpoint until we got there.
First of all, the youth violated NO laws. Crawling in a side window is NOT illegal. He was also an INVITED guess into the house. Sometimes teens don't understand the consequences of their actions. This sort of thing has all the makings of a disaster. If you recall your teens I think you can look back and ask if you would be involved in such an event.
One of our students was in his new home when he heard voices in his basement. He went down the steps and confronted three adults. It seems a real estate agent didn't know the home was sold and entered via a back door with the key in the lock box on the fence and didn't see a sold sign on the front. Such incidents are not uncommon.
Maybe you have never had such a case in your background. There may be one in your future however.
If you live in an apartment you may have people floating around with keys if the locks were not changed. A student of ours moved into a condo and a month later had a man, woman and three kids walk in around 7:00 a.m. Shocked by the invasion the student asked the family to explain how they walked in. The family was also shocked. It seems the man's brother lived in the complex but moved down a few doors and had given his brother the key years ago.
Before they left home the family asked, "still live in the same place?" The brother replied he still did, but failed to mention he moved a few doors away and forgot they had a key. Again, a formula for a potential disaster unless the gun owner is very aware that strangers in your home is not a shooting situation.
One well known gun writer said, "if someone is in your home you can do pretty much what you want with them." Someone should ask him to pay the legal bills for you. It just isn't realistic or logical.
Remember...Terrorist are attacking Civilians; Not the Government. Protect Yourself!
A Stranger in Your Home
The issue is complex, and gun magazines try to tell us how to deal with a stranger in our home. Those experts fail to take into account that there are many reasons a total stranger can be in your home and NOT break a single law. You can't shoot someone just for being IN your house or ON your property.
Yes, there are "make my day" laws, but the gun writers don't tell you about the folks in jail or court for trying to take advantage of such laws.
If you ask a police officer, they can tell you about common and frequent calls from citizens who find strangers in their home for very legal reasons. That seems hard to grasp, but it is very true.
Take the example of this call. A frantic homeowner reports a stranger in their home. When police arrive the man is seated in the kitchen. Officers approach with caution and ask the man who he is. His answer is mumbled and they note a hospital band on his arm. He had walked away from a nearby rest home and wandered into the house. He has violated NO law. Yes, you should be concerned for your safety in such cases, but he posed no threat. He couldn't be shot just for sitting in the kitchen.
Most trespass laws require you to tell the person to leave before the law kicks in. It is hard to find a trespass law that is a felony. Most are minor crimes.
Some will claim they have a law allowing lethal force to protect property or prevent trespass. You just keep thinking that and you will find yourself in deep legal peril. Besides, shooting someone for trespass or a property crime is rather silly and not wise. Is that VCR worth $10,000 in legal fees to prove you are right?
Drunks frequently walk into wrong apartments, or the wrong house. Again, it is not worth shooting someone for that. They can wander in at any hour. Drunks and those with mental problems have little respect for time.
Also keep in mind that 85% or MORE of all home burglaries are via UNLOCKED front doors. This is where they just walk in and take what they want and leave.
The concept that we will be dealing with an armed and/or insane gang-banger caving in our door in the middle of the night are rather far fetched but not impossible.
The gun community has taken a beating when gun owners have shot friends or family members thinking they were intruders. A lot of that problem is from the machismo and bravado of protecting MY property.
Self-defense is SELF defense, not property defense. Many will argue that a criminal will hurt you if they are involved in a criminal act. That is valid, and we have a right to protect ourselves from potential threats but not for the retention of a stereo.
If you buy into the "shoot anyone I don't know in my home" you are in serious trouble. Shooting at shadows and unidentified targets is asking for trouble. As a police officer we got numerous calls of strangers in homes that turned out to be unexpected guests, family members and others that entered the home unknown or unexpected by the occupants.
Teenagers will invite other teens into the homes at odd hours or without your permission. In one case a young girl invited a young boy to come into the house after the parents went to sleep. He watched the parent's bedroom lights go off and waited a while and then crawled in via a window that was left open. The father decided to go to the bathroom and discovered the youth climbing in a window. The father got a gun and held the youth at gunpoint until we got there.
First of all, the youth violated NO laws. Crawling in a side window is NOT illegal. He was also an INVITED guess into the house. Sometimes teens don't understand the consequences of their actions. This sort of thing has all the makings of a disaster. If you recall your teens I think you can look back and ask if you would be involved in such an event.
One of our students was in his new home when he heard voices in his basement. He went down the steps and confronted three adults. It seems a real estate agent didn't know the home was sold and entered via a back door with the key in the lock box on the fence and didn't see a sold sign on the front. Such incidents are not uncommon.
Maybe you have never had such a case in your background. There may be one in your future however.
If you live in an apartment you may have people floating around with keys if the locks were not changed. A student of ours moved into a condo and a month later had a man, woman and three kids walk in around 7:00 a.m. Shocked by the invasion the student asked the family to explain how they walked in. The family was also shocked. It seems the man's brother lived in the complex but moved down a few doors and had given his brother the key years ago.
Before they left home the family asked, "still live in the same place?" The brother replied he still did, but failed to mention he moved a few doors away and forgot they had a key. Again, a formula for a potential disaster unless the gun owner is very aware that strangers in your home is not a shooting situation.
One well known gun writer said, "if someone is in your home you can do pretty much what you want with them." Someone should ask him to pay the legal bills for you. It just isn't realistic or logical.
Remember...Terrorist are attacking Civilians; Not the Government. Protect Yourself!
Keep your Powder dry and your Musket well oiled.
NRA Lifetime Benefactor Member.
NRA Lifetime Benefactor Member.
Comments
Remember...Terrorist are attacking Civilians; Not the Government. Protect Yourself!
NRA Lifetime Benefactor Member.