An ounce of prevention

[mox 298]

Castle laws do vary, but one thing is constant: they have a lot harder time finding a good lawyer to sue your аss if they're dead.

[Brad and Vika 129]

Castle laws do vary, but one thing is constant: they have a lot harder time finding a good lawyer to sue your аss if they're dead.

True, you can sometimes avoid a civil suit. But what good does that do you if the City Attorney has you in jail?

[mox 298]

Castle laws do vary, but one thing is constant: they have a lot harder time finding a good lawyer to sue your аss if they're dead.

True, you can sometimes avoid a civil suit. But what good does that do you if the City Attorney has you in jail?

I actually forgot to add that when it's your word against his, you win by default if he's a corpse.

[Brad and Vika 129]

Castle laws do vary, but one thing is constant: they have a lot harder time finding a good lawyer to sue your аss if they're dead.

True, you can sometimes avoid a civil suit. But what good does that do you if the City Attorney has you in jail?

I actually forgot to add that when it's your word against his, you win by default if he's a corpse.

But Castle refers to location as much as perceived threat. What I meant was just don't shoot Korat on the porch if Castle doesn't cover that where you live.

[mox 298]

But Castle refers to location as much as perceived threat. What I meant was just don't shoot Korat on the porch if Castle doesn't cover that where you live.

Yeah, true dat.

[slim 1,523]

So think low-grain and soft slug, maybe a 9MM or .38, not a .40, .45, .357 or .44 hand cannon. Just use common sense.

And think biggest hole with least penetration. Jacketed hollow points work well in this aspect. The reason I'd go with a bigger caliber over a smaller is the number of shots required to stop a threat. Less shots = less chance of hitting something you don't want to hit. One shot center mass is very low risk to everyone except your target. Shoot someone in the sternum with a 9mm, even a hollow point, and they may still be able to stab you. Shoot them with a .45 JHP, not so much.

Perhaps that dovetails in with my "buy a used gun" that will hold value.

I would imagine a WW2 era german luger would hold it's value? Of course I joke a little because I am sure the price of such a gun would be very high to start with but I think they are 9mm no?

Lugers are 9mm and the German WWII versions can be very expensive. More of a collector piece than a home defense gun so it wouldn't make a lot of sense to buy one simply to keep your home safe. Good investment though.

For example, can you shoot a guy who is threatening you on the porch, or while he is trying to kick in the door, or not until he has chased you into the kitchen waving a machete? Seriously - reasonable avenue of retreat is an important factor in some places.

The bottom line, even in Castle Doctrine cases is that you feel a "reasonable" (which is vaguely defined as what a reasonable person would feel) threat that would cause serious bodily harm or death exists before you use a gun to defend yourself. Anything short of that and you should be fleeing and calling 911.

Now, that said, I'm one of those people who's probably not going to dial 911 before I shoot someone in my house at 3AM. Castle really helps with that but it's still not 100% and as Brad said above, know the law in your area before shooting someone in your house at 3AM. But, know also, that the Supreme Court has upheld that when you reasonably believe yourself to be in danger of serious bodily harm or death you do have the right to use deadly force to protect yourself and others.

[Thomas-n-Elena 0]

In michigan there is homestead law which covers all property. The danger does not have to be in the house in order to threaten bodily harm. If there is no other escape that seems reasonable or prudent you have the right to use deadly force. And as the lawyer who talked to us in a CPL class. "If you are going to shoot someone on your property make sure it is not in the back,it makes it look like they are running away. If you do shoot someone in the back roll them over shoot them in the chest and then the shoulder and tell the cops your first shot hit them in the chest, your second in the shoulder which spun the assailant around and the last one in the back, they will never know the difference and the assailant will be dead so no witness"

[slim 1,523]

In michigan there is homestead law which covers all property. The danger does not have to be in the house in order to threaten bodily harm. If there is no other escape that seems reasonable or prudent you have the right to use deadly force. And as the lawyer who talked to us in a CPL class. "If you are going to shoot someone on your property make sure it is not in the back,it makes it look like they are running away. If you do shoot someone in the back roll them over shoot them in the chest and then the shoulder and tell the cops your first shot hit them in the chest, your second in the shoulder which spun the assailant around and the last one in the back, they will never know the difference and the assailant will be dead so no witness"

They have ballistics testing that will account for such things as distance from the shooter and angle of entry/exit, etc. Not to mention if you shoot someone close range they'll have powder burns and residue all over them. Plus, if you roll someone over and shoot them in the chest and shoulder, the bullet will go clean through and impact into the ground below them.

Still not a bad thing to do from a CYA stance, just have to change the story a bit. "I pushed off to gain some distance, and when I did it wheeled him around. I stepped to my left so the first shot caught him right in the shoulder blade. He fell down and rolled over still fighting me so I popped two more into him. He gave up shortly after that. That's when I dialed 9-1-1 and then started CPR." (ALWAYS dial 9-1-1 and administer CPR because if you were doing CPR you clearly didn't want to kill the person, only neutralize the threat they posed. After you neutralized it, you tried to help.)

The main thing to keep in mind in all legal cases where a gun is involved is to persist in the existence of a perceived threat. Whether they're running away or not doesn't matter if you still feel threatened. What if they were running to their weapon or their buddies? Do you know if they were running away for good or just getting into a better position to attack again? Sure, you may know now, after the incident is over, but what did you know at the time? You perceived a threat and acted to counter it. If you did what a reasonable person would do, you'll be fine. There are the @$$hole prosecutors who want to charge everyone with everything but when you're judged by a jury of your peers, it's a lot easier to convince them you perceived a threat and acted reasonably to counter it.

Your story is important, but it's not as important as doing the right thing in the first place.