Well, ya see it was this way. It was 2AM and I still could not get to sleep so I decided to get up and go get something to eat. I went to the car in the drive way and was surprised by this guy who jumped out from behind the car and said he would kill me. I had to shoot him or he would have killed me. I called 911 right after it happened, unfortunately paramedics did not arrive until after he died.

Give a fork?

“If you’re rich enough to gaf,…”

WTF is a ‘gaf’?

What is “reasonable” fear? If you see a person attempting (as you interpret your sensory input) to break into your house (already a crime, and a felony in most states), are you “reasonably” in fear that the (already criminal) person would engage in violence after they manage to break in? A normal, rational person would think so, but states, and different juries, disagree. California, as just one example, has a specific ‘duty to retreat’ law – you can’t claim self-defense if you could have escaped (and left your property and/or family to the tender ministrations of the already-lawbreaker?).

I really think a smart politician should propose a law, akin to the UCC, designed as a template for states to adopt, that laid out a clear standard for what was reasonable, and who and what you were allowed to defend. All this should be a matter of common sense, but . . . common sense does not appear to be in use in our justice system.

On the other hand, we each have to make a moral and ethical judgement, and then look at ourselves in the mirror the next morning. Personally, I’ve already made my decision, and I realize it may not comport with any particular state’s idea of what ‘self-defense’ is, and I am fully prepared to accept the consequences. If you break into my house at night, or break into my car on my driveway? The old line ‘Don’t start none, won’t be none’ comes to mind. Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.

Be aware of the law (in your area), and take it into your calculations when you evaluate when and how to act, but . . . at the end, use your damn common sense. What was that old line from “Dirty Harry”, “When a naked man is chasing a woman through a dark alley with a butcher knife and a hard on, I figure he isn’t out collecting for the Red Cross.” Would that the American ‘justice system’ would adopt that level of common sense.

*Know your local laws.*

About 20 years back, a 15 year-old thought breaking into cars late at night was a good idea. Until he discovered wrong, that is.

The homeowner woke up late one night to hear someone breaking into his car. The car in question was under a carport where the roof was physically-connected to his dwelling.

Under Florida law, any structure attached to your dwelling is considered the exact same as if it was under your home’s roof. The armed homeowner confronted the thief who made a move towards him. Big mistake, the homeowner opened fire on the teenage thief with lethal results.

Homeowner was righteously no-billed as a result.

Know. Your. Local. Laws…

Typically engage the garage bolt before bed and don’t even have Albany let alone Chicago levels of nonsense to deal with. Then again I know the local meth heads to watch for.

The main reason I have installed these precautions is, if some whack job does manage to enter my house and threaten me and mine, and I blow him away with my 12 gauge, my lawyer (you do have one on retainer with a suitable service like Lawshield or USCCA, right?) can point to these precautions and say the perp was determined enough to break in and was not deterred by reasonable safeguards, so my legal standing for self defense is a little more secure.

Not.

If you live in an apartment or don’t have a garage, let the insurance company and the cops handle it.

” It’s perfectly reasonable to investigate strange sounds on your own property….”

That’s what windows are for. The only reason I’m going to go outside to investigate strange sounds on my property, is if I see someone setting my house on fire. If you hear strange sounds, get your family into your planned safe room. You do have a plan, don’t you??

As for the location of this incident, if you live within an hour of Chicago, you really need to think about your priorities in life. I know it’s a faux pas to mention this, but the resident population is not amenable to law and order. Also, there is no fence or gates on this property, and seemingly no reinforced door on the house. I live in the boonies and I have a fence, a gated driveway, and all my doors are covered with reinforced steel screen doors. Likewise, at night and when I’m gone for more than 24 hours, I engage a simple sliding bolt on the garage door to keep the nefarious from opening it by disengaging my garage door opener by pushing a rod above the garage door.

It ain’t the early 2000s anymore. WTFU.