So Breaking and Entering Should be Punishable by Death?

[DontDoIt]

What if he was running out the back door to warn/regroup with his homies?

At that point you just have to wait for police to do their thing... even if they do show up 45 minutes later. You can't just shoot at them while they are fleeing if they no longer pose a threat.

Here's a nice piece from another forum.

Like most legal questions, the answer is that it depends. It depends on the jurisdiction, it depends on the circumstances, and ultimately it depends on whether or not you can get a jury to like you (this is also a function of jurisdiction).

Basically, in order for shooting someone to be legal as self-defense, you need to demonstrate that shooting was:

1. Necessary - that is, if you hadn't, something bad would have happened to you - the other party would have used deadly force, or inflicted serious bodily harm / rape / robbery / kidnapping
2. Imminent - the bad thing would have happened immediately - you can't, for instance, shoot your neighbor if he announces a plan to break into your home in a week and kill you.
3. A reasonable response - as opposed to, e.g., running away.
4. NB: all of these must be satisfied both subjectively (that is, you must think shooting was necessary and imminent) and "objectively" (whether a "reasonable" person would think it necessary and imminent). If you subjectively believed the shooting was necessary & imminent, but a reasonable person wouldn't, you won't get off via self-defense, but you may nevertheless get your charge of murder reduced to manslaughter or less.

It turns out that in most states, there's no duty to run away instead of shoot if you're in your home, so that takes care of (3). (2) is also satisfied if there's a burglar in your home; it's definitely an urgent situation.

(1) is the tricky part. If the burglar is armed and threatening you, then it's obviously fine to shoot him. If the burglar is unarmed, then it's less fine, though you may still be okay, especially if the burglar is very physically strong and you're not. If the burglar has his back to you, I would think that shooting isn't strictly necessary - "hands up" and calling the cops would probably be better. That said, you may still be able to get away with it. If the burglar is fleeing, I think it's a tough sell to argue that you needed to shoot, but there have been cases where property owners have been acquitted of murder after shooting fleeing burglars.

I will note again that while it's important that you believe that shooting is necessary to prevent imminent harm, that's not enough. You'll also have to convince a judge or jury that a reasonable person in your situation would have shot.

 

[Will Ross]

Yes if you ask me.

 

[TruStyle]

@ trying to talk to and have a discussion with a person who broke into your house.

@ ppl saying they would try to reason with them and figure out their emotional state.

Sure it was a mistake and he didn't deserve to die. But he made a deadly mistake becuz of the drank.

It's not my responsibility to figure out why YOU broke into my house. If your lucky you may get a verbal warning to stop and drop to the floor. If you don't comply in about 2 seconds then I'm sorry for what must happen.

I'm not risking my life to try and save yours.

And yes I know you can't shoot ppl in the back or ppl who are fleeing so miss me with all that shyt

 

[A1aaa]

 

[Sister Mary Clarence]

It's illegal to kill someone for just breaking in, in Canada. Have to spin it as if you did it to defend yourself.

I'll still beat you within an inch of your life though on some Batman shyt.

so what are you supposed to do? ask them to leave?

 

[Blackout]

This is more topic relevant

 

[JuvenileHell]

Sorry but...if someone breaks into my house, he's dead...myself and my loved ones are at risk, so gotta protect them.

 

[Fatboi1]

All im going to say is i hope your naivety doesnt get you killed

Politeness is how lives are saved

 

[Farrinto]

It was a messed up situation but once you break into someone's house, there's deadly risks that you take. I can't be mad at someone for shooting at someone who broke into their house.

 

[Pifford]

People really saying trying to reason with someone who breaks into your house in the middle of the night? That's cute, after you get your brains splattered and your girl gets raped, they can talk in your obituary about how kind and understanding you were

 

[BelowTheMasonDixon]

@ trying to talk to and have a discussion with a person who broke into your house.

@ ppl saying they would try to reason with them and figure out their emotional state.

Sure it was a mistake and he didn't deserve to die. But her made a deadly mistake becuz of the drank.

It's not my responsibility to figure out why YOU u broke into my house. If your lucky you may get a verbal warning to stop and drop to the floor. If you don't comply in about 2 seconds then I'm sorry for what must happen.

I'm not risking my life to try and save yours.

And yes I know you can't shoot ppl in the back or ppl who are fleeing so miss me with all that shyt

Right. The only thing I can assume in that situation is that you mean me harm. Otherwise why are you in my house.

 

[BaggerofTea]

Real shyt though, this question is some online hyper-liberal Twitter/Tumblr/Neogaf cac bullshyt.

On the internet, you'll talk it out, but if some motherfukker actually broke into your house while you have a means to protect yourself....come on now


You aint gotta lie to look progressive

Nothing to do with being liberal. I'm damn near anarchist and I wouldn't hesitate to blast someone to protect my kin and personal property