Little girl defends herself

[evangilder]

To be able to SEE if he has a weapon exposes yourself to the perp. I have seen my share of firefights and as I said before, he who hesitates is dead. Armed or unarmed, the person broke into my house. I don't have time to figure out his intentions. I had a niece kidnapped about 15 years ago. Fortunately, she came home alive after 43 days. I am not about to have that kind of thing happen again in this family.

[FLYBOYJ]

Originally Posted by Soren

I remember helping to hold down a thief who tried to steal my neighbor's bicycle many years ago. Had my neighbor decided to shoot him dead with his shotgun as he ran he would be in prison today. However seeing that the thief had no weapons on him he simply ran after him and brought him to the ground. I heard the struggle from my bedroom and wasted no time getting down there to help.

That was the right thing to do in that incident, which was also what the kind officers who came to pick the bastard up told us.

We held him for over 20min, head against the pavement.

And that action warranted that response.

Again understand this Soren - in this part of the world intruder entry into a dwelling is considered a no-nonsense crime. Because of situations were innocent homeowners have been brutally victimized, many municipalities have taken the stance that if some on breaks into your home they are there to do bodily harm to the resident and therefor deadly force is warranted. In my state there is the "Make my Day" law that backs this up and the intruder doesn't even have to be armed. In other states as pointed out if the intruder is not armed and the home owner shoots him it's the home owner who is going to jail.

As far as guns and gun control in this country - the genie been out of the bottle for over a century. The black market availability of guns is huge and difficult to combat, let alone stop. Places with the strictest gun control laws in the US usually have the highest crime rates, kind of funny, don't ya think???

[evangilder]

Agreed. I am not talking about someone breaking into my car in the middle of the night, or taking something that is outside. For that, I have no problem with the police dealing with that. Besides, if the want a 14 year old car that is worth next to nothing, they can have it, it's insured. However, once they either cross the door threshold or crawl through the window, there will be no hesitation.

[Soren]

Evan,

Lets say a burglar breaks into your home at night, you wake up hearing a rattling noise downstairs. You pull out your pistol from under your bed, sneak downstairs and see him put a lot of stuff into a bag. One hand holding the bag, the other grabbing stuff.

What do you do ?

Do you quickly place a well aimed shot to the back of his head ? Or do you shout at him to reach for the sky ? Or something else ?

[evangilder]

First, I prefer a shotgun for home defense because you have less of a chance of the shot going through the walls and injuring your children. Second, my doors and windows all have sensors, so no one will just sneak in. If he triggers the sensors and still comes in, then god help him. He will be well ventilated and at room temperature when the police arrive to put him in the body bag.

[Soren]

I live in a brick walled house, do nearly all europeans actually so I wont have the problem a 9mm round going through walls.

But seeing you have sensors Evan I doubt you will ever see a burglar inside your house, they'll simply flee in panic as soon as it activates. (Even outdoor movement sensors meant to turn the light on when you walk by are usually enough to make burglars flee in terror) Now if they keep coming despite the alarm, then I would do the same as you agreed, cause then it is pretty much established that this/these guy(s) is/are dangerous.

I didn't think of the alarm as I don't have one myself.

[evangilder]

Believe me, shooting the perp is not my preference. I have seen enough of that crap for one lifetime. It is my last line of defense, and it WILL put a stop to him. Motion activated lights are all around my house, as are motion sensors. All points of entry are set to trigger an alarm. If that does not make him go away, he is definitely not here with good intentions.

Do you have children in your house? If so, you may want to consider a shotgun. While the 9mm won't go through the brick, it will go through the interior walls. If you miss, and it could happen, the last thing you want to do is to have it kill one of the people you are trying to protect. Shotgun pellets are very effective at short range, like in home defense, but have a much reduced likelihood of going through walls and killing one of your own.

[Soren]

Nope no children in my house anymore

And I agree about the shotgun, but the bedroom is upstairs and the house is all brick, so I prefer my 9mm, which is also much better for confined spaces. Another factor to consider is that all my hunting firearms are locked in a safety vault, so it would take me some time to get them.

[FLYBOYJ]

Mine's a .38 with blunt nose bullets.....Enough to stop someone at short range but won't go though walls or through my neighbor's house.

[Matt308]

158gr LFN .38Spcl are notorious for deep penetration. Ask the FBI. In fact the 5.56x45mm 55gr HP out of an AR will penetrate less. For those worried about penetration, Evan is spot on. 7 shot at house distances is deadly. Though I would recommend 4 shot.

[Lucky13]

7 shot? 4 shot?

[Matt308]

.

[buzzard]

Here in Canada, lethal force is legal so long as it meets the definition of 'reasonable force'. IOW, if an old lady starts swinging her handbag at you in the mall, you are required to make every reasonable effort to leave the scene and let law enforcement handle it. OTOH, if someone(s) breaks into your house, and you have reasonable grounds to believe that they mean you (or others in the house) harm, you are allowed to use the necessary level of force, up to, and including lethal force, to defend yourself. This derives from the English common law principle, that 'a man's home is his castle'. You do not have to flee your own home.

If you shoot an intruder, the police will probably arrest and charge you, but once the authorities are reasonably sure that the shooting victim is in fact, an intruder, the charges will be dropped. Of course, the 'reasonable force' defence does not apply if the intruder(s) are attempting to flee...

Two years ago, my friend's 19 yr old grandson was stabbed and died while violently breaking (with 3 or 4 others)into a house and threatening the occupants. They were attempting to forcibly retrieve a 14 yr old girl that had run away with her boyfriend...

The killer was charged, but never brought to trial. And IMO, that is exactly how it should be. All this misery could have been avoided by letting the authorities handle it.

As for myself, my home has been robbed (while we were away) and because I don't have to worry about children, I have a 12 ga. Ithaca pump and a box of #4 birdshot in the bedroom closet. And if I ever feel threatened, I have no moral qualms about using it. "Better to be tried by twelve than to be carried by six"...

We've had a spate of vicious home invasions, mainly targeting the elderly, here (Nova Scotia) recently, including one where a 70 yr old man was beaten to death by a gang of thugs, so I have little sympathy for anyone who gets wasted while breaking into homes. Good for that little girl, and I hope she will realize that she did what had to be done.

JL

[Matt308]

Well said, buzzard. If you have the forethought and right of mind in such an adrenalin rush, if you can yell out that you feel like your life is being threatened, that too will count in your favor.

But then again, such a situation is not scripted in Hollywood nor by liberal defence attornies. Too bad Canada has gone to the Darkside with respect to gun ownership. These elderly people used to have a quick and definitive response.

"God made men. Samuel Colt made them equal." Those are words to live or die by.

[Maestro]

Originally Posted by Matt308

Too bad Canada has gone to the Darkside with respect to gun ownership. These elderly people used to have a quick and definitive response.

"God made men. Samuel Colt made them equal." Those are words to live or die by.

Yeah... I'm starting to consider buying a crossbow just to go around that stupid law.