View Single Post
 
Old 05-10-2020, 09:31 AM
Harrychristopher Harrychristopher is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2020
Posts: 32
Likes: 1
Liked 106 Times in 19 Posts
Default

Quote:
I've mentioned it before in several threads: if your home suffers a break-in, any shots fired in self-defense within your home are easily viewed as legitimate self defense. If the intruder flees and you give chase outside your home, you are no longer acting in self defense but are now attempting a citizens' arrest where the laws become a legal minefield.
The classic definition of a self-defense situation has been said to be the following: A reasonable person knowing what you knew at the time of the incident believes that there is an imminent and unavoidable threat of death or serious bodily injury and the person making the threat has the ability, opportunity and jeopardy to carry it out.

Chasing a person in public whom you believe may have committed a criminal offense certainly seems to me to be rather difficult to justify in meeting the "imminent and unavoidable" part of the self-defense definition.

I would suspect that the first thing a jury is going to ask is why after calling the local PD did they escalate the matter by chasing down the suspected criminal on a public road? How does this action meet the imminent and unavoidable part of the self-defense definition in view of the fact that the person shot was not trying to break into their homes and threaten their families with death or serious bodily injury but was rather running away from them?

Some states may take a rather expansive view of when a citizen has the legal right to shot at another individual outside the setting of one's home but states such as the Democratic People's Republic of Massachusetts certainly is not one of those states.

If one disregards any questions pursuant to the moral issue of shooting there is still the legal issues to contend with. I strongly believe that an individual who is not acting in the sworn capacity of a LEO would be better served by adapting a more conservative interpretation of their legal responsibilities of self-defense as opposed to a more expansive one even if their particular state allows a degree of wider latitude in defining the matter.

I carry a concealed pistol everyday that I leave my home and I bear in mind that as I have chosen to do so of my own volition it is incumbent upon me to have a keen awareness of the citizen rules of engagement involving the employment of deadly force that I am operating under in my particular area.

Mr. Grant Cunningham has written several articles pointing out that situational awareness and subsequent avoidance of being in a shooting situation are a prudent approach to surviving when out and about these days. A person who says that they relish the opportunity to become involved in a potential deadly force situation has proven beyond any doubt whatsoever that not only are they a fool but also that they never have been confronted by such circumstances in the real world.

Harry
The Following 4 Users Like Post: