By now you must have heard that Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis have been charged in the shooting death of an apparent jogger, they believed fit the description of a neighborhood burglar.
As discussed in this forum in both full and partial threads, there is no future in taking the law into your own hands and attempting citizens' arrests. I would like to think it was Massad Ayoob ( I may be mistaken here) who advised that no matter what your state has to say about citizens' arrest, it's best not to make a citizens' arrest. The laws are so treacherous and murky that you risk life as you know it once the legal machine begins to grind you up.
In the state laws that I'm familiar with, a citizens' arrest is permissible for a crime committed in your presence. Searching the neighborhood for someone the "fits the description" of a criminal is a job best left to the police. Once would think that after the Trayvon Martin shooting, in 2012, in Florida by George Zimmerman, people in general would have been awakened to the risks of overzealous participation in citizens' or neighborhood watch groups. These individuals should be the eyes and ears of the police the rather than arming themselves and trying to do their job for them.
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.
I think it's important that besides the elements to successful firearms engagements, we must also be intimately familiar with our local laws and how they may apply to the situation you find yourself in. Make a bad call and personal bankruptcy is the likely result.
As discussed in this forum in both full and partial threads, there is no future in taking the law into your own hands and attempting citizens' arrests. I would like to think it was Massad Ayoob ( I may be mistaken here) who advised that no matter what your state has to say about citizens' arrest, it's best not to make a citizens' arrest. The laws are so treacherous and murky that you risk life as you know it once the legal machine begins to grind you up.
In the state laws that I'm familiar with, a citizens' arrest is permissible for a crime committed in your presence. Searching the neighborhood for someone the "fits the description" of a criminal is a job best left to the police. Once would think that after the Trayvon Martin shooting, in 2012, in Florida by George Zimmerman, people in general would have been awakened to the risks of overzealous participation in citizens' or neighborhood watch groups. These individuals should be the eyes and ears of the police the rather than arming themselves and trying to do their job for them.
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.
I think it's important that besides the elements to successful firearms engagements, we must also be intimately familiar with our local laws and how they may apply to the situation you find yourself in. Make a bad call and personal bankruptcy is the likely result.
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