A lengthy exchange on the M&P forum has been closed. Ok ...what do YOU think your rights are if someone busts into your house in the middle of the night? Do you have to go screaming out the back door, leaving your teenage daughter inside?
Home defense - know your rights
- Thread starter gld1203
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If someone breaks into my house, the only right I will think of is the right to survive. I seriously don't think there is a single person on this forum that would run out the back leaving a family member behind.
Kind of a ridiculous question ain't it?
I keep telling people this but they just don't get it. Spend more time thinking and doing what it takes to keep them OUT.
Home security simply isn't just having a gun. It's much more.
Do a search on home security or home invasions.
Kind of a ridiculous question ain't it?
I keep telling people this but they just don't get it. Spend more time thinking and doing what it takes to keep them OUT.
Home security simply isn't just having a gun. It's much more.
Do a search on home security or home invasions.
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Well lets hope we keep this one civil. 
OK Hog Shooter
Member
Benelli M2 with 000 buck says the intruder is in the wrong house!
I don't care what the law says. I will protect myself and family. In my home, the law of survival supercedes any and all other laws.
Black_Sheep
Member
In Minnesota the castle doctrine legislation failed to pass so a homeowners first responsibility is to retreat. If they cannot retreat they are allowed to use lethal force only if confronted with lethal force.
Insane isn't it? If someone enters the house without consent they are a threat and will be dealt with accordingly, castle doctrine or no castle doctrine...
rpbcab
US Veteran
I agree, please keep it civil. I enjoy learning from the experts here on this site and sometimes the arguments make it hard to discover the gems from the mud. We live out in the country and we pay close attention to our security. After dark we are careful if we hear something that is out of the ordinary. We have automatic security lights, bright flashlights and big caliber guns both hand sized and long guns. I pray that I don't ever have to use my weapons in anger or fear. I will not run from my house, I will protect my family with any means necessary.
Oh boy, here we go. I'm in Alabama. The legislation you are talking about sought to EXTEND the castle doctrine to OUTSIDE your house, into the yard. It didn't pass. I learned that in less than one hour online.
You have the right to defend yourself and your family inside your house, EVEN IN MINNESOTA. YOU DON'T HAVE TO RETREAT INSIDE YOUR OWN HOME. Read the decision of your Minnesota Supreme Court in the Carothers case. Google it, you'll find it. Lord.
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Look here guys, we don't need to discuss this state law or that state law. Each of us has the responsibility to know our state laws are far as the use of deadly force inside the home and out. Go to your states website and learn it.
No offense, but quite frankly, I don't care about state laws other than the one I live in.
Lets discuss HOW we will defend ourselves in our homes.
No offense, but quite frankly, I don't care about state laws other than the one I live in.
Lets discuss HOW we will defend ourselves in our homes.
Well, it is a relevant discussion, imo, if some guys in Minnesota, or any other state, with all the best S&W has to offer, think their own laws prevent them from using their weapons, inside their own homes to defend themselves against an intruder.
It really irks me that these people think that way (there's at least 2 posters who do), and they post their wrong opinions as gospel. Someone may read this thread and reach the wrong opinion and pay for it with their life 3 or 4 hours from now.
jlrhiner
US Veteran
I find it hard to believe that any state would require you to abandon your home and family in the face of an agressor. If such a place does exist, the people need to start voting some knotheads out. These "what if" threads surface all the time, and I read some posts by some folks who sound like they think they have to roll over and play dead whenever threatned. This always astounds me. It's a primeval instinct to protect your family and friends, and I, for one, would bite someone to death if I had too. Any tool available, (knife, gun, club or spoon) will be utilized. I question the ethics of anyone who would act differently.
Yes but, why try to change their mind if they are too ignorant to check the laws in their respective state?
Lets break this down. If ANY man or woman decides to let the bad guys in without a fight, and they or their family is harmed or killed, that man or woman has to live with it.
I'm not advocating that anyone break the law. But if I must break the law to protect myself or family in my own home, I will gladly go to jail knowing that they are fine.
It's really that simple and why I don't worry about it.
Instead of worry, I plan and stay prepared. Others can do as they please.
Also, on the internet you will find all kinds of so called "experts". Experts that think they know it all.
Then there are those of us that use these forums to learn and be the best that we can be. To be as prepared as we can be.
Too many people think that just having a gun is good enough. They are in for a real rude awakening. And these are usually the people that get arrested for a gun related crime such as brandishing. All because they were too ignorant to read and understand the laws that are right under their nose.
Here in the State of Washington, when you recieve you carry permit there is a reference to the Revised Code of Washington which governs the use of firearms. I know of many who never read it.
That is not what the OP is asking. In his title is "know your rights" in his text he writes "what do YOU think your rights are..."
I don't care to know what my state law is. I will stand my ground to defend me and mine and then if it turns out I was supposed to run away. I won't have to ACT ignorant, I will TRULY BE ignorant of the law.
I understand completely. But this isn't the place LEARN what your rights are. Discussing them here is useless.
This isn't a legal forum. It's a gun forum.
The problem is that SOME of us are guessing what our rights are and people that need to learn these these things are getting the wrong information. Which is usually the case in gun forums.
A very simple and easy check of your states website is all that's needed.
Discussing HOW we defend ourselves is more relevant here.
The thread on the M&P-15-22 board was closed because it was getting too long and off topic, with a gentle suggestion it be taken here.
I feel there's a persistent attitude that some posters think is fashionable, somehow, that they're going to do what they want in the face of unreasonable laws. For example, here's some excerpts from the 15-22 thread:
".. most places consider it manslaughter if you shoot them more then once .."
"If a bad guy breaks in your house, you absolutey have a duty to retreat, that means up staris, lockin yourself in a room, whatever."
"The prosecturs have gone after people for years and consistently our courts rule time and again on the citizen having the obligation and duty to retreat. Its ludacris but that's how it is."
"Does not apply in MA, you actually try and have to "Escape" if someone gets in your home, nice country!"
"Again, if you don't have to retreat or make a reasonable effort to do so, then why are states passing those laws (in my opinion, to over ride bad case law set by judges who don't like firearms.)"
"All I'm saying, is that in many states, as in mine, I have to make a reasonable attempt to retreat before using deadly force."
"I too, have to "make an effort to retreat" I would hate to have a jury or judge define what that means in MA."
Every statement quoted above is incorrect.
I may be wrong, but the rank and file gun guys on this forum proabably don't have the patience to do legal research on a state website as to what their respective states say about the crucial issue of defending themselves in their own homes. I am more than glad to help out in that regard, and to dispel some persistent false information being spread around.
I feel there's a persistent attitude that some posters think is fashionable, somehow, that they're going to do what they want in the face of unreasonable laws. For example, here's some excerpts from the 15-22 thread:
".. most places consider it manslaughter if you shoot them more then once .."
"If a bad guy breaks in your house, you absolutey have a duty to retreat, that means up staris, lockin yourself in a room, whatever."
"The prosecturs have gone after people for years and consistently our courts rule time and again on the citizen having the obligation and duty to retreat. Its ludacris but that's how it is."
"Does not apply in MA, you actually try and have to "Escape" if someone gets in your home, nice country!"
"Again, if you don't have to retreat or make a reasonable effort to do so, then why are states passing those laws (in my opinion, to over ride bad case law set by judges who don't like firearms.)"
"All I'm saying, is that in many states, as in mine, I have to make a reasonable attempt to retreat before using deadly force."
"I too, have to "make an effort to retreat" I would hate to have a jury or judge define what that means in MA."
Every statement quoted above is incorrect.
I may be wrong, but the rank and file gun guys on this forum proabably don't have the patience to do legal research on a state website as to what their respective states say about the crucial issue of defending themselves in their own homes. I am more than glad to help out in that regard, and to dispel some persistent false information being spread around.
I would have to agree that those statements don't make sense. But to some they might. I commend you for trying to help. It's just that I quit wasting my time trying to help those that won't help themselves.
There are many good people here willing to share their knowledge and experience. Some of us need to pay attention to them.
cmort666
Member
In Ohio, I have the right to defend myself with deadly force if in my home [or automobile], somebody puts me in reasonable fear of life and limb, and I have the [rebuttable] presumption of justification. Any REASONABLE person would be put in fear of life and limb by a home invasion, at night or at any other time. I have absolutely ZERO duty to retreat one inch, never mind out of my home, especially never mind to the peril of anyone in my care.
Summary: Kick in my door and you're getting shot. I'll walk and you [or your survivors] will be barred BY LAW from collecting a penny from me.
If you want to be a home invader, you'd be well advised to pick a different venue than Ohio.
