How you would react?

[hogwylde]

Every single one of us has a gun for defense but hope never to have to use it. This is what happened to me on Friday night....

When I returned home from work, my wife was away at a baby shower and my son at work, so I was just sitting at the computer goofing off. When suddenly I hear the front door slowly opening and squeaking with some "manly whispering" coming from someone.

I reached to my side grabbing a hold of my Ruger, yelling "who is there?!" while walking down the hall towards the front door when I hear my son reply, "It's just me and Bree (his girlfriend).

I was obviously wrong about him working and have to admit my heart just about came out of my chest. I was prepared but to say I wasn't rattled would be an understatement.

Anyhow...this whole thing got me to thinking about the mental anguish a home invasion could cause the home owner. From the initial fright of realizing someone is breaking in to (maybe) shooting/killing the BG.....it all has to take a mental toll. Which got me to thinking further. Could an intruder be sued for this or charges added on top of the home invasion/burglary charge?

See what happens when my brain wanders?

 

[Rintimtin]

I would hope so, if you shoot the intruder and it lives it will probally try to sue you.

An additional question could you sue for the cost of your ammunition if you had to shoot the or at the intruder.

Sent from my SM-T210R using Tapatalk

 

[POPPER]

You know it has gotten so bad these days. I usually come in through the basement door from work but every so often for whatever reason use the front door and always call my wife to give her a heads up before I arrive to keep from getting my a-- shot to pieces. It's a crying shame that our society has come to this, Popper

 

[Slowhanddd]

First off you need to tell your Son not to sneak in the house.I raised 4 boys and they all knew when they came home to annouce them selves.Hey Dad It's just me,worked great.Don't like suprises and didn't want to point a gun at them or worse. Your right too it'll get the blood pumping for sure.

 

[Alpo]

Yeah. Sneaking in is a BAD PLAN.

My wife seemed to have to rearrange the house at least 4 times a year.

I was working the evening shift - 3 to 11. They kept us overtime, so I'm coming home at 2 in the morning. I walk in the front door and immediately notice the living room has been rearranged. I'm just standing there, shining my Mini Mag around. Didn't want to turn on the overhead and wake up anybody. So I'm not making any noise,except for the door opening, and there's this flashlight flipping around the room.

And from the master bedroom I hear, "CLICK".

"Uuuh, Baby, it's me. Put the hammer down."

I repeat. Sneaking in is a BAD PLAN.

 

[feralmerril]

Long ago in my wild single days I had a "house guest" over. Right at the gray of dawn she woke me and whispered, "There is someone in the front room!" I didnt really believe her but reached under my mattress and pulled out a s&w 1917 and went out to investigate. There in the early pre dawn gloom was carl the overgrown semi half wit 17 year old younger brother of another girl I knew. He was holding a s&w model 60 I had left on my breakfast bar.
He seen me and fortunately dropped the gun, let out a scream and tried to run past me to the front door that was ajar that he must have carded. My reaction was to try and "buffalo" him with the 1917 as he scrambled by me. I hit him a glancing blow. I was stark naked and didnt want to follow him out of the house. I did kick him in the butt with my bare foot as we got to the door. When he got outside I couldnt resist. I yelled d-- you! I am going to shoot ya after all! I shot high in a semi safe direction out in the desert that I lived near. It looked like a road runner cartoon. I swear, he jumped 6 feet up in the air with his feet still windmilling, hit the ground and actually his body was bent backward trying to keep up with his running feet and he was soon out of sight. No, I didnt call the cops nor did any neighbors that might have heard the shot as no one showed up.
Of course there was a aftermath that I had to privately handle.

 

[Brian41]

I was at the computer one night when the dog set off the house alarm and the horn was blaring. I got up to shut it off thinking it was a false alarm but grabbed a 45 first and started heading down the hall. About then my wife burst out of the bedroom having been woke up heading to the bathroom in front of me. I was glad I had the 45 pointed towards the ceiling and finger off the trigger but still spooked me and chewed her out later. It was a good dry run though and made me think about possible home invasions more.
I don't know if you could sue someone that broke in to your home but doubt they'd be likely to pay anyway. My concern would be who would clean up the mess and would your house insurance cover it? Doing it yourself should cause concern with blood as who knows what diseases may be present in it too?

 

[rwsmith]

I'm not worried and I am worried....

If somebody breaks in and I have half a chance, I'll shout, and if I get no good answer I've decided that I'm not going to pull the trigger just one time.

I AM worried about my gun being used on the wrong person, your mind and eyes play tricks on you and under that kind of stress it's even worse.

 

[mc5aw]

Castle Doctrine.

 

[feralmerril]

Another 50 year old war story. My job was always relocating me every two months or so and I was young and dumb. I was working in parkersburg west "by God" Virginia. I met a wild girl friend who had a real outlaw for sure bad a-- ex boy friend who took umberance at me stepping in the picture and taking "his girl". Actually, I knew him first and met her through him. Things heated up. Through a common friend I even got death threats.
Have you ever had a premonition and prepare for it and have things work out? This was one of the two or three times in my life it happened to me.
I set up my dirt cheap apartment. "Frank" knew I had a revolver as we had been out shooting together in a more peaceful time. He didnt know I also had a pump 12 gauge. I unloaded the ruger single six, (I hadnt attained more expensive tastes at that point in my life yet) and laid it on a dresser in plain sight. I opened the closet door with the door swung outwards in the room and put the loaded shotgun behind it and it was hidden and ready.
There was a secound guy involved, Rick, who I had hired who introduced me to his partner, Frank. Rick hadent worked out well on the job and I had fired him. So I had the pair together to contend with. Both were outlaws. Before "shirley" was a factor I had learned some bad things about this pair and probley that was a factor why I fired rick.
I had several altercations with both leading up to this. Once I caught the pair watching me late at night in their car. I was coming down the back stairs late at night carrying "Bryon" Shirleys infant son with shirley. (Shirley was a young widow). A car fired up and scratched out. I could see it was frank and rick. I later got to rick and had a minor altercation over it. Now it was a day or two later and my job was closeing up and I the company was ordering me to a different state. Shirley was pressuring me to take her and bryon with me and I wasnt quite ready for that in my young life yet.
I had just come in early from work probley on my last day and was sitting on the throne. I thought I heard some slight noise out in the kitchen area. Sure enough, it was the pair. They had carded their way in through the cheap lock by the back fire escape door/stairs.
Both were holding a 24 ounce empty coke bottles I had set down. They were going to work me over. Both were in their stocking feet san shoes.
Rick did throw a punch or two but I am long armed. Frank was older, maybe 27, a 6ft 3" Italian that had bragged to me of mafia connections. I had as usual, just figured him for a liar but now wasnt real sure about that. I figured my best chance was to get him mad enough to dive for the empty ruger and at the same time I would grab my unseen shotgun. I came on strong with the rough talk to prod him. He wasnt a fool and must have sensed I had something going for me. He backed off and said, "You would kill over her wouldnt you?" With that they peacefully put on their shoes and left, that was the last time I seen them. There was a lot more of shirley though. And thats a different story. They never seen or knew I had a shotgun in arms reach in our discussion.

 

[hogwylde]

I would expect that burglars or home invaders have few or no assets. If they had money, there would be no reason for them to commit crimes to get money. Thus, if you sue an intruder and win the law suit, there is nothing for you to take from the intruder at the end of the lawsuit, so there is no reason to bother suing the intruder. In other words, I would expect intruders to be judgment proof. Have the intruder locked up in jail.

But that's my point. There are civil suits all the time with judgements against the defendant when there's all the proof in the world they either don't have the money or know they will never pay. There are victims everywhere waiting for their settlements that will never arrive....and they know it.

So if the defendant has no money to pay the fine, what do you think about simply tacking on time due to their inability to pay since the harm committed shouldn't go to the wayside?

1 month per $100 owed seems fair.

 

[feralmerril]

It isn't, never was or will be a "fair world" until the second coming. As far as a buck a month, they did away with debtors prison long ago. Makes lots of sense to put a man in jail until he pays up and while there he cant work!
As far as burglary's go, were I in power, I would have the miscreants property seized, sold and what wasnt sold would pile up in the town square and have him watch while it is set afire. The only thing he would keep is his cloths he is wearing. Keep someone in prison it just costs the taxpayers.
To go farther in this, I dont believe in prisons at all. I might have jails for the ONLY purpose to hold people until there is a speedy trial. To my way of thinking, if a man cant be trusted on the outside with society, he should be dead. Why should the populace have to pay any money at all to keep them in a petting zoo? I bet darn few have learned any GOOD lessons by being incarcerated. The lesson would be, watch, look around you and see what happens to people that cant be trusted. Try B&E, anything else on the populace and your dead. That thinking should put about 90% of LEO and prison guards out of business and do productive jobs. Taxs would be deeply slashed. I almost think that about 10 % of
men in my town work at some form of LE. Thats a huge cost and is counter productive.

 

[Smoke]

So if the defendant has no money to pay the fine, what do you think about simply tacking on time due to their inability to pay since the harm committed shouldn't go to the wayside?

1 month per $100 owed seems fair.

That sounds suspiciously like debtor's prison

 

[LVSteve]

Didn't you hear a key in the lock?

 

[don5]

Hey Feral that was a great story. I live in Parkersburg WVA. We have a more than a few shady characters in my town. We also have our fair share of idiot criminals too. Drugs are a main contributor to a lot of crime here. This is still a good place to live though as the crime rate is still low considering the size of our population.

 

[alwslate]

I can't understand why anyone would sit in their house in a bedroom
or den or anywhere for that matter without taking the simple
precaution of having their doors locked.

 

[therevjay]

I really don't know for sure. And hope I never have to find out. It's easy to sit back with a cold beer or hot cup of joe and say "I'd do this or that" It's a whole different thing in the middle of the night, when you have fractions of a second to decide what to do.

 

[hogwylde]

I can't understand why anyone would sit in their house in a bedroom
or den or anywhere for that matter without taking the simple
precaution of having their doors locked.

My son has a key.

 

[Alpo]

alwslate, I agree completely. I got in the habit, years ago, of whenever I come in the house, I throw the deadbolt. Go out for the mail, come back in, lock the deadbolt. Go hang up the laundry, come back in, lock the deadbolt.

Works like a charm.

Except that, two or three times, I have started to leave and found the door unlocked. For whatever reason, I did NOT lock the deadbolt.

I have also gone outside in the morning and found the porchlight still on.

Best I can come up with is brain-fade. Sometimes you just - forget.

 

[Frizzman]

I doubt there would be any criminal charges beyond burglary of an occupied dwelling and use of a firearm while committing a felony...Perhaps others depending on circumstances...We always know who and when family members come and go. My two large dogs would keep anybody coming in busy and raise a ruckus whoever starts to open any outside door...I have weapons available. Since I live in a neighborhood that is heavily military and quite a few are SEALs, home invasions just don't happen around here so I'm not too jumpy.

 

[YogiBear]

Aloha,

Here's a website to see what crimes have been reported in your neighborhood.

SpotCrime Crime Map a friend who moves a lot uses it to check out the area he's thinking of moving to.

We live in very low crime area.

But, having said that, we have a wall around our property and have 3 dogs that have the run of the property.

No one gets in unless we let them in.

When someone is home, the gun safe is Always open.........