It has been more than a decade since I last attended a civilian based class regarding the use of lethal force, but at that time about 2012 the average cost of a self defense shooting was in the neighborhood of 250K on a very clean shooting. I had a relative who shot and killed someone in self defense with a .38 Special after being shot four times with a 30-30 Winchester. The family gave up every nickel they had to keep him out of prison. That was...early 90's.
If you shoot a man, the least of your worries is blood stains, spackle, ruined furnishings or decor.
It is my considered opinion that the only legitimate rule #4 concerns involve sentient beings. All else is expendable.
You sir make some very important observations.
The last decade of my working life, I was a litigation manager, meaning I supervised up to 17 contract lawyers who represented the government on various kinds of lawsuits. I was the guy that approved the contracts, the billing and so forth. I have paid attorneys $30,ooo of my tax dollars for a basic lawsuit and a few that went over $200,000. I have appealed several of them when attorney fees were excessive in my opinion, those being awarded against the government. I can qualify as an expert witness on the issue of attorney fees, lol, and here is my advice.
We have no clue how many
attorney hours might be involved or how many
private investigator hours might be involved or how much to pay
expert witnesses like Mas Ayoob and
deposition costs and
court fees when defending either a
criminal case or
civil wrongful death case.
Even when you have everything on video a good shoot might still cause you a lengthy trial. And you have to pay for it. And generally, you cannot write any of those costs on your taxes.
So, it is far better, not to shoot anyone period. Regardless of whether they need to be shot, and many do.....
I carried guns everyday for a living most of my life before law school, and worked my way through night law school working full time as a local police office or a federal special agent. I understand why we carry guns and why it is appropriate to shoot people.
I am now old and feeble, doctors say I am disabled, most old people are to some extent. Which means we have less time to decide whether to shoot because the perp can rush us or simply shoot us because we are now slower than before.
So
we are balancing the risk of getting killed or getting sued. In my case if a perp comes into my house uninvited in daylight, I would request he look closely at my firearm and choose to leave, but if they show up in the dark, I have no way of knowing how many or how they are armed, my options are limited. And I forget about lawsuits and such. Those guys would likely be shot if they made any movement other than backwards.
And that is the advice I give, lawsuits are expensive if you shoot someone. You must get past the local DA for the criminal case. If you do, you still must defend a civil cases, as likely. And you have no clue what that will cost. Consider your 401K gone. And your next job at age 76 as working as a greeter at Walmart, if they still have those jobs.
So, (1) get a dog sign, (2) get a dog, (3) get motion detector lights, (4) get double dead bolts, and (5) get cameras for everywhere, both inside and outside, and (6) check your home owner's insurance, some will pay for lawsuits against you.
Cameras inside, tells the DA and jury what happened in the moment. Those outside tell the story of the posturing and planning and show the pre-mediation, showing them bringing in weapons that can kill, showing their intent, which you may see in their faces and eyes but you cameras inside will not show that. Cameras everywhere can save you all this expense.
The key is get over that macho thought that you can blast anyone that comes through the door, probably you can, but that may only be after you are bankrupt.
And there are too many other issues to mention but will take a stab at one more.
"it is dumb to fire warning shots"
Or is it? Somebody is banging on your door trying to get it. Do you just call 911 and wait? And shoot them the minute they get one foot inside? Or to you yell at the door that you have called police and or have a gun?
There have been many cases of drunks trying to break in on the wife or ex-wife, at the wrong house.
In my case, I suggest telling them the cops are on the way and I have a gun. If it appears they are still going to burst through the door, I will fire a warning shot, against most advice. But it is critical where you fire, I have done it before. You turn around and fire 180 degrees in the opposite direction. Why?
(1) because it means you were not firing toward them, your bullet would have to go around the entire planet to hit them, your attorney can say that. It was intended as a warning to avoid a deadly confrontation and that is exactly what it was, and attempt to avoid a deadly confrontation, your mindset, it defeats any claims of premeditated intent to shoot some guy because he was banging on your door in the middle of the night.
(2) you do so by firing into your own wall, a few inches above the floor, there is a hole in the wall and probably a mushroomed bullet on the ground outside your house.
(3) the evil or lost person outside just heard a gunshot, that puts him on notice he is not welcome and likely to get shot, a jury would know that he intentionally and willfully proceeding with deadly force to come after your, juries understand warning shots better than you would think, they are a loud, line in the sand, no rational person would continue beating down a door after hearing a gunshot, your attorney can use that,....they were not rational...crazy people....it is OK to shoot crazy people trying to kill you......
(4) it shows the DA you were not just some gun nut happy to shoot some young intruder....the minute you saw one clear sneaker, inside your door.
Just some thoughts. Just because we have the right to shoot people, does not make it a good idea and the cost of lawyers is just something to avoid.
As a lawyer, I made good money off of people who wanted to prove they were "right" in what they did, yet the cost was very very high, in terms of time, drama, and dollars.
Don't shoot people......nuff said. Lawyers do not need your money we can get by some other way.
