From The Commercial Appeal in Memphis:
http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/todays_editorial/article/0,1426,MCA_537_2152471,00.html
Editorial 8/04: Gun owners on notice: Know the law
August 4, 2003
A RECENT series of violent encounters in Memphis illustrates how critical it is that gun owners understand the circumstances under which deadly force is legally justified and the risks that are posed by weapons in the home.
Memphians have defended their homes, their property and in some cases their lives in encounters with thieves that ended in firearms use. There have been at least six such cases since mid-June, all of which prompted reviews by the Shelby County District Attorney General's office. In four of the shootings, all of them fatal, prosecutors determined the citizens' actions were justified.
Civilians who keep firearms for home defense must weigh that option against the possibility of accidents as well as thefts that put more guns in the hands of criminals. A study last year by the Harvard School of Public Health showed children between the ages of five and 14 in the five states with the highest levels of gun ownership - including Mississippi and Arkansas - were 16 times more likely to die from the unintentional discharge of a firearm than their peers in the five states with the lowest rates. They were seven times more likely to die of suicide by gun and three times more likely to die from gun homicide.
Gun owners are limited in the use of their weapons. It is legally permissible to fire a gun in self-defense only when the shooter has reason to believe he or she faces an imminent threat of death or serious injury, and only when that threat is verifiable.
Even then, things may turn out differently from what the shooter intended. A 22-year-old Memphian was charged last month with reckless endangerment after he fired six blasts from a 12-gauge shotgun at a man he caught breaking into his shed. Police said a blast from the shotgun shattered a bedroom window in the house next door. Two children who were sleeping in the room weren't hit.
The man told police the burglar was armed and had shot at him as he fled - an account of the incident that differed from that of a witness. There may have been an opportunity for the shooter to avoid a violent encounter.
That opportunity was not so evident in other recent shootings. David Ronald Washington, 44, identified by police as an East Memphis "cat burglar," was shot to death June 13 after he broke into a home. Police said Washington was struggling with the home's owner when he was killed.
The same day, Kevin Martrell Humphrey, 19, was shot to death and another man was injured when they forced their way into a home in North Memphis. On July 9, William Ronnie Payne, 45, died under similar circumstances at a home in Westwood. On July 11, Ricky Ricardo Wilborn, 21, was killed and another man wounded by a man they were robbing at gunpoint, police said.
In all but one case, the District Attorney General's office declined to file charges after reviewing the circumstances. Still under review is a shooting last month that apparently wounded a home invasion robber in North Memphis.
Police said the robber left a trail of blood outside the home after his victim pulled a gun from a china cabinet and began firing. The 65-year-old woman told police she had given the robber $200 and he demanded more. She fired at him, she said, as he was running toward her.
Although the incident appears to be another case of a gun owner acting within his or her rights, Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Bill Gibbons has issued an appropriate warning His office is ready to prosecute such cases when the evidence warrants action.
It is never legal to use deadly force solely to protect or recover property, Gibbons notes. Taking a human life cannot be justified on those grounds.
http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/todays_editorial/article/0,1426,MCA_537_2152471,00.html
Editorial 8/04: Gun owners on notice: Know the law
August 4, 2003
A RECENT series of violent encounters in Memphis illustrates how critical it is that gun owners understand the circumstances under which deadly force is legally justified and the risks that are posed by weapons in the home.
Memphians have defended their homes, their property and in some cases their lives in encounters with thieves that ended in firearms use. There have been at least six such cases since mid-June, all of which prompted reviews by the Shelby County District Attorney General's office. In four of the shootings, all of them fatal, prosecutors determined the citizens' actions were justified.
Civilians who keep firearms for home defense must weigh that option against the possibility of accidents as well as thefts that put more guns in the hands of criminals. A study last year by the Harvard School of Public Health showed children between the ages of five and 14 in the five states with the highest levels of gun ownership - including Mississippi and Arkansas - were 16 times more likely to die from the unintentional discharge of a firearm than their peers in the five states with the lowest rates. They were seven times more likely to die of suicide by gun and three times more likely to die from gun homicide.
Gun owners are limited in the use of their weapons. It is legally permissible to fire a gun in self-defense only when the shooter has reason to believe he or she faces an imminent threat of death or serious injury, and only when that threat is verifiable.
Even then, things may turn out differently from what the shooter intended. A 22-year-old Memphian was charged last month with reckless endangerment after he fired six blasts from a 12-gauge shotgun at a man he caught breaking into his shed. Police said a blast from the shotgun shattered a bedroom window in the house next door. Two children who were sleeping in the room weren't hit.
The man told police the burglar was armed and had shot at him as he fled - an account of the incident that differed from that of a witness. There may have been an opportunity for the shooter to avoid a violent encounter.
That opportunity was not so evident in other recent shootings. David Ronald Washington, 44, identified by police as an East Memphis "cat burglar," was shot to death June 13 after he broke into a home. Police said Washington was struggling with the home's owner when he was killed.
The same day, Kevin Martrell Humphrey, 19, was shot to death and another man was injured when they forced their way into a home in North Memphis. On July 9, William Ronnie Payne, 45, died under similar circumstances at a home in Westwood. On July 11, Ricky Ricardo Wilborn, 21, was killed and another man wounded by a man they were robbing at gunpoint, police said.
In all but one case, the District Attorney General's office declined to file charges after reviewing the circumstances. Still under review is a shooting last month that apparently wounded a home invasion robber in North Memphis.
Police said the robber left a trail of blood outside the home after his victim pulled a gun from a china cabinet and began firing. The 65-year-old woman told police she had given the robber $200 and he demanded more. She fired at him, she said, as he was running toward her.
Although the incident appears to be another case of a gun owner acting within his or her rights, Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Bill Gibbons has issued an appropriate warning His office is ready to prosecute such cases when the evidence warrants action.
It is never legal to use deadly force solely to protect or recover property, Gibbons notes. Taking a human life cannot be justified on those grounds.
Just kidding. 
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