How far away from home can you use lethal force?

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RubenZ

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Last night I got to thinking because 12yrs ago my house was sprayed with .22lr bullets by some local idiots who mistook our house for the gang members 3 houses down.


IF they are in a car say on the street in front of my house can I shoot to kill if they are shooting at my house?
 
What kind of anti vehicle weapons do you keep in your home. RPG-7s, AT4s, LAWS, Milan, Dragon, TOW II, 106 or 90mm recoilless rifles? Unless you've got something like these handy, you don't have anything you can reliably stop a car with.

Just because it may be legal to shoot back, (and if someone was shooting at you he would be using deadly force and that would most likely give you the legal right to use that force in return), doesn't mean that it's smart or the right thing to do. Your chances of stopping the attack with small arms are next to nothing. You're most likely only going to add to the collateral damage to the neighborhood by throwing lead in the other direction in that situation.

Your best bet is to take cover and wait for the attack to end and then try to be the best witness you can. If they dismount and start heading for the house to finish off the occupants then you are probably in a position to do something about it. If they are popping some rounds off from their car then speeding away, you're not going to accomplish much (except for maybe hitting an innocent bystander) by shooting back.

Jeff
 
(joking)I suggest command detonated Claymores, preferably duct taped to the trees in front of your house and angled to give good crossing coverage of the kill zone.(/joking)

Seriously, your best option is to stay under cover and try as best as possible to give a description of the make, model and color of the vehicle, a description of the occupants, and if possible the license number. Even partial numbers can help. As others have pointed out, if they try to enter your house, then defend yourself. Otherwise, photos, video, etc., could all help identify the offenders.
 
I have a .303 British that I wouldn't mind pounding into their car LOL.
 
Remington 700 ADL in .270

Reach out, reach out and touch someone,

Reach out, reach out and touch someone,

No matter how far away, --- Reach out, reach out and touch someone,
 
I have a .303 British that I wouldn't mind pounding into their car LOL.
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I don't think you understand where you're at. You posted this thread in the Strategies and Tactics Forum. Here we discuss real solutions to real problems. Adolescent fantasies of revenge aren't on topic here.

Tell us why you think you could stop a drive by shooting by firing at the car with a .303.......



Remington 700 ADL in .270
Reach out, reach out and touch someone,

Reach out, reach out and touch someone,

No matter how far away, --- Reach out, reach out and touch someone,
Click to expand...

Got any examples of automobiles being stopped by a .270 Kingmax?

If you guys can't have a serious discussion, then I can close the thread.....

Jeff
 
Ok to get back on topic in a serious fashion. I'd duck for cover, and run out into my truck with Cell phone in hand following them around while a COP can enter pursuit.
 
Are you trying to stop persons in a moving vehicle from acting in a fashion that places you at risk or are you trying to stop a moving vehicle. Two related but different situations.

Stopping a moving vehicle is a matter of physics. You need to apply adequate force to the vehicle to interfere with its ability to move under power. This can be done with physical mass...i.e. a bulldozer will do a great job or energy, an RPG will not physically stop the vehicle but will likely inflict enough damage to the machinery that it will no longer be able to move under its own power. You will not likely have the means available for this.

Stopping the actions of person who are in the moving vehicle is a different subject. If they are firing at you from the moving vehicle and you return fire you may or may not induce them to duck their heads and cease and desist their immediate actions. Having the necessary caliber weapon increases the chance of you succeeding in influencing the actions of the vehicles occupants. Most modern rifle calibers are adequate for this purpose, use of pistols is problematic. You may possibly possess the means to do this, you must then decide if attempting to do so is prudent. Usually it is not.

Attempting to respond to drive by shooters is really an issue of training and tactics. The incident transpires so fast that by the time you realize that you are under fire and are able to locate the source of that fire they have moved to a range beyond a reasonable distance to respond. Essentially you either have some warning and can use that time to take cover, a better response to gunfire or you have no warning and random chance takes over. The key is situational awareness. If you see a suspicious vehicle act accordingly, if you do not see them till they open fire drop, take cover and pray they are not lucky. Engaging them in a firefight is the last option to consider and one that would most likely be dictated by the vehicle occupants. If they keep moving
stay down, if the vehicle stops and they appear to be prepping to leave the vehicle things then have changed, returning fire becomes a more feasible option.

If you are inside your house when the shooting begins take cover and pray you live in a home that is more substantial than average. Drive bys occur so fast as to make a martial response unfeasible most of the time.
 
I don't keep anti-material weapons in the house, so stopping the auto is not an option.

But...stopping hte auto is not the desired end. Defending me & mine is. Some suppressive fire might do the trick.

But...even when I am armed in/at the house, what I am armed with would provide poor suppressive fire (1911 or snubby).

Again, I am really not equipped to dole out what needs to be doled out to achiev ethe desired end, since I haven't had access to a SAW since I got out of the service. Even if I had a SAW, I ain't toting the sucker around while I mow hte lawn or read the newspaper.

I think the best option is to get me & mine on the floor, below the level of the windows, and hope the brick stops incoming lead.
 
In a real drive-by, the car unloads into your house while you're going "what the...?" Hopefully your reflexes are fast enough and you drop for cover.

You're not going to have time to grab your gun, get into position and return fire. That car is already smokin' down your street.

By the time you get your truck keys and cell phone out that car is long gone.
 
Firing at a moveing car going down a street will not make you friends with your neighbors , nor the president of your local homeowners assn . Take cover , call 911 . If they get out to shoot , or attempt to enter the house that is different . Then you MAY have a case to use force yourself responsibly .
 
If you start following them with your car they will almost certainly lead you onto "their turf." Whether that be in a gang turf kind of way or just in a, now they are in a place they are more familure with than you are. You're asking for trouble. Having you follow them will probably cause a slight sense of desperation on their part. All of this is bad. Stay in your home. Try to keep yourself and your family safe. Call the police.
 
In a real drive-by, the car unloads into your house while you're going "what the...?" Hopefully your reflexes are fast enough and you drop for cover.

You're not going to have time to grab your gun, get into position and return fire. That car is already smokin' down your street.
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CWL is right.

I've been in two drive-bys. One in the middle of the day on Sunday, and they actually killed two little kids who were playing outside, and one in a decent suburban neighborhood in the middle of the night (that's how I found out upstanding young surgeon who lived on the other side of the duplex was a coke dealer).

There is no time to do anything. You're lucky if you've managed to hit the ground before the car is around the corner and gone. If you even see the car it's a miracle (and you're probably much closer than you want to be).

Returning any kind of fire is not a realistic option.

Making sure that you live in a neighborhood where the other citizens aren't engaging in gang or unregulated pharmaceutical activity is a much more proactive solution. The sherrif's office in my city has a "crime map" feature that you can plug zip codes into and view the last year of crime reports by item. I won't live anywhere near where there's been narcotics or prostitution reports.
 
If its common in your area

THis is strickly my opinion after reading these posts.
You don t have time to do anything but take cover!
When the shooting stops, check for injured people,
call police!
 
How far away are we talking about, here - 50 feet to the corner, or 200 yards to the property line and access road? It makes a bit of difference, IMO. My understanding, given the wording of the original poster (and despite the apparent misunderstanding of subsequent posts), the car is actually parked or at least stopped out in front of the house at an undetermined distance - and it's not clear if it's with a rifle or pistol. So...

Would I shoot someone just "driving by" my house and shooting? Probably not - I'd let them pass unless I was under direct fire (as opposed to just someone pelting my house). I'd be safer that way, and it's unlikely I'd be able to get a shot off before they're gone anyway.

Now, if the car is stopped and they're unloading, or they're shooting from a distance, hell yes I'd return fire. And who said anything about taking out their car with a firearm? I'd think your priority would be to make them stop shooting at you, which means shooting them: either they die, or they are wounded and attempt to leave. In such a case, you'd want their vehicle to be functional.

So my short answer is: why not?
 
No, you can't

IF they are in a car say on the street in front of my house can I shoot to kill if they are shooting at my house?
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Never, ever "shoot to kill" the term itself is an invention of the liberal press.

You "shoot to stop a threat" any time you shoot it can cause death, but if your on trial, you don't want the Jury to hear that you were trying to kill someone because you might find yourself facing jail time for what would have been a justifiable shoot if you were just trying to stop someone from killing/maiming you.
 
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