New member here with a pretty basic question...

[sloopy70]

One thing I've wondered about for a while is this situation: Say youre at home/your apartment watching tv with the door locked, and someone knocks on the door and you go to check it out, and they try to force theyre way in. So you draw your hand gun, and tell them to stop, and you back away. Then this person being a thug, idiot, or drugged out BG, keeps comeing at you, WEAPONLESS, do you fire, or do you risk a hand to hand where the BG could take control of your weapon?? same goes for if you weren't inside your home, for example out walking in a park or something... What do you do???

 

[XavierBreath]

In Louisiana, once he has forced his way into your home, it does not matter if he has a weapon or not. The intent to do you harm is manifest. You have a right to respond with lethal force.

Justifiable Homicide
LA R.S. 14:20

A homicide is justifiable:

(1) When committed in self-defense by one who reasonably believes that he is in imminent danger of losing his life or receiving great bodily harm and that the killing is necessary to save himself from that danger.

(2) When committed for the purpose of preventing a violent or forcible felony involving danger to life or of great bodily harm by one who reasonably believes that such an offense is about to be committed and that such action is necessary for its prevention. The circumstances must be sufficient to excite the fear of a reasonable person that there would be serious danger to his own life or person if he attempted to prevent the felony without the killing.

(3) When committed against a person whom one reasonably believes to be likely to use any unlawful force against a person present in a dwelling or a place of business, or when committed against a person whom one reasonably believes is attempting to use any unlawful force against a person present in a motor vehicle as defined in R.S. 32:1(40), while committing or attempting to commit a burglary or robbery of such dwelling, business, or motor vehicle. The homicide shall be justifiable even though the person does not retreat from the encounter.

(4) When committed by a person lawfully inside a dwelling, a place of business, or a motor vehicle as defined in R.S. 32:1(40), against a person who is attempting to make an unlawful entry into the dwelling, place of business, or motor vehicle, or who has made an unlawful entry into the dwelling, place of business, or motor vehicle, and the person committing the homicide reasonably believes that the use of deadly force is necessary to prevent the entry or to compel the intruder to leave the premises or motor vehicle. The homicide shall be justifiable even though the person committing the homicide does not retreat from the encounter.

 

[Heraclid]

Unless they are running about naked, odds are that you aren't going to be able to determine for sure that they are weaponless. It is also irrelevant. People can do serious damage with their bare hands, and if they manage to get in, I imagine they could find several of your household items that they could readily use to kill you with too. You probably have some kitchen knives, for example. Worrying about whether the thug is unarmed or not and if it is fair to draw on him when he just made an unauthorized forcible entry? You must be kidding...

You blast 'em and don't stop until the threat is assuredly neutralized.

 

[sloopy70]

I would personally fire on him obviously, but I've seen a few threads on here where people were talking about weather it was justified or not to draw and/or fire in certain situations...

 

[Heraclid]

Sorry, do not mean to come off harsh, but in that situation, I think you would be well within your rights to defend yourself with lethal force. The perp waived his rights at the door. A normal thief wants the place empty. If they force their way in with you there at the door trying to stop them, it's safe to assume they haven't got good plans for you. The fact that they may not be themselves due to substance abuse doesn't make them any less dangerous, and you could very well end up just as dead.

By the way, lots home invasions resulting in killings are found objects murders. They enter and use something in the victim's place to assault them with. I believe Danny Rollings (the serial killer we had preying on college students in Gainesville, FL in the 90's) was such a case.

 

[Freddymac]

I had a similar situation happen

When I was in college, 2 BG’s were kicking my door in at about 2:30 in the morning. I grabbed my USP 45, ran down the stairs, and came around the corner just in time to see my door bust open. One of them had a crow bar, I couldn’t see what exactly the other guy had. I leveled my sights and yelled “GET THE F@#% out” , seeing that the first guy was only a step or two into my house, and there was about 20-25 feet between us, I made the decision to wait to see what they did. I also made the decision that if they took one more step that I would pull the trigger. These guys turned tail and ran like their a$$es were on fire. I called the police and explained what had happened. The police were surprisingly nice to me and I never had any problems again, but that was quite possibly the scariest thing that I ever experienced.

I know that if I had fired, that I would have been justified, but honestly, who wants to take a life if you don’t have to. Some people may bring up what if points, but I feel that I did the right thing in that situation. If I didn’t have twenty something feet separating us, things probably would have gone down a little differently.

 

[BullfrogKen]

"Who is it?" can be heard clearly through a closed door. So can an appropriate response.

Most places consider forced entry into an occupied dwelling clear indication of the intent of the intruder to do harm to the occupants. Otherwise, he would have waited for the dwelling to be unoccupied. Some cases have even gone so far as to suggest if the intrusion occurred during nighttime hours, when people are reasonably expected to be home, that specific knowledge of the presence of the homeowner by the intruder isn't necessary to infer that he intended to commit harm to the homeowner.


It doesn't matter what I would do. Nor would what I actually do be what I imagine myself doing while sitting at home, on my couch, at rest, pondering hypotheticals.


Ask yourself what works for you, and your lifestyle, and plan for guidelines to help you navigate through such occurances.

 

[Model520Fan]

The following is not advice - get that from your lawyer. However, you may find my thinking interesting, even if you are not 61 years old. If a young man tries to forcibly enter my house when I have drawn a revolver and he can see it and I am yelling at him to get out, then he knows something I don't about why he isn't afraid of me. Maybe he thinks I won't use it and he can stomp me and take my gun and use it however he chooses to. Maybe he has a gun and figures he'll shoot first while I'm discovering he's wearing body armor. Maybe something else. But if he believes he is a threat to me, I believe he is a threat to me, and I will act accordingly until he is either gone, or on the floor with both hands showing and no friends around.

 

[sloopy70]

Thanks for all the responses, I was just wondering what you were supposed to do in that sort of situation when someone appears to be unarmed/ or thinks you won't shoot, and yall helped out alot.. THanks

 

[ReadyontheRight]

I am not a Lawyer...and I don't even play one on T.V., but from my understanding and training: If you THINK that you are under serious threat of death and have no means of retreat, use of armed force IS justified.

In his training, the late, great Darrell Mullroy gives the example of a woman in the 1950's who's husband says "After I finish my dinner, I'm am going to kill you".

She then gets a pistol and shoots him in the back of the head. Face-down into his spaghetti.

The jury/court ruled that she WAS under serious threat of death and had no means of retreat (i.e. nowhere to go where he could not find her), so the shooting was justified.

Darrell Mulroy's training also points out that ANY self-defense shooting incident is likely to lead to: Intimate Police involvement/questions with your family, investigations into your personal life, arrest/incarceration and at least $10K in legal fees...

Obviously worth remaining alive, but also worth noting the overall cost of self-defense these days.

 

[JohnKSa]

They broke in.
They see I have a gun.
They keep coming.

I can't think of a scenario where is going to work out well...
Worse, if I DON'T shoot then they WILL have a gun soon--mine.

 

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

If you don't want to get shot, don't break into other peoples' houses. Not the hardest of concepts to grasp.

 

[Sungun09]

I believe the idea is to stop someone from advancing, killing them would be a byproduct of the process NOT the intent.

Additionally, being "in fear of one's life" is often a legal test for deadly force. The definition changes with the circumstances, IE a woman would be more likely in "fear of her life" than, say, a 6'4" football player.

In Chicago, every police shooting is prefaced with " the officer was in fear of his life"..

 

[Doggieman]

what do you do

why you shoot the b*stard of course. I can't imagine what else you would do.

 

[shermacman]

I could kill you with my bare hands.

That isn't a threat! But it is true. I don't need a weapon. If someone comes barreling into your house, and you legitimately feel your life is at risk, fire away.

Not having a weapon does not mean they want to sing Kumbayha with you and your children.

 

[wheelgunslinger]

To avoid this:
Install a peephole or wide angle camera in the door. Looking out of the peephole to only see black means they have their finger on it. And that means they're either a smarty pants or don't want you to see them. I do this to a lot of my friends to reinforce the idea of a defensive mindset. You'd be surprised how many will open the door quickly when they see black, irritated by the guy with his finger on the peep. And completely drawn away from a defensive mindset.
Ask who it is before you touch the lock.
Listen for noises like more than two feet, metal clinking, too much silence, etc.

If you are drawing your weapon, then you'd better be in the process of employing it. Only actors and people unresolved to defend their lives with deadly force wave and gesture with handguns. Oh, and LEOs.

 

[rich52us]

Castle Doctrine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Doctrine

Check this site out. It explains the "Castle Doctrine". That is a law that allows you to protect yourself from intruders in your own home. In Florida it is very clear that if someone forcibly comes into your home, you can protect yourself with deadly force. I'm not sure about LA, so check it out.

Then there's the common sense doctrine of "I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6."

 

[Joe7cri]

Even here in NY I'm with in my rights to drop anyone who breaks into my house, armed or unarmed, but I'm sure that I'd have to answer questions for many hours.

 

[Doggieman]

I never even answer my door when I'm not expecting anyone anyway. If someone I know wants to come over, she calls first.

 

[The-Fly]

in my state, its legal to introduce uninvited guests to the business end of my 870 without having to introduce myself first

 

[Boom-stick]

Unless they are running about naked, odds are that you aren't going to be able to determine for sure that they are weaponless

That doesn't mean they are weaponless, havn't you seen '101 things removed from the human body'???