What if scenario...coming home and seeing someone in your garage

[mcdonl]

What ever is in my garage is not worth some one else's life. I could not justify shooting some one else for stuff that insurance will replace. My house with my family inside is a different story.

I agree with this. Besides, in Maine you cannot use deadly force to protect property and I wouldn't want to anyway.

The only exception, I guess is if they person is in my DWELLING and committing a second offense (robbery) at the same time I could use deadly force but like grubby lads said is anything worth someones life?

So, I would stay in the car, call 911 and if the scene seemed safe enough give them a warning that PD was called and they have 45 minutes to an hour to get the hell off my property before the Sheriffs department get there.

 

[Sav .250]

What ever "action " you do take, rest assured, you are going to have to defend that action............ A scenario or otherwise.

 

[Mr.Davis]

If I knew no one was home, I'd be hitting the gas pedal to get the heck out of there while calling the police.

If I knew my wife was at home (we have no kids) I'd skid to a stop at the bottom of the driveway, and get behind the engine compartment and draw my CCW while getting an open line to 911.

I'd also be really wishing the AR was in the car

 

[mbt2001]

What ever is in my garage is not worth some one else's life. I could not justify shooting some one else for stuff that insurance will replace. My house with my family inside is a different story.

If enough people take your stuff, then you starve to death. That is why you have a right to self defense. If you cannot KEEP something / defend it, then you don't OWN IT, property rights go out the window...

 

[Mr.Davis]

If enough people take your stuff, then you starve to death. That is why you have a right to self defense. If you cannot KEEP something / defend it, then you don't OWN IT, property rights go out the window...

Agreed, in principle, but one should decide in advance which of their posessions are worth risking their life over.

This guy risked his life to protect somebody else's beer. He died for his impromptu stance on property rights.

 

[Ridgerunner665]

All I'd have to do is clean up the mess the dogs made while they were protecting my property...bones, body parts and such.

Bury them in the hills...

 

[mbt2001]

All I'd have to do is clean up the mess the dogs made while they were protecting my property...bones, body parts and such.

lol

Agreed, in principle, but one should decide in advance which of their posessions are worth risking their life over.

This guy risked his life to protect somebody else's beer. He died for his impromptu stance on property rights.

The good Samaritan in your story DIED protecting his wife from getting beaten BTW.

Regards your "decide what possessions" remark, you obviously missed the point. Why should those jerks be able to rob me? I want to sit around all day and smoke crack or drink 40's but i have to work. I am not a slave. I don't work so they can take my gear so that I have to turn overtime shifts to break even.

If you want to give your gear away, fine. I don't want to and shouldn't be forced to because a bunch of folks like you don't agree with my opinion. That is what the USA USED to be about. Now days it's all easy answers from armchair experts making $150K per year and never have had to go without.

 

[Averageman]

If I came home and the garage door was open and they were there -vs- I hit the garage door opener and they are there are two different things.
I have a pretty good "feel" for who belongs in the garage at my house. It could be one of my Son's freinds, at which time I would probobly ask the person what they were doing and call for my Son. Any action from there would be based on his action when confronted.
On the other hand if the garage door comes up and someone has my possesions in his arms I will draw and call 911 from the behind the door of the Truck.
What are my "things" worth, thats irrelivant; you decided what your life is worth when you broke in my house.

 

[230therapy]

If you confront them and tell them to leave...and they leave without threat or force, you have to let them go. While Texas law allows for use of force, is it really the moral action to take? It's just stuff and the difference between "us" and "them" is that they're animals; we're not.

If the thieves refuse to leave, now you have a choice to make. If they offer no resistance, but refuse to leave, then it's at most a trespassing charge (in addition to theft and burglery). But, they also know that they will get (some) time for their crime (especially if they're felons already). If they stick around, the cops will arrest them. The real sticking point is if they have your property in their vehicle. How are you going to get it out without force? Suddenly, it's a tactical nightmare because you'll have to manage yourself while watching them...what are their hands doing? They could draw a weapon in an instant just after putting down a box.

If you go straight to force, you may have issues with the law, especially if the neighbors are watching. Remember, witnesses may see something entirely different than what actually happened ("He just walked up to those men and started shooting."--having missed the first minute of the encounter AND not mentioning it). While state law may say one thing, what does case law say about how far you can go?

That's also not to say that legal issues should impede immediate action if required. But, in this case, you have more than ample time to assess and decide, assuming all family members are accounted for. Best to let the cops sort it out (in terms of avoiding wounds or death).

And, yes, I'd be really, really upset to find that going on in my home.

 

[Mr.Davis]

The good Samaritan in your story DIED protecting his wife from getting beaten BTW.

Wrong.

The perp walked in, grabbed two 30-packs, and tried to walked out. The "good Samaritan" got in his face to stop him. After being berated, the perp put back the 30-packs, and then pulled out a gun and brandished it at everyone in the store.

At that point, the "good Samaritan"'s wife walked in and got pistol whipped by the perp, who never would have drawn his gun and would have been long gone had Mr. Samaritan not intervened over beer. She never would have been attacked if Mr. Samaritan had been a good witness. The guy came on foot - he would have been arrested right down the street. Instead, Perp attacked his wife, and he decided to AGAIN confront this armed, dangerous man (due to fallout from a situation he helped create) and was killed in front of her.

If you consider that sequence of events to be "protecting his wife", then fine, but that's NOT what happened. His actions actually helped put his wife in mortal danger.

Regards your "decide what possessions" remark, you obviously missed the point. Why should those jerks be able to rob me? I want to sit around all day and smoke crack or drink 40's but i have to work. I am not a slave. I don't work so they can take my gear so that I have to turn overtime shifts to break even.

If you want to give your gear away, fine. I don't want to and shouldn't be forced to because a bunch of folks like you don't agree with my opinion. That is what the USA USED to be about. Now days it's all easy answers from armchair experts making $150K per year and never have had to go without.

Nobody in this thread is telling you what to do. I don't make laws.

Do what you want. I'm not risking my life, or the lives of others to defend my TV, car, couch, or any other inanimate product. Whether I make $25k or $150k has nothing to do with that stance, and frankly I'm offended that you even brought up income.

 

[LEVRLOVR]

What Averageman and mbt2001 have already said.

The thieves have already made the decision of what your property is worth.

The (call the cops and hope for the best) plan of action encourages more of the same.
WHEN the cops get there they are going to do exactly what a much more informed and armed property owner could have already accomplished.
And I may add he is going to do it for little pay for property that does not even belong to him.

Your house, your garage, your stuff walking out the door.

Be smart, be safe, but step up and guard your home with gusto if the situation requires it.

 

[duns]

There is no possession in my garage or house that I would use deadly force to protect. That's my moral stance.

From a safety point of view, I wouldn't want to risk my life to protect property. My life is worth so much more than the property.

Regarding the legalities of using force to protect property, PC 9.41 talks about reasonable belief that the force, to the degree it is used, is immediately necessary to prevent or terminate trespass or interference with property. And according to PC 9.42, deadly force is not justifiable unless force is justifiable if I read it right. So it would be necessary to use force or deadly force only when immediately necessary and then only to the minimum degree to prevent or terminate the trespass and/or loss of property and/or recover property. I wouldn't want to run the risk of criminal charges because it was felt that my response in protecting my property was over the top. I'd rather take the financial hit of losing some property than running this risk.

I would also take into account the low value of my movable property compared against the cost of defending a civil law suit from the intruder or his family.

So as well as the moral argument, I believe that the value of my movable property does not justify the personal risks I would run in order to protect it.

 

[Averageman]

It's getting toward summer, remember to keep your Garage door closed when you are working in the yard.
Throw a sheet over your motorcycle and roll away tool boxes so they "blend in" to the white walls.
When in Austin I was always surprised how many people left the garage open and expensive toys left in full view. Every once in a while you could see people kind of cruise slowly and do an "inventory" of garages. I always thought that was asking for trouble.

 

[LEVRLOVR]

"All that need be done for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing"
Edmund Burke.

 

[hso]

Since the OP decided to change the conditions by posting additional information we'll assume that there's not enough information to be useful yet and that instead of a conversation about tactics we've devolved into a philosophical discussion over whether shooting people over property is ethically acceptable for gunowners. That last is a discussion for another time and place.