Can you legally kill people who try to rob you?

[Odomize]

Say, you have a concealed weapon license and carry guns. And a dude tries to rob you using the "i've got a gun but it's only his finger" method. Can you legally kill in that case?

[KeylessEntry]

I think it depends on which state you are in, and whether you are on private or public property, and probably some other factors too, but I'm not entirely sure to be honest.

[L.Kizzle]

Say, you have a concealed weapon license and carry guns. And a dude tries to rob you using the "i've got a gun but it's only his finger" method. Can you legally kill in that case?
No

[JayGuevara]

You can't legally kill anybody as a civilian. You can argue that it was in self defense and be absolved of wrong-doing, but killin folks is not legal.

[Younggrease]

You can't legally kill anybody as a civilian. You can argue that it was in self defense and be absolved of wrong-doing, but killin folks is not legal.

I thinks he means can you get away with it...The short answer is it depends. There can always be self defense but what constitutes self defense might change from juridiction to jurisdiction. But there usually has be proportional response and you still have to be in danger.


"i've got a gun but it's only his finger"

Depending on jurisdiction the answer would be yes..Im tempted to say yes altogether as long as the assumption that he had a gun wasnt unreasonable...

[Kleiza7]

people should be not only able to but pro-killing robbers

[jbot]

really depends on several things. they'll look at whether the gun was concealed, whether or not u were really in danger under in the court's eyes, etc. our judicial system is bad.

if they break in your house, you can defend them as long as they are inside. once they're outside, they are considered no longer a threat and u gotta call 911.

[Parade]

If you do, make sure they are dead, so they can't come back and sue you.

[emsteez forreal]

isn't it texas that has the "make my day" law?

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

which is KINDA similar to it . but i think in general if you kill someone that tries to attack you then it can be ruled as self-defense, whereas if they don't actually attack you then you might get in trouble for killing them .

[dnyk1337]

If only the laws from the Middle-Ages still stood. We could go around town with swords tied to our belts and slash people because they are against the church.

[loot]

In the Netherlands you'll get sued if you beat burglars up with a baseball bat when they're in your house at night. True story. Guy living alone with his daughter got a few months of jailtime iirc for that.

Just shows you how crazy this is.

[pete's montreux]

I always thought you were only allowed to do what was being done to you. For example, if the robber is attacking you with a knife, you can only defend yourself with another knife, or your hands. If you use a gun on someone with a knife, that would be murder.

I don't remember where I heard that.

[kentatm]

um, if there are states that say taht BS Pete you need to get out of them. thats complete crap. if a guy is trying to stab me to death and I have a gun,m i will blast his ass.

i think that would count as self defense anyway and you'd be fine. i cant imagine any state that would rule otherwise.

then again, im from Texas... our rules are a little more hardcore when it comes to that kind of thing.

[Kebab Stall]

Not sure of it's true, but in England, if someone breaks in to your house, you can use any way that you see fit to remove them from your house. That doesn't include cold blooded murder. Though I'm pretty sure you can take a bat to someone's head if he is on your property and you feel is a threat to you or your family.

[2LeTTeRS]

I always thought you were only allowed to do what was being done to you. For example, if the robber is attacking you with a knife, you can only defend yourself with another knife, or your hands. If you use a gun on someone with a knife, that would be murder.

I don't remember where I heard that.

Some states may have that law but I haven't heard it interpreted that way. The law normally does say that you're only able to use an amount of force proportional to what is being threatened to you. My problem with the law being interpreted as you said it though, is a knife constitutes an attempt to use deadly force so most jurisdictions would allow a gun as on the same level of force. But again that will vary from state to state.

[HisJoeness]

Say, you have a concealed weapon license and carry guns. And a dude tries to rob you using the "i've got a gun but it's only his finger" method. Can you legally kill in that case?

Sup O.J.

[barne100]

This man shot and killed two people robbing his neighbors and was found not guilty. So if their in your house, you could probably kill them. (of course this is texas...)


Texan 'hero' shoots and kills burglars

By our foreign staff
Last Updated: 3:24AM GMT 03 Dec 2007
A Texas man has become a hero after he took it upon himself to shoot and kill two burglars who had broken into his neighbour's house.
Audio: 911 call: 'I've got a shotgun, you want me to go shoot them?'
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Joe Horn called the police to report the burglary and then stepped outside and shot the burglars dead as they left the neighbour's house.
A recording of the call suggests Mr Horn, 61, was itching to kill the two burglars.
"Don't go outside the house," the 911 operator pleaded.
"You're going to get yourself shot if you go outside that house with a gun. I don't care what you think."
"You want to make a bet?" Horn answered.
"I'm going to kill them."
Admirers, including several of his neighbours, say Mr Horn is a hero for killing the burglars, protecting his neighbourhood and sending a message to would-be criminals. Critics call him a loose cannon. His attorney says Mr Horn just feared for his life.
Prosecuting Mr Horn could prove difficult in Texas, where few people sympathise with criminals and many have an almost religious belief in the right to self-defence.
The case could test the state's self-defence laws, which allow people to use deadly force in certain situations to protect themselves, their property and their neighbours' property.
Horn was home in Pasadena, about 15 miles southeast of Houston, on Nov 14 when he heard glass breaking, said his attorney, Tom Lambright.
He looked out the window and saw 38-year-old Miguel Antonio DeJesus and 30-year-old Diego Ortiz using a crowbar to break out the rest of the glass.
He grabbed a 12-gauge shotgun and called 911, the police emergency number, Lambright said. "Uh, I've got a shotgun," he told the dispatcher.
"Uh, do you want me to stop them?"
"Nope, don't do that," the dispatcher responded.
"Ain't no property worth shooting somebody over, OK?"
Horn and the dispatcher spoke for several minutes, during which Mr Horn pleaded with the dispatcher to send someone to catch the men and vowed not to let them escape.
Over and over, the dispatcher told him to stay inside.
Horn repeatedly said he couldn't.
When the men crawled back out the window carrying a bag, Mr Horn began to sound increasingly frantic.
"Well, here it goes, buddy," Mr Horn said as a shell clicked into the chamber.
"You hear the shotgun clicking, and I'm going."
A few seconds passed.
"Move," Horn can be heard saying on the tape. "You're dead."
Boom.
Click.
Boom.
Click.
Boom.
Mr Horn redialed 911 and told the dispatcher what he'd done. "I had no choice," he said, his voice shaking. "They came in the front yard with me, man. I had no choice. Get somebody over here quick."
Mr Lambright said Mr Horn had intended to take a look around when he left his house and instead came face to face with the burglars, standing 10 to 12 feet from him in his yard.
Mr Horn is heavyset and middle-aged and would have been no match in a physical confrontation with the two men, who were young and strong, Lambright said.
So when one or both of them "made lunging movements," Mr Horn fired in self-defence, he said.
Family members of the two shooting victims have made few public statements.
Diamond Morgan, Ortiz's widow, who has an 8-month-old son with him, told Houston television station KTRK that she was stunned by Horn's statements on the 911 tape.
"It's horrible," she said. "He was so eager, so eager to shoot."
Texas law allows people to use deadly force to protect themselves if it is reasonable to believe they could otherwise be killed.
In some cases, people also can use deadly force to protect their neighbours' property; for example, if a homeowner asks a neighbour to watch over his property while he's out of town.
At issue is whether it was reasonable for Mr Horn to fear the men and whether his earlier threats on the 911 call showed he planned to kill them no matter what, said Fred C. Moss, who teaches criminal law at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1571096/Texan-'hero'-shoots-and-kills-burglars.html

[bagelred]

Say, you have a concealed weapon license and carry guns. And a dude tries to rob you using the "i've got a gun but it's only his finger" method. Can you legally kill in that case?

The real question is:

Why do you need to know? Does this situation come up often for you?

[Odomize]

The real question is:

Why do you need to know? Does this situation come up often for you?
:roll::roll:



barne that was some good ****.

[plowking]

You are allowed to use reasonable force to claim self defense. It's not about having the same weapon as pete said, its about reasonable force. If someone is attacking you with there fists, you are allowed to do whatever in your power to keep you safe within reasonable force. So in this case, a golf club would be reasonable, or if they judged there was a reasonable size difference, such as in excess of 60lbs or so, they may claim that the golf club was not reasonable.

Same goes with army trained men. If they have tactical training, judges will be less lenient.