It's a bit off topic, but to me the castle law guarantees us something we can't get in your philosophy above, and that is protection from repeat offenders where the only way to keep them from coming back is to kill them. If a guy is burglarizing your car tonight, and you just run him off, he may very well be back tomorrow or even later tonight. Now, he might not be much of a threat to you or your family's safety, but tomorrow might be a different story. If he's dead, he can't ever come back.Excaliber wrote: My personal rule of thumb that has kept me on the right side of both my conscience and the law for over 35 years of LEO and civilian carry is: Deadly force is used only when there is no other reasonable way to protect an innocent person from serious injury or death. This complies with virtually every use of force law I've ever seen anywhere in the US. Yes, I know it's a stricter standard than the law in some cases, particularly with respect to night time theft in Texas and castle doctrine provisions here and in several other states, but I'm not looking for an excuse to shoot someone, and it's a choice that works for me.
Self defense is not an all or nothing proposition, and my stance should not be misinterpreted to mean that I'm not prepared and willing to take appropriate action to protect myself and my property. It just means that I'll use options other than deadly force to do so whenever they are reasonable and available.
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Return to “Would it have been justified?”
- Wed Jul 01, 2009 3:56 pm
- Forum: General Texas CHL Discussion
- Topic: Would it have been justified?
- Replies: 77
- Views: 10366
Re: Would it have been justified?
- Wed Jul 01, 2009 1:24 pm
- Forum: General Texas CHL Discussion
- Topic: Would it have been justified?
- Replies: 77
- Views: 10366
Re: Would it have been justified?
There's a problem with drawing when you don't have justification for using force. Shooting is deadly force. Drawing a gun is not deadly force.seamusTX wrote:There is a problem with drawing when you do not have justification for shooting. I know of four people who were arrested for it. One was convicted under PC 46.035(a) - intentional failure to conceal.
However, all these cases were in situations where force was not justified, let alone deadly force; and two of them sounded like escalation from what I heard (second-hand reports).
When you are in the presence of multiple thieves who are brazenly breaking into a vehicle in broad daylight, you probably are a lot closer to justification in this gray area.
Besides, no one complained. People being what they are, it's possible that no one except the three individuals involved knew what was happening.
- Jim
Here we're talking about burglary. You are justified in using force, not necessarily deadly force, to stop a burglary in progress and to recover your property. I can't see where drawing a gun on a man in your car, burglary in progress, wouldn't be a justified use of force.
- Wed Jul 01, 2009 1:13 pm
- Forum: General Texas CHL Discussion
- Topic: Would it have been justified?
- Replies: 77
- Views: 10366
Re: Would it have been justified?
First, this was a burglary under penal code 30.04, not just theft under chapter 31. The way I read it, you were justified in using force, but not deadly force, to stop the burglary in progress of your vehicle during the day time. Drawing a gun is force, but not deadly force. At night, you could potentially have used deadly force to stop the burglary and to stop him fleeing with your property. During the day or night, I don't see any provision to justify force, especially not deadly force, to stop the guy from fleeing unless he had your property. I would say had you shot him while fleeing during the day and without your property, you'd be in big trouble.dwhitley wrote:Yesterday I was eating at Wendy's and my alarm to my truck went off, I have a notification alarm that beeps the remote when its set off. So I went outside to see and there was a man in my truck trying to steal my Navigation-Radio. I did pull my gun and yelled for him to step away from the truck he looked at me and then ran off and got into another car and they drove off. At one point I was ready to pull the trigger, but I just felt like if he would just lay on the ground until the cops came I would be good. I mean taking a life over a radio I just could not justify though I have always said I would shoot them it just did not feel right. I think most of all it was the legal side would I be justified. The cop that came to do the report said I should have shot him, but he was young and seemed just eager to take a bad guy off the streets. Tell me what you all would have done shoot or not? Would it have been justified? Thanks David