[Rhodes22-list]Guns and Politics

[Steve Alm]

> Dead criminals rarely bring suit for damages.

But their families do.  You WILL be arrested, charged with homicide, booked,
held and questioned.  You may have to post bail.  You WILL be tried in
court.  Most likely you WILL be sued by the family of the deceased.  Say
what you will about self defense, and you may very well walk, but the law is
never black and white and anything can happen if a case goes to the jury.
Just because he's an intruder doesn't mean you HAVE to, or GET to shoot him.
For example, if you shoot, and he falls backwards out the door, you better
drag his butt into your living room because you'll have a hard time proving
he's a threat when the body is not even IN your house.  (but then you'd be
tampering with a crime scene and that makes YOU a criminal) The prosecutor
will say that he was trying to get away and you didn't HAVE to shoot.  Next
thing you know, you're found guilty of third degree manslaughter, reckless
use of a firearm, endangerment, who knows?  Lawyers can be pretty creative.
But even in the best case scenario--you walk on self defense--you still have
to go through all this.  Decidedly, it's still better than being dead, but
every case is going to be looked at individually and the devil is in the
details.  The laws on the use of lethal force have many intricacies.
Unless, of course, you, the cops and the judge are white and the intruder is
black.  Then it should be pretty much open and shut. (sarcasm...sort of)

But again, this scenario is so rare that we really can't say what the norm
is for an outcome.  How many intruders shot by the homeowner can you think
of?  (excluding the crack houses where intruders walk into a hail a gunfire)
Of those, what per cent walked on self defense?

Slim