Tell her to go back and study the law. She's obviously anti-2nd Amendment. It boils down to this, without quoting a bunch of penal code.....Emtifre09 wrote:Can i use deadly force if someone is breaking into my house or vehicle during any part of the day. Day or night. My mother in law is a divorce attorney and says i cannot. What is the rule on this? Thanks
Yes.
The law assumes that a reasonable person would have reason to use deadly force against an uninvited entry in the middle of the night, for the simple reason that a criminal has every reason to suspect that you will be home in the middle of the night. If the criminal is not worried about you being at home, then he is clearly willing to do you violence. He may have, in fact, come for the purpose of doing you violence. Whether he is there to take your stuff, or to take your life, you are absolutely justified in using deadly force because you have no way of knowing his purpose, and you are not required to wait until he stabs or shoots you before defending yourself. His very presence is a threat.
Daytime is a little different, in that a criminal might have reason to assume you would be gone during the day, and that is why he chose daytime to B&E. However, if you are inside the premises (it could be that you work nights, or that it's your day off) and you confront the criminal, and he becomes aggressive, you have every right to shoot him. If he tries to leave with your property, you have the right to shoot him........although you might consider the value of the property against the possible legal bills you will incur, or against any personally held moral considerations you might have about killing in defense of property.
Exodus 22:2-3 makes this distinction between the threats from a B&E during night or day even all the way back to the Old Testament:
This may or may not be important to you in your own spiritual life, but just know that the law is based in part on the importance of this scripture. Preeminent 2nd Amendment advocate Dave Kopel has a very interesting article on the Torah (Old Testament) and Self-Defense here if you are interested in reading further: http://www.davekopel.com/2A/LawRev/The- ... efense.htm.Exodus 22:2-3English Standard Version (ESV).
2 [a] If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him, 3 but if the sun has risen on him, there shall be bloodguilt for him. He shall surely pay. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.
Both of these scenarios assume you are inside. But what happens if you come home in the middle of the day for lunch, and after pulling around back of your house, you find someone trying to break in to your bedroom window from the outside? You can draw your pistol, and order him to stop. I doubt the law would countenance you back-shooting him if he didn't. You have a cellphone, use it, and let the local police do the tactical entry......unless you have a loved one inside the house. Then do what you have to do. The police won't get there in time. If he stops, you can detain him at gunpoint, use your cellphone, and hold him there at gunpoint until they arrive. If he stops trying to break in, turns, and rushes at you, you are fully justified in shooting him.
Same scenario, but this time you see him on the way out of your home, carrying your TV. Is your TV worth what it is going to cost you legally? You have the right to try and stop him, even at gunpoint, but what if he tells you to go to hades and keeps walking with your TV? Are you going to back-shoot him as he walks off? Particularly if he makes no actual move to threaten you? Technically legal as it can be lawful to use deadly force in defense of property, but probably not defensible in any kind of practical way......."practical" meaning what happens when you get your day in court.
But if you go read the code, terms like "reasonably believes" appear all over it. The law recognizes that IT cannot be there to adjudicate the events in real time. It must rest on whether or not the actions are reasonable......would a reasonable person (not crazy, not a criminal, and not in a fit of passion) do these things, and the standard of reasonableness is in part defined by terms like "reasonably believes".
I think we have reason to believe that your mom is very poorly informed.