in short if you or another are not in immediate danger then you cant use deadly force
aka if they are fleeing
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Another reason why you should know the laws before you use your gun....
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aka if they are fleeing
It doesn't work outside the movies.
What sucks is we all have the same opinion of the dead guy and sympathize with the shooter. We also know the shooter let his emotions get the better of him. Will he actually see the inside of a prison? Time will tell. He does stand a good chance of having his 2nd Amendment rights stripped even without jail time.
Thanks
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Like most places, you can use it self DEFENSE or the defense of others. A fleeing felon isn't legally considered a defensive use.
<--- not a lawyer
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I already did.
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I'm not sure my point was clear. I don't know if he knew the law and it doesn't matter (that was my point). I can certainly see where in that situation I would worry the perp would return and would do everything in my power to prevent that. I get it may not be 'legal'. But if you are in fear for your life, 'legal' takes a back burner... actually it's no where on the stove. Yes I understand that doesn't change the legal ramifications. I pray to never be in the situation but yeah, if I'm on the jury and I believe the guy was scared for his life (which is a pretty easy sell to me), "not guilty" would be pretty easy.
Why do you assume he didn't know the law?
I'm trying to imagine walking into my home and finding a family member tied up at gun point. The suspect then flees. I guess at that point I have two options.
1) "It's OK honey/son, let me untie you. The bad man is gone. I'll get on the phone now to call the real estate agent and a therapist.
or
2) Sling every grain of lead at him/them I can get my hands on as long as I can see them.
I get your point but there is no way I'm letting an armed felon who broke into my home leave unscathed if I can help it.
Well, if you intentionally act according to reaction #2, you're committing murder. Or some lesser degree of criminal homicide. That's our law, and the rules made by our ancestors and kept in place by today's generation of lawmakers and judges. If you don't like it, lobby for "shoot fleeing felons" laws. Or move somewhere else.
Or... or stay here in the USA, but understand that if you choose to act on your ideas of right and wrong (vigilante justice) instead of acting according to the law, then you can be the vigilante hero in prison. You can get letters from pen-pals telling you how much they admire you taking out the trash and making the community a safer place. Your mug shot might be a pro-gun meme on the internet, as you sit in prison and aren't allowed access to the internet.
If your anger and shock at seeing your home and family abused this way causes an IRRESISTIBLE IMPULSE that, although you knew it was wrong, overrode your will and good judgment and caused you to shoot that fleeing felon in the back, then you might have a defense to the crime, or at least mitigating circumstances that get it reduced to a probation-only sentence.
^ Well stated.
