The Castle Doctrine

Having recently read the comments on Rachel Lucas' blog entry, I decided it was time to put my fingers to the keys once more.

What is the Castle Doctrine? Some believe it gives them the legal permission to utilize deadly force as a means of preventing an invader from "taking my stuff or my neighbor's stuff". This is wrong! The Castle Doctrine has nothing to do with property protection. The Castle Doctrine has everything to do with defense of self & others inside your home. 

Let's say you live in a 3 room home. It has your bedroom, a living room and your child's room. Your front door opens into the living room which is between your room and your child's room.

Scenario #1: An intruder breaks & enters into your home through the front door. You are standing in your bed room. He sees you & begins moving towards you. You in turn fire (a controlled pair making a grouping of 1/4" in his mid to upper torso), killing the intruder. Was the scenario a justified shooting under the Castle Doctrine? Yes, because he was inside your home (castle) you could reasonably believe he intended to do you harm.

Scenario #2: Same home set up. Intruder breaks & enters through the front door again, but turns away from you & continues moving within the home. You fire (a controlled pair making a grouping of 1/4" in his mid to upper back), killing the intruder. Was the shooting justified under the Castle Doctrine? Again, you can justifiably shoot the intruder because he is inside your home and there is again the reasonable belief that he could do harm to your child.

Scenario #3: Same home set up. Intruder breaks & enters through the front door. Upon seeing you take up a good sight picture and apply the other three fundamentals of shooting, the intruder turns and begins to exit the home through the same door. At this point, you can no longer justifiably shoot him.

Scenario #4: Same home set up. You happen to have just reassembled your firearm after completing your weekly firearm maintenance. The intruder breaks & enters through the front door. Upon seeing you in the with a firearm sitting in the living room, he freezes. Instead of taking the chance, you again fire & kill the intruder. This shooting was also justified under the Castle Doctrine because the intruder was inside your home.

Scenario #5: You wake up in the middle of the night & go to get a drink of water. Due to your usually high level of preparedness diligence, you have a firearm in next to your drinking glasses. Suddenly, you noticed an intruder carrying your plasma TV out the front door. You cannot legally shoot the intruder under the Castle Doctrine because he is 1) leaving your home and 2) is posing no threat to anyone inside your home. Property is not included under the provisions of the Castle Doctrine.

Thanks for your attention.

Crispy