The “Castle Doctrine” allows homeowners to shoot to kill anyone who ends up on their property, with no questions asked.
This has led to cases of firefighters, EMTs, and any others who end up on private property being shot and killed, or wounded if lucky.
A case in Wisconsin is that of Bo Morrison, a young man who hid from the police raiding an underage party, ending up in the covered porch of a homeowner, and being shot and killed without any questions or words exchanged, and the homeowner gets away with it, as no prosecution is possible.
There have been cases of Halloween Trick or Treaters being killed in Texas, and many other cases where gun owners have been licensed to kill without accountability.
That, added to the “Stand Your Ground” law that helped to lead to the death of Trayvon Martin in Florida shows that the National Rifle Association has run rampant in the states, and is giving license to legalized murder!
Hello Professor,
In Maryland there has to be evidence that they entered by means of a “Break In†(broken door or window) and need to be within the home itself before our law says you can use a gun to protect yourself. But should the bullet wound be in the person’s back this would show that he was going away from you and was no longer a threat. There should be some kind of weapon on them too.
You cannot shoot someone when they were breaking into your house like standing on a porch….they have to be in your house.
Thanks for this explanation, but in Wisconsin, apparently, simply being found standing on the porch, without a weapon, and not having caused a “break in”, is enough justification to kill someone point blank, rather than the alternative of maybe shooting him in the leg or arm instead, so he does not have to die! This is legalized “lynching”, as I have just stated in a new entry on the blog!
that boy that was killed was not far from my workplace. the man that shot him.. he was .. shall we say older?? he “thought” the boy was breaking in.. in reality he was hiding from police.. i live in Wi and these laws are very diverse
You sir are making nothing more then divisive statments that have not standing in truth. I live in one of the worst area’s of Minnesota for Crime and work and a Fire fighter and EMT and I do not fear for my life because of the CD or SYG laws. I fear CRIMINALS, and for you to use one (Teen running from the police) is a CRIMINAL. He should not have been on anyones property, he should not have been braking the law. No this does not give anyone the right to just shoot, but the point is that as the OWNER of property you have the right to defend your property. You can keep thinking that the police will be there for you, but they will not be of any help when someone shows up to cause you harm.
You call yourself educated, and I find you lacking in even common sense.
One has a right to protect property, but it was not necessary to kill this young man in Wisconsin. A person killing someone will have it affect his psyche the rest of his life, unless the person killing has no conscience. Property matters, but not more than a young life snuffed out for no good reason.
I appreciate your comment, however, and welcome divergent views, so I thank you for your contribution!
It is easy for someone who is not being robbed to say that property is not important. I think the better question to be asked is why was this young man running from the police. If he would have complied with the police he never would have been found hiding on someone’s property, He placed himself in that situation. I believe that if you are breaking the law, (stealing someone else’s property, or attempting to cause harm to others, you forfeit any protection a person life’s deserves. I will stand next to any person that is willing to stand up to protect there land.
Study after study has shown that the one thing that criminals fear is an armed assailant. No law is going to stop criminals from being armed, however armed citizens refusing to be victims will stop crime. The only thing worse are those that make excuses for criminals and what happens to them when they are out breaking the law.
This young kid in your narrative would not of had to die is he was not out breaking the law, and if he would have complied with the police.
If you are acting like a crook you are going to get treated like one, our society needs to take it’s streets and neighborhood’s back.