My home was broken into last night. Did I do the right thing?

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Where did they run to? I would have chased those sob's have way around the world before I'd let them get away with 7,500 dollars worth of my stuff. I would have been very tempted to shoot, but I'm not sure I would have in that situation. They would've had to have had a vehicle some where close by, I don't understand why you didn't chase them and try to get a license number. I may have fired a warning shot, but probably wouldn't shoot a guy in the back. It just doesn't look good in court.
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They ran down my front driveway. They had a van parked at the end of the driveway. My vehicles are parked in the garage BEHIND my house. Chasing them wouldn't have done much good. I called my homeowner's insurance company today and filed a claim. We'll see what happens. A lot of those cures aren't replaceable, however. Monetarily they are sure, but not physically. I had one-off custom cues, a cue my grandfather gave me that he got from Steve Mizerack, and my very first cue I ever won a tournament with back when I was 13. So the line "that's what insurance is for" doesn't really cover me here.
 
Well let's weigh my option...My neighbors hear gunfire at all hour of the night. Nothing different about "that" NIGHT. Do i worry about it? Nope... leaves me more options... If these thugs had bystanders I would call the cops if not I doubt I would. Why? No punk azz thief has the rights I feel law abiding citizens have. I have enough raw meat eating dogs to feed for 2 days maybe longer...
Gobs of dogs that prefer raw feed over kibbles.
Not the smallest of theft is left forgotten by me and mine...
Brent
 
Well, this thread went downhill rapidly. Killing folks and chopping them up for dog food?

Wonder how long the mods will let this stay open......
 
Dunno but do i subject my self to trial or just fergit a bad dream of someone stealing from me? Sorry but some of us have reached leashes end when it comes to these thefts. Had mu bulldogs been free reigning I would likely find half eaten corpses any way...
Brent
 
Just goes to show you the variety of "mental cases" that visit gun forums !:D!

Wonder what would have happened to the O.P. if he had shot into the air to get "the attention" of the thieves - to possibly get them to drop the stolen goods?

Still an illegal action?
 
I think you should do everything in your power to stop a thief from invading your home. They say never to fire your weapon unless it's to kill, but in this situation it could in fact cause them to drop the stolen objects. In this gentleman's case he should have ran down to the end of the driveway and got a tag number or maybe shoot out the tires if possible. I definatley would have done something, but I'm not sure deadly force would have been justified unfortunatley.
 
You definetely did the right thing by not shooting. Based on PA laws you would have been charged. Besides legal fees would be way more than the missing pool cues.
 
My yard is cluttered with rifle and shot gun hulls from our "redneck" tree service so it is kind of not a target home... There is no way of telling if anyone is home or not... My son and I will shoot it out and in the case of super top secret family recipes the wife will cut yer throat to get to yer tongue to keep them in da family... My cowardly little 16 year old daughter will go to the dog yard droppin snaps screaming HOG GET THE HOG Catch him the hog is gonna get me and that is the most brutal use of power on my place! Kinda like the movie "deliverance" I got a dozen dogs that love to hear a pig squeal...
Brent
 
Well... you don't have to agree with hogdogs and he might go to jail some day, but I gotta say you have to admire him as a man of principle!

Don't know about you, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to steal nuthun' from him!... but those Cuban recipes sound pretty temptin':D

Doctor always tells me that my love of food will kill me. He has NO idea!:D
 
I would blow his back out his belly??? you are either a chest beater want to be or not very bright! I taught him a lesson, i blew his ass away. Now bubba is my room mate for the next 20yrs and he thinks i am cute:) Not very smart
 
OK OK OK, too many people site legal action against the pool player as the reason he did the right thing. From 20 years to loving bubba..

That is not the reason he is right, the reason is that taking another human being's life over a pool cue is insane. Killing for pride and honor ? thats debatable.....

but honestly, if he killed them both for some reason, how is the DA gonna know they were running away at the time unless he tells ? Id say, if for some reason I killed two burglars in my home, I'm not gonna say a darn thing !

There is a certain comfort from acting on the side of the rightious... but anyway, kill the buglars or not, check out your local ebay, and craigslist and pawnshops for your cues, they gotta fence them sometime... be sur PD gets a good list, they might find it and return it. good luck
 
I don't know about PA law, but in California it's a bad shoot and by California standards you did good. If you were in Nevada, you could shoot. Most states follow California and New York in that human life is held in higher regard than chattel (personal property).

Concerning Nevada, I'm not familiar with their tort laws and whether civil liability may arise from shooting a criminal. In California, we have Rowland v. Christian where a burglar fell through a skylight and sued the homeowner for his failure to make the roof safe for him.
 
At common law there is a concept called the 'Fleeing felon rule' which enables use of deadly force against a felon who is fleeing the scene of a crime. This concept has its origins in early UK law, and has been modified I understand in some jurisdictions to only allow the use of non lethal force.

I do not know the situation of the law in Pa. I would say you did the right thing- as you say they were outside your home and fleeing and therefore did not present a threat to life.

I agree with other posts in respect to the question of how did they know the collection was there and where it was located? Makes one suspect 'friends' with loose tongues...
 
Most states follow California and New York in that human life is held in higher regard than chattel (personal property).
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Statements like this drive me crazy. The person doesn't have a clue about NY's laws but makes comments like this and other blind people follow.

For you information shooting would have been justifyed in NYS.

My earlier comment regarding chase was just that "chase" People here as always turned it into shoot to kill. Guess it helps justifying themselves doing nothing. You see in many states you can use any means of force except deadly force to stop them, deadly force comes into play when they resist and threaten your life. You don't have to roll over like everyone says. What a sad PC country we're becoming.

kenny b
 
Benny and Hotdogs...if you feel that killing a fleeing suspect is not going to cause you more problems than you are financially able to withstand, have at it. But you really have no idea how the criminal and civil courts work. You should go watch sometime. If you dont get thrown in the slammer for killing a fleeing suspect, you will more than likely be facing a civil suit in a civil court for damages. Either way, you will be lucky if you arent bankrupted several times over. Doesn't matter that you think your in the right, it is all about what the local prosecutor and the jury thinks happened. That is why shooting a couple of fleeing suspects running off with precious $7,000 dollar pool cues is stupid.
 
bernard goetz was sued and they gave the "victim" millions of dollars, but he never gave them a dime. I think that is in wikipedia...

being sued and losing is not like they really take everything. I would think the real thing to be afraid of is for their criminal friends to come and shoot YOU !

what kind of criminal friends / family "sue" ? they are criminals !
 
Like others, I think the right thing was done.

It's not even a legal matter to me. If the "law" says that I'm not allowed to shoot someone who's threatening my life, then I'm shooting anyway, since my life is more important than the law. But even if it were legal for me to shoot to defend $7,500 worth of property, I still wouldn't do it. I could only bring myself to kill another person in defense of life, limb, or liberty.

I don't like thieves, either. But I don't feel that death is a just punishment for theft (unless perhaps some elderly widow has her life savings stolen).

The threat of deadly force can be a reasonable deterrent to theft (e.g., in the case of an armed guard in a bank), but if the threat of that force isn't immediately apparent to would-be thieves, then it seems like killing to defend property is going too far in most cases.
 
regardless of the law, you did the right thing.

first off, i speak as someone who's never been in a similar situation, so those of you who don't agree with me are welcome to disregard my .02. i have been in situations where i had to take action against someone who meant me harm though, and in those situations it's a lose/lose situation, psychologically. whether you act or not you end up regretting that your choice, and second guess yourself as to what was the appropriate course of action. i do, anyway.

2 things to consider:

1) to shoot because you were afraid of some future break-in would have been acting out of fear. by not shooting, what you did was the brave thing.

2) the ability to use force is power, no one would argue that. but the power comes from having that potential - not from acting it out. once you have acted to harm another, that power is gone. in this case you would have transferred power, as the potential threat of action, out of your hands and into the hands of the legal system - and thus possibly into the hands of the bg.

remember the meaning of "si vis pacem, para bellum" - if you want peace, prepare for war. being prepared is in order to ensure the peace, not ensure the use of force. it's the threat of the ability to employ force that gives one power. not its execution.
 
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