A "benign" intruder within your home? Who the heck might THAT be...
Victims do not file criminal barges. The state does. But if no shots are fired, the question becomes whether the victim will file a report. Don;t bet against it....and how likely would such a person be to file charges against you?
Everone would be very happy, including the resident and his family.Any intruder who walks away should be positively ecstatic that he's still alive.
For perspective, as the guy who wrote the article in question, I have no problem with any householder taking a true "intruder" at gunpoint, and never said otherwise. My point in articles on the topic of WMLs is that using the gun-mounted light for searching points a loaded gun at everything in the light beam.
Even if the person pointing the gun keeps their finger out of the trigger guard, pointing a loaded gun at someone is still construable as aggravated assault if it turns out to be someone who had a right to be there.
Yober, if the person had a right to be in the house, by definition he's not a "perpetrator."
If his perception is, "Bobby invited me to stay over at his house, and I got up in the night to go to the bathroom, and Bobby's dad pointed a loaded gun at me OMG!" ... well, Bobby's invited guest (and the criminal justice system) may well perceive it as felony aggravated assault. "Bobby's dad pointed a flashlight at me" would have been a whole lot easier to deal with.
Well, "getting sued" is only part of the problem. There is also the little matter of serious criminal charges.I'm still shaking my head that people are worried about getting sued for "pointing a gun" at an apparent intruder in the house who was not shot because of the same gunlight that makes them worried.
Of course. That goes without saying.Even if you're in a circumstance where you can't control all entry to your home - you rent a room with friends, your kids bring people over without asking (though if it were my kid, that wouldn't happen more than once), etc. - it seems to me infinitely better to not shoot them than to shoot them.
Good thinking.Though if I lived in one of those circumstances, I would be doing my utmost to get myself out of it.
That depends on how you define simplicity. If you wave a gun around in the presence of someone without a basis for lawful justification, things are likely to become very compacted indeed.If you want to carry a separate flashlight, that's up to you, but it's a lot simpler to marry a light and a laser to a gun, provided you don't go poking around outside with it, where you do lose most of your legal protections certainly in CA where I'm most familiar with the laws.
Yes indeed.I think it would be foolish to go poking around outside anyways, because at that point you are going to be viewed as a hunter who left the relative safety of your home to seek out a confrontation.
It would not be up to "that friend".If i believe there is only me and my wife and and i go poking around with a WML, only to find a friend that got the dates wrong to pick me up (as stated above) then that friend is going to have a VERY hard time getting any charges to stick.
It would not be you who would decide what had been reasonable.I was REASONABLE in my response and lawful in doing so
...if you point it at someone in your house (or anywhere else, I suppose) while investigating a "bump in the night," that you are committing an aggravated assault if the intruder proves to be benign. He can't be serious, right?
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If i believe there is only me and my wife and and i go poking around with a WML, only to find a friend that got the dates wrong to pick me up (as stated above) then that friend is going to have a VERY hard time getting any charges to stick.
It would not be up to "that friend".
Charges would, of course, depend upon the incident being reported to the police in some way. Your friend's friend, who may faint at the mention of the word "gun" could start the ball rolling.It would most definitely be up to that friend to contact Law Enforcement and make a complaint. This stuff does not even begin until that happens.
Probable cause for an arrest would result from evidence or credible testimony that you had displayed a firearm without justification.Even if (and its a big if) the responding LEO thought there was enough to make an arrest, i dont see the DA fileing a charge based on the "friend" being in my house by mistake.
It is illegal unless it is justifiable.Im not debating the use of WML's. Im disputing the act being illegal.
That is, in essence, an admission. One cannot see someone in the light of a weapon mounted light without having pointed it in his general direction. Not necessarily at him, but that would not have been necessary to constitute assault or a weapons crime, absent justification, in most places.Q: "Did you in fact point a gun at him, or in his direction?"
A: "well, I had to see what was going on, and I didn't SHOOT him!"
Mr Homeowner, Mr X claims that during his mistaken entry into your home, you threatened him with a gun. Did you in fact point a gun at him, or in his direction?"
As in all cases of mounting a defense of justification, it is not solely a matter of what the actor believed. It is a matter of what a reasonable person, knowing what the actor knew at the time, would have believed.i pointed my pistol at an unknown person IN MY HOME. A person i considered a threat. As soon as i identified that person to be Mr. X, i pointed my pistol in a safe direction"
THAT is the point that seems to not be understood. At the time of the weapon being pointed in the direction of Mr. X, the home owner believed it to be a threat. That dictates self-defense action.
Pointing my pistol at someone in my house, someone i think is there illegally is not a crime.
Hold on a minute. One may not threaten or use force, deadly or otherwise, without lawful justification. Doing so constitutes a crime. Do you think people are arrested for committing crimes?Its a defensive measure. Once i figure out they are there by mistake and not a threat, then the gun goes away and MAYBE an apology is given. But that being something im arrested for? Im not thinking so.