Is it legal to shoot a burglar in your own house? Does it matter if their back is turned to you?
In Texas, it generally is legal to shoot a burglar and it doesn’t matter whether his back was turned, inside your house.Someone with his back to you could be picking up something to brain you with, or be heading to the kitchen to get a butcher knife, or going down the hall for your wife or children.According to The Castle Doctrine, he has already demonstrated bad intent towards you and your family by breaking into your habitation while you were in it.Shooting a burglar in the back is sometimes called “Preventative Self Defense”.Not long after The Castle Doctrine was passed, a man in San Antonio found two men in a spare bedroom after having broken in through a garage door.He killed one in the bedroom with a shotgun, while the other pushed past him and ran out a sliding patio door into the back yard.As he was trying to climb over a six-foot wood privacy fence, the homeowner walked out and shotgunned him in the back, killing him too.No charges were filed. I found THAT a little surprising, since the guy was outside, trying to run away.So, “It All Depends”, but history so far is “Yes, it’s legal”, at least in Texas.It should be noted that The Castle Doctrine was passed to keep over-zealous, anti-gun district attorneys from bringing unwarranted charges, and to protect homeowners from civil suits by burglars, or families of deceased burglars. It isn’t a license to knock off your in-laws or something.If you shoot someone who has broken into Your Castle and there’s ANY reason to suspect foul play, murder WILL be suspected and investigated.For instance, if you knew the burglar a detective will start looking for any motive you might have had for murdering him. If they find a motive, you’ll start getting asked some very pointed questions…Or if he (or his dead body) had anything on it which might indicate he was there for a legitimate purpose, THAT will not go unnoticed.The fact that he works for a cable company and has some sales brochures is not going to raise any eyebrows if you shoot him at 11:00pm, but at any time during normal working hours, it will make people wonder things… very inconvenient things for you.So it’s not just a license to shoot people, it’s merely a device to protect homeowners from unwarranted legal problems if they DO shoot someone and it is a justifiable shooting.
Terry v. Ohio court question?
Any case first goes to the local court. In this case Terry got stopped in Cleveland and a pat down found a gun. The defense (in the local state court in Cleveland) made a motion before trial challenging the constitutionality (4th amendment search & seizure) of the pat down that found the gun. The court turned them down and Terry was convicted. The defense appealed to a higher state court which upheld the conviction. It then traveled to the State Supreme court (upheld), the district federal court of appeals (upheld) and then the Supreme Court of the US who rendered the final decision. In that decision they gave police and the court guidance on when a stop and frisk was acceptable or not under the 4th.
A stranger tried to run me over with their car, I have their license plate number, can I prosecute?
The only folks that can prosecute criminals are your local law enforcement agency and the district attorney. If you'd like to see them potentially prosecuted, you'll need to file a police report with the local law enforcement agency (local to where the crime happened). It is up to the district attorney to determine whether the person involved will be prosecuted (based on the amount and quality of the evidence, details of the incident, etc.) The longer you wait, the less credibility you typically have (especially since there are no independant witnesses). If you want to file a police report, do it as soon as possible after the incident. You may be asked to explain any delay in reporting the crime. In the future, the best thing to do for similar situations is to get to somewhere safe as quickly as possible and call 9-1-1 to report the crime to the police. If this person was, in fact, drunk, the police are going to want to start looking for them immediately and get them off the road before they actually hurt someone. ---===--- In response to your edit... why are you letting your boyfriend tell you what to do? If you want to report it to the police, then report it - you're as much a victim as he is. Obviously, the fact that you are posting this question on Yahoo Answers tells me that you eventually found somewhere safe. As soon as you get somewhere safe, you call the police. Somewhere safe can be your home, a place with lots of people, a police station, a fire station, etc. If you report this to the police, something "may" or "may not" happen. If you don't report it to the police, I guarantee that nothing will happen. You need to decide for yourself what you want to do.
As a “concealed gun carrier”, have you ever accidentally had an unfortunate situation where someone said, “HE’S GOT A GUN,” or anything similar?
A few years ago my wife & I went on a double date with some really good friends of ours to a sushi restaurant. This couple is successful, educated and just really solid/fun people. In fact one of the only things we don’t have in common with them is that they are liberals & don’t believe in guns as a result. So naturally we don’t ever discuss politics.Anyway we are having dinner and enjoying ourselves and I get up to excuse myself to the restroom and my buddy sees my Glock 23 on my hip as I’m sliding out of the booth. He knew I had my conceal carry permit but I guess being ignorant to guns he assumed I wouldn’t have it on me all the time? He asked, “Why did you have to bring that to dinner”? I said, “Why what’s the problem” as I sit back down, instinctively knowing this was going to turn into a discussion. He proceeds to tell me he doesn’t believe in concealed carry and wishes he would have known I was bringing my pistol to dinner with them because that may have changed his opinion of joining us.I was pretty floored at this point, but remained calm and wanted to understand why he felt this way so I asked what was his main concern? He said, “If someone comes in the restaurant with a gun threatening harm I don’t want you drawing your pistol on him and bringing attention towards us, maybe putting us in the line of fire”. Openly amazed at what I just heard from my long time friend I asked, “Let me get this straight; if a criminal came in here right now with a gun you’d rather not have your licensed and trained friend in possession of his own legal firearm and able to protect you, but instead would rather be at the mercy of some lunatic out of fear I would draw attention to us”? Dude looked me square in the eye with a straight face and said, “exactly”.My wife looked at me and saw the confused bewilderment followed by a welling up of disgust for what I’d just heard and quickly defused the situation by changing the subject. To this day I love that friend like a brother but I’ve never looked at him again with the same respect I once had. The ignorance and intolerance about guns and their licensed operators in our Country is damn scary!
If you're denied purchase of a gun, will the shop notify the police that you attempted?
When you are denied, the police in the form of the FBI are already notified. Denial records are kept forever.Many states use their own State Police agencies as the point-of-contact to administer NICS checks. So if you are denied, they are immediately notified because they are the one performing the check on behalf of the shop.It’s not the shop that notifies the police. That will be the FBI and my understanding is, yes, they do notify the State Police or local police if they are not a point-of-contact state as well as the BATFE. Since failing the NICS check is a potential felony, the FBI has the right to investigate any denial after notification of the denial to the denied. Most states are POC states where the State or local police handle the NICS checks so they are notified immediately.I know in the states I live the State Police is the POC so they know immediately. I was denied a NICS check many years ago in Virginia due to a computer database error and I know the Virginia State Police was fully aware of it. They would have been well within their authority to show up at my house with a warrant.Just because denials aren’t prosecuted doesn’t mean notification doesn’t occur. That is almost always done before you’ve left the shop. It is up to the police and the State’s attorney to decide whether or not prosecution is warranted. Since NICS denials include an appeals process, they must notify you of the form of the denial and give you the opportunity to appeal before you can be arrested unless the denial can be shown it was due to being a prohibited person that warrants their immediate attention. The vast majority of NICS denials are errors like mine, not actual criminal conduct.
Does buying a handgun in the USA come with a psychological evaluation? If not, should it?
I do not want to step into a minefield here, but I think someone needs to clear up some confusion. The answer to the original question as phrased is "No. One can buy a handgun without undergoing a psychological evaluation." However, if the question had been phrased as "Can someone be denied a handgun based on a history of treatment for mental illness?" the answer would be "Yes. Someone who has been involuntarily committed to a mental institution cannot legally purchase a handgun in the United States."Here is the relevant federal law: "(d) It shall be unlawful for any person to sell or otherwise dispose of any firearm or ammunition to any person knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that such person--(then it lists some categories which do not matter to this discussion)(4) has been adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to any mental institution" (18 U.S.C.A. § 922 (d))"Under federal law, in all 50 states, it is illegal to sell a gun to someone who has been involuntarily committed to a mental institution. Now, one might wonder how this could be constitutional, given the 2nd Amendment. In fact, several federal judges have held this federal law to be unconstitutional, but the U.S. Supreme Court has never held this law to be unconstitutional. Also some states have gone beyond this law and imposed even stricter limits. For example, in California, even people who voluntarily commit themselves to mental institutions cannot purchase guns. State rules vary on guns for the mentally ill.
Is it illegal to attempt to buy a firearm but be denied?
I will assume this question is referring to the process of buying a firearm in the U.S, as in most of the world you will not get to that stage if you cannot legally be sold a firearm.It is certainly not illegal to try to buy a firearm. If you answer truthfully on your 4437 form, and the FFL denies you the sale you have done nothing wrong. It is a felony, however, to knowingly lie when filling out the form, but it is rarely prosecuted. What will happen is that a prohibited person will come up as “denied” on the NICS-check, and that will be that. You can choose to appeal the decision if you think an error has happened, or you can just leave the store.Rarely will a NICS-denial be looked further into, because:How can you prove someone lied?Sometimes people have a conviction for something they did 30–40 years ago, and thought that it wouldn't have any impact on them now. They think they are cleared now, but unlike most other Western countries your record is permanent in the U.S. You may have known that you have been convicted of something, but you truthfully thought it no longer mattered, and therefore answered wrong on the 4473.