If someone breaks into my house, is it legal for me to kill them, or cause severe bodily harm?
by 
xjimmyloudx
ANSWERS: 17
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Absolutely in most states...tear em up
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No, You can only use deadly physical force to protect yourself or another person from Deadly physical force. In other words. You just cant shoot someone for stealing your TV. Put a Knife in his hand, Be prepared to Sware he threatend to kill you, and then you can blow the bastard away.
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not entirely. depends on if your life were seriously in danger. if he had a knife or gun on him, you have a safe bet to defend yourself. but if hes unarmed and you kill him, don't bet on a speedy innocent trial, it will be a long difficult one. check first, toss him a knife and shoot him. ;)
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Yes - totally illegal ... but it WAS in self-defence .... right???
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I believe the rule (over here in the UK at least) is that an object that is to hand can be used to defned yourself and your property. For example, if an intruder is discovered in your kitchen, it would be reasonable for you to have a knife to hand. If someone is found in your bedroom, it may be believed to be premeditated if you happened to have a knife or a baseball bat in your bedroom. It sucks but we had some guy put in prison for life for killing an intruder, he was a farmer and grabbed his gun - reasonable for him to have had it in his house given his profession and he had a license etc. He was jailed for manslaughter. As far as I'm concerned, if the guy wasn't in his house he wouldn't have been shot. End of story - don't go in other peoples houses uninvited and you won't get shot. The guy should not be in prison in my opinion for defending his property.
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It depends on your state's law, in my state we have what is called the Castle Doctrine which allows one to use deadly physical force during a break in. We have had an incident where a person was kicking another's door trying to get in, and unbeknownst to the occupant of the house the guy was just confused and intoxicated and at the wrong house. The occupant of the house warned the guy several times that he had better leave and that he would be shot, but the guy kept kicking, and the occupant shot him through the door, killing him. There were no charges filed against the occupant of the house because his home was being invaded and he went above the call of reason in warning the guy before he shot.
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In Texas, your home is your turf & if someone is there uninvited & you have a license to have a gun you do what you like (shoot 1st, ask no questions!) Recently there was a case where a man shot 2 burglars that were coming out of his NEIGHBORS house (even tho he was on the phone w/911 & they told him to not shoot)...mighta seen it all over tv (or google Joe Horn of TX) & he did not even get charges pressed against him & he shot 2 people in the back as they were coming out of his neighbors yard (no threat to him or his family) But that is TX & that is if you have a legal right to own a hand gun!
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I believe it is in certain of the United States, and in various Third World countries. You ought to be confident of the law in your area before you resort to capital punishment without a jury decision.
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In the UK it would be illegal, there has been cases in the past where a burglar has sued the home owner of the house he tried to burgal for causing him injuries.; Ridiculous that you do not have the right to defend yourself or your family unless the burglar attacks you first.
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i believe that if he broke into ur house you can shoot him. if its really dark you wouldnt know if he is armed or not. according to a friend that works for the county attorneys office, if u feel threatened yes u can defend urself with any means nessary.
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It depends on the state. But the cardinal rules of using deadly force is "am I afraid that I or someone else is going to be killed or severely injured" and "what alternatives are there"
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Unfortunely you would probably be put away if you did! I suggest you kill them - then dump the body somewhere else.
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In Canada, you'd better have solid evidence that yours or someone else's life was in danger. If not, you could be spending some time with a cell mate. Killing or maiming over theft is not an agruable defence here no matter where it takes place. Most items can be replaced, that's what insurance is for.
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Not in the UK. Most of us haven't got guns anyway,so any intruder is not likely to be carrying a firearm unlike in the US. But you can only use reasonable force.If the guy is an unarmed burglar and you kill him then you will probably face a manslaughter charge.In the UK you won't be shot for being drunk and forgetting where you live. Obviously in the US where Guns are common there is a kind of Paranoia that any intruder , drunk or otherwise will have a gun on him. In the UK you would also have to be inside the property rather than kicking on the door outside of the property as otherwise an offense hasn't been committed , other than making a racket. Again, no death penalty for that here.
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My understanding is that if they are in your house, uninvited...you have the legal right to defend yourself. You can only take appropriate actions...meaning, if they come at you with a soup-spoon, you cannot pull out a machetti...unless, you can prove that you felt your life was being threatened. I was writing a short-story about this, and had to do a little research.
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It would depend on where you live, but you probably shouldn't do that. I've heard of so many people who were jailed for murder while trying to protect themselves, their families or their property.
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Make sure you kill them before they step outside your house.
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