TexasCHLforum.com

crazy2medic wrote:I have read this entire thread and now I have a question, my understanding of Texas Law was that shooting somebody who is breaking into your car, house, shed...etc after dark was permissible, because after dark you cannot determine wether or not they are armed, the State gives you the presumtion that anybody carry out a crime on private property would be armed and you may employ deadly force on that presumtion!

??? Anybody Wanna kick this around?

I'm not sure of the rationale behind the law. That aspect would be interesting from an historical perspective, and I do enjoy learning about history. In fact, if I didn't like buying stuff so darn much, I would be a history teacher right now. So I would be interested in learning more about the history and evolution of Texas gun laws.

But from a practical perspective, I think it is more useful to focus on the wording of the law, and any relevant judicial precedents that might be out there. For example, someone upthread mentioned not shooting a person who was running off with your CD collection because you couldn't convince a jury that the CD's could not be replaced. Putting aside the fact that the CD's might actually be irreplaceable in today's world of digital music, I think this is missing the point since the relevant statutes don't mention irreplaceability as a requirement for a justified use of deadly force. It would actually be quite interesting if that WERE a relevant factor, though. Presumably poor people would be justified in using deadly force to protect property that wealthier folks would not be justified to defend with deadly force. And taken to the extreme, your pets and even your kids can be replaced.....

Jusme wrote:

imandres wrote:You can not use deadly force unless you are threatened by deathly force, so an example is a guy enters your house with a banana in his hand, you can not shoot him. The principle of proportional force prohibited and you will be going to jail. Your divorce mother in law is right, just she didn't explained the whole thing.

Welcome to the forum imandres!!

Besides, reviving, a two and a half year old thread, I believe you are mistaken. If someone breaks into my house, carrying, a banana, cold beer, or TV guide, he will be looking at the business end of my gun. If he does not immediately depart, there will more than likely be some cleaning issues, my wife and I will have to deal with.

You are not required to wait for deadly force to be applied against you in your home. I do not know what a person's motives, or intentions, may be, but I am not going to wait and see before making a decision. This has been backed up by case law, where people have shot intruders, whether the intruder was armed, or applied any type of force against the person in the house. If you are walking around neighborhoods holding a banana, hoping to test your conclusions, I would advise against it.

and I also second the welcome to the forum, imandres.

If someone enters your occupied habitation, with force, then you do have a presumption of reasonableness for the use of deadly force per Texas penal code sections 9.31 and 9.32. It does not matter if they are just breaking into your house to sell you a newspaper subscription, and you do not need to wait until you see a weapon.

Personally, if someone breaks into my home while I am there, and they don't immediately leave when the dog goes after them, I'm going to assume that their intent is not to bring joy and happiness into my life.