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.