Apparently is illegal to keep yourself from getting murded

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By the sounds of it was intended to be an outright retribution. I still don't think the thief should be entitled to compensation though, especially since he continued to offend. They should also factor in the victims’ state of mind after the attack.

"bullet holes have to be in the front". There are some problems with this. It might make sense to legal people but from a purely self defence position it is very inflexible.

I do martial arts, and have an interest in self defence. Things are never this clear cut. Even when people make what appear to be clear cut accounts in court, there accounts are often wrong or guestimations. Just because someone moves away from you don't mean you are automatically safe. The law does not understand when and how you are in danger. The fact is you are always potentially in danger. However if someone assaults you, then you know where your priorities lie.

Effective self defence uses offence. It is also quite a bit instinctive. You can’t rely on set combinations. Instead you need overall good technique and a moveable structure to control and attack. You do need to be devastating in order to regain control. Especially if you don't have a clear upper hand in physical size.

However sometimes you don’t need to attack at all. If some is clearly fleeing, you are able to make a safe exit too, and it is your life you value not you property, then flee then other way on find the nearest place with people then contact the police.

There are many ways. Normally I wouldn’t advise trying to talk to your attack as it can get them more riled up. However when I was assaulted by two smack heads, they were attempting to talk to me but their speech was all slurred and unintelligible. I noticed by speaking to them it made them even more cognitively slow, and I was able to edge round them almost without them catching on. Then I made a swift exit.

It all depends on the state you live in. In Alabama if someone comes in to your home to rob or just because they walked in the wrong door you can shoot them with out breaking any state law http://www.waff.com/Global/story.asp?S=4544126. I was looking for a case where a drunk 21 yr old came home to the wrong house and was shot and killed and the home owner was found not to be at fault.

Yeah, but remember he said he "would kill...", a declaration of definite intent.
Would he have returned to carry out that declaration of intent?
It happens.

Are you willing to allow your wife and children to live in constant fear of that?

Jesus... this country is f***d up...

From what the story reads, it did seem the homeowner acted excessively. The family had already overpowered the burgler to the point where he was trying to escape, then they continued to beat him.

It's true, you are allowed to defend yourself, but only against an impending threat. You do not, however, have to right hurt someone out of malice & retribution. They could have easily captured the burgler after he stumbled without causing him more harm, but they let thier emotions get the best of them.

This is true even in the United States.

So is there some reason why in small fine print defending yourself or your family is illegal in the UK?

Doesn't sound too much different from the stories I've heard in the U.S.

Anyway, sounds like the intruder was pretty much asking for it. He did threaten to kill them you know....


Lesson 1: If you want to succesfully rob someone's property without getting attacked, do not use words with killful intent. It's only going to make them go batshit crazy with any handy dandy objects laying around....

In Arkansas, it's legal to shoot and kill home invaders. However, one day, the fuzz invaded Tracy Ingle's home and he simply pointed a gun at them. The fuzz then shot Ingle several times. Ingle was then charged with unlawful assault and sentenced to 18 years in prison.

In Texas, it's legal to shoot and kill home invaders.
However, you must drag them completely inside before the the second cop gets there. - technically

Right.. just because the person who just threatened your life seems to be retreating, doesn't mean that the threat is over. The guy was a career criminal who continued to break the law.. it wasn't like he had some kind of revelation and changed his ways or something. (not that I'd believe him if he said he did..)

I suppose if you're going to get life for that, then you might as well just kill the guy anyway.

So, basically, what you're saying is, that a person uttering words stating he will kill someone allows that someone to hunt down and murder the person who uttered the words? I don't think that would stand up in any court...

There is no death penalty under the law for uttering death threats...

A person lying on the ground in a semi-conscious state is of no danger to anyone, regardless of his stated intentions...

As I understand UK law, if you attack someone when they are facing you, that's legal, as they could have been attacked you. If you attack them from behind, that's illegal, because it suggests you've purposefully sneaked up on someone with intent to hurt, whereas you could have just remained hiding.

Apparently, once this guy was robbing this house. Unfortunately, it belonged to two bouncers, who knew the law. They basically wrecked the guy but because they made sure all blows were to the front they faced no legal consequences.

This makes my day/night just a little brighter. When someone defends their family and goes to prison for it, what do you smell? Brimstone, thats what.