Is it allowed to shoot everybody who enters my ground without permission?

Question

I am from Germany. I heard, that in the US everybody can kill people who get into their ground, in order to defend himself.
Is that right?

We are allowed to defend ourselfes here, too.
I heard, that the laws in the US are different from ours. He said that you can shoot everybody who gets on the ground, even before you know what he wants there.

Answer 1

The laws vary from state to state, as several have already said.

In California you are pretty much at the mercy of an attacker and are required by law to retreat. You have very limited options for defending yourself, your family or your property. I remember one man in my neighborhood who caught a guy hiding in the bushes outside his 5 year old daughters bedroom window and hit him a couple times with a baseball bat. Personally I think he should have beat the guy to death. The law saw it differently. He was prosecuted. No jail time but a severe fine and several hundred hours of community service for defending his daughter.

In Texas you are much less likely to be prosecuted if you shoot somebody who is breaking into your home. If you felt threatened and took action in self defense or defense of another you will not be prosecuted. The law in Texas does not differentiate between using a gun and using a kitchen knife or a baseball bat. It also does not tell you that if the aggressor has a knife you have to use a knife or less too. It allows you to use whatever you need for self defense.

Florida law is pretty much the same. It should be noted here that in the states with severe gun control laws the rates of things like home invasions and assault are much higher than the states like Texas and Florida where people are allowed to defend themselves. Our nation's capitol, Washington DC has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country and one of the highest murder and death by firearms rates. It is statistically more likely for you to die of a gunshot wound in Washington DC than in Iraq!

I heard somewhere that all Germans spend all their time in bars drinking beer and singing, is that stereotype true too? See my point? Don't believe everything you hear.

Answer 2

I think you need to go back to law school. There are a number of circumstances where an officer might not need your permission: 1. He got a warrant. Since cop cars have onboard communications with a judge 24x7, that's not a problem. 2. The cop has probable cause that a crime is in progress (ie, you're transporting drugs), or that a life is in danger (you have someone in the trunk). In this case, all the cop has to say is that he had to make sure that no one was inside in dire straights, that no crimes were being committed, and that it didn't contain a bomb. You make it clear that the van was illegally parked, as was Tim McVeigh's van before it blew up. If the van would've been on your property, in your garage, etc then you might have a valid complaing. Nice try tho - raising a parking ticket to a 4th amendment issue - but you do need to retake Con Law.

Answer 3

You have to be able to show to a judge and jury why you were afraid for your life from the person shot.

If they came on with a weapon. Of you have written or record death threats to threats that they were going to make you pay things like that.

Also testimony from your friends that you were afraid of this person or that they had hurt you before.

Shooting them in the back would not be considered self defense unless they had already hurt you and they were not leaving when you shot them.

Also one or two shots is easier to prove self defense that emptying all six rounds into them.

Also if you tried to file a protective order against this person or they were violating a protective order that makes it a lot easier to prove self defense.

Answer 4

In New Jersey, if you have a registered gun and a license to use it then you may shoot them if someone breaks into home. If you dont have that, because each state's gun laws vary, you can use another weapon of opportunity to DEFEND yourself. Check with your local laws of self-defense and gun laws before taking anyone else's advice you don't want to get into trouble if anything should happen but if it's SELF-DEFENSE then its usually allowed.

Answer 5

Not your grounds but your home. Anyone who enters your home without your permission you have the right to defend yourself. The law varies from state to state. In some states you must be backed into a corner, in Florida you only have to feel threatened.

Answer 6

In the US, we can always use non-deadly force in defense of the place where you live when, and to the extent that, you reasonably believe that it is necessary to prevent or terminate another's unlawful entry into or attack upon your "dwelling".
Deadly force is justified in two situations:
1. Where the entry was made or attempted in a violent manner AND you reasonably believe that the use of deadly force is necessary to prevent a personal attack upon yourself or another person in the dwelling, or
2. Where you reasonably believe that deadly force is necessary to prevent the entry into the dwelling by a person who intends to commit a felony in the dwelling.
We're always talking about entering your "dwelling", the actual space where you live - not just your land. Neither can it be just any property.

Answer 7

hahaha. well...if anyone did, they'd be arrested. whether or not it was ACTUALLY in self defense (which is the only justifiable reason to shoot a tresspasser) depends on a few things. i think you'd have to establish that the person posed a viable threat to you. of course, that's not hard to do. i think they also limit the number of times you can actually shoot the person and where on their body. like...i think it's something like twice in the chest. you can't unload your entire gun into someone's head and expect that to be viewed as self defense. it's obvious at that point, whether or not someone broke into your house, that you intended to kill them and that's 2nd degree murder.

Answer 8

Here in Indiana, USA, if a person breaks in my home in the middle of the night and I shoot and kill him, I could go to jail for murder.

Answer 9

Defend yourself are the key words. Aren't you allowed to defend yourself in Germany?

Answer 10

Don't believe everything you hear. If you shoot someone on your property you better be able to show you were defending yourself and believe me that is hard to do. Ask any women who has left their husband and he comes and attacks her and she kills him and goes to jail for life.