rat

For those of you who don't know, home defense does not equate to self-defense. The tenets for self-defense in the United States are such that someone has used and/or attempted the use of lethal force, and you have no ability to flee. Shooting a burglar is aggravated assault, attempted murder or murder unless the burglar has produced a firearm and pointed/discharged it at you, or has wielded a knife within roughly 12 feet of you and you had no ability to evade or flee. Those are the stuatory strictures on self-defense put down by the courts and legislators.

Therefore, if a burglar enters your home, steals something, and you offer the use of force outside of reasonably restraining him, especially with the use of a weapon, you should and probably will be convicted of assault, aggravated assault, or murder. Until he's convicted of the crime, his rights are the same as yours under the eyes of the law.

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