It was a Sunday night when George Grier heard a commotion outside…
Exiting his home, he discovered 5 gang members on the front of his Uniondale, NY home.
He quickly ran into his house, told his wife to call the police, and grabbed a legally-owned AK-47 to confront the gang members, telling them to leave.
Instead, the gang dared him to use his gun – and their shouts brought another larger group of 20 more thugs to his home, threatening…
“You’re dead! I’m gonna kill your family and your babies! You’re DEAD!
Grier fired 4 warning shots into the grass of his front yard to scare them off.
The shots did their work… but the shooting tripped off the local P.D.’s “ShotSpotter” technology and within minutes, the police were there to save the day…
… and arrested Grier for defending his family and his home!
Why?
Not because he owned an AK-47.
He was arrested for a “D-Felony Reckless Endangerment” for firing warning shots at 25 of the most feared gang members threatening to kill his children!
This is a travesty of justice, wouldn’t you agree?
But as I often say, your first battle may be in your front yard or in your home… but your second battle will be in COURT after you pull the trigger!
The fact is, most people who own a gun have no clue what their legal responsibility is to use that gun.
Notice I didn’t say your “legal RIGHTS” – I said your “responsibility“!
There’s a huge difference.
The laws (unfortunately) protect criminals just as much as they protect you – and sometimes it seems even MORE than you!
You would think a “warning shot” – even shots fired into a dirt front yard – would be seen as the right thing to do, rather than begin plucking off worthless trolls like the MS13 gangbangers, but not in the eyes of the law.
Here Are 3 “Castle Doctrine” Lessons You MUST Know To Stay Out Of Prison When Defending Yourself With A Firearm…
1. NEVER Fire A Warning Shot!
If you pull the trigger, it’s because you believe like your life is about to get cut short.
Your attacker must have displayed signs that he was going to take your life and you may have to describe them in detail in court.
Even if you shoot into the ground, the bullet can ricochet up and kill an innocent bystander – even a child inside a nearby house!
Do you REALLY want that death on your head?
2. Shoot To “Stop The Threat”!
There’s no other reason to shoot someone than to simply stop them from taking lethal action against you or another person.
Trying to “scare” or “wound” an attacker only shows the court that you didn’t really feel your very life was in immediate danger.
“Under-shooting” your attacker means they haven’t stopped their attack and they can still injure or kill you… and are actively trying to do so!
“Over-shooting” may come off as “excessive” in the eyes of a jury – and death or serious injury of your attacker (yes, the “bad guy”) could be a crime YOU are deemed to have committed if you don’t stop when he stops.
3. Know Your Legal Responsibility!
Everyone loves to talk about their 2nd Amendment “rights” – and one of those arguments is that “guns don’t kill… people kill”.
That’s true… and that’s exactly what a jury will be looking at if you’ve made even just one tiny mistake in how you defended yourself.
If you can’t show that you’ve accepted the responsibility of owning a gun by also doing the research on when you can legally use it, this only demonstrates ignorance.
And “ignorance” of the law is NOT a justification for not following it.
You don’t want to go to prison just because you thought you were right – only to find out you missed one of the “legal tests” the court will use to determine if you acted responsibly.
If You Own A Gun For Personal & Home Defense, Then Consider This Your Wake-Up Call…
“A wise man learns from others mistakes – a fool learns from his own”.
Defending your life – and the lives of your family – is only ONE of the battles you’ll face when you’re attacked.
Most gun-owners wrongfully assume that the bad guy always goes to jail and the good guy (you!) gets to stay home to console their family and wait for the news crew to show up and hail them as a hero.
Unfortunately, that’s not always the case – and even just one tiny mistake on your part can stick you in the back of a police car, headed down to the station to get fingerprinted and stuffed in a cell, right alongside the thugs of our society you were guarding against to begin with.
You should be training just as much for your legal protection as you should for your life protection!
anyone who charges any citizen for protecting himself should be removed from society and sent to china or north Korea with out any possibility of return
Agreed. Legal is not the law, but it is if you claim to be their citizen and under their jurisdiction, which is a criminal organization from top to bottom. Gang bangers are just the lowest level in their organization. This is why they protect them as much as possible. The legal system in whole is piracy called Admiralty commercial law. There is truly nothing admirable about it. If we obeyed the law, then we wouldn’t point or use a gun on another man. Let God defend His own in His way, otherwise we are acting as gods.
if we let God defend us we are dead
J, Yes, legal is not lawful and the whole system is a sham. But I am still to see any conclusive objective result of the State Nationals movement. They all make sense in theory but in real life they don’t work. David Startight is a con-man. Claims to be a Navy SEAL and he is not even in the Navy roster…I checked! And if you look in his audience are usually full of seniors and poor people looking to get rid of the IRS.
AGREE
Hmm, y’know, this has got me thinking. Say, for example, that you’re all alone, but you don’t want a group of bad guys at your front door to learn that. What would the law say about shooting into a stand of trees to create the implication that there is someone moving through them?
One issue to firearms rule #4: Always Be Sure of Your Target and What’s Beyond It. Shooting into a stand of trees without a clear target is negligent even if you think you’re not going to hit anyone. From the example, this guy was in a city with a ShotSpotter system, so not lots of trees beyond which there would not be houses.
you would go to jail
Twenty eight years of law enforcement, detective and road patrol. Warning shot are useless. Do not shoot unless you truly believe your family or yourself is in fear for your life. Also know what your back stops are, you are responsible for every bullet that leaves that gun. Do not shoot if over penetraction will cause you to hit or possible kill an innocent person or child in the next room or next door. Over penetraction of the bullets fired, can end in criminal neglence or neglect homicide.
But our “president” said to shoot over their head. /sarc.
I wonder how many people don’t know NOT to take that guy’s advice? It’s almost certain that carrying out any of his idiotic recommendations around defending your home will put you on the wrong side of the law in most civilized parts in the world. Many of his notions are recklessly irresponsible. “Fire a couple o’ blasts through the door” was one of his howlers!
Might come out okay in some places if you’re a Biden. (Oh, did I type that out loud?)
In the above incident you are armed and inside your home. As the incident is played out you are still inside safe protected by your dwelling. You are not in jeopardy at that point. Yes it’s a scary situation and yes police should be called. One must look at the laws of self defense. No information was given on what community individual was in. The principles of self defense must be looked at. They are Innocence, Imminence (nature of danger, immediate and intent), Proportionality, Avoidance and Reasonableness. Not enough space to go into detail but his use of force would not stand up to the principles. So this victim became the suspect and would go to jail.
Interesting comments- and I agree with LaSuper Dave. However- I don’t understand why he would run outside? Seems like collecting family in basement or safe room while 911 is called would be best. Any intruders would be shot as they entered or immediately prior to entering. ( and no potential shots fired into the intruders back)
Great point JB! You’re thinking like a Warrior, my friend! 🙂
In your three videos you did not give enough options. How about walk away, create distance, barriers or cover to slow or prevent attack. Use the 5 principles to understand your response. In some states you have to avoid the confrontation if reasonable. Nothing indicating all of variables such as disparity of force. Is victim a 5 foot 100 pound female or a 6 foot 4 inch linebacker. That disparity would be a huge factor. Personally moving away to a more tactically better position would definitely be in your favor and show who the aggressor truly is to any witnesses or adjudicators of the event.
I took it as you being the victim. He’s just wanting to know if you’d draw, draw and fire or be attacked and possibly killed.
All very true Gene. The quiz is meant to really simplify the decisions to get through it quickly – especially since, in the moments of an attack, the fewer options for action, the better. What we’ve found is that even with only 3 choices in the quiz, most gun-owners will choose wrong on at least 1 of the questions. But yes… thank you for your bringing attention to the nuances of the factors that can affect your response. They really go to show how complicated and dynamic a situation can be – and even harder to make the right decision at the right time in the heat of the moment.
Gotta disagree about the guy in the house. As soon as he stood back up after getting on the ground, I’d have plugged him. Assuming there are no audio-visual recordings in the house. Sure he may have intended to leave, but all I knew when he stood up was that he had changed his mind about complying with my orders in my house.
Guy never got on the ground. He set a tv down and put his hands up and said he was leaving and headed for the door. If the situation is resolving itself why add to it?
very difficult to distinguish if you should or should not since if you hesitate you could die.
It’s understandable why they had to arrest him. Warning shots are a Hollywood tv thing. A fired bullet is a deadly projectile that can not be controlled by anything once it leaves the barrel. It can ricochet and hit the wrong person down the street. Now his story that a group of 20 gang members for some reason targeted his house to rob him is revealed to be true in court, a jury “might” let him off. I think the best decision would have been to arm the whole family (capable shooters), backed into the house, locked the doors, called 911, and smoked anyone of those gangmembers that decided to stick a toe in that door. It’s a shame that good people who are just trying to live right have to be put in these hard positions by people who are trying to live wrong. I really feel for this man because I personally understand his behavior. I may have done much worse than him if I would have been placed in his position. I fear that I would have dealt with verbal threats to my family as physical ones and that would have turned out bad for everyone involved. I hope this washes out good in court for this citizen.
We do not own any guns. Have other ways to stop intruders.
Prayer & fasting works…
Best if you wait until they enter your doorway then blast away, but know that they are not one of your neighbors, who came to help you.