Try and answer this question…
If you were startled out of a sound sleep by the sound of someone moving around in your house in the middle of the night…
… are you thinking about the next 3 months? Or the next 5 seconds?!
Obviously, your most immediate concern is your and your family’s safety in that moment, right?
“I’m in danger. My family’s in danger. I have to fight back!”
So you’re not going to think any further ahead than those critical first 5 seconds that could mean “life or death”.
But the unfortunate fact is that, these days you have to think about both your “now” as well as your “future”!
I know you wouldn’t think that defending yourself and your loved ones against an unprovoked attack in your own home in the middle of the night could still be a “threat” to your future.
It “shouldn’t” be.
But the fact is…
There’s A LOT Of Bad Advice Floating Around Out There About The Legal Aspects Of Defending Yourself In Your Home And…
Here Are The 3 Most Common Home Defense Legal Myths I See Put Out By Misinformed “Online Gurus” And Mentioned In Gun Forums…
Myth #1: “Castle Doctrine” & “Stand Your Ground” Laws Are Bulletproof
Castle Doctrine basically states that “a man’s home is his castle”, and he or she is entitled to defend it with any force he or she deems necessary.
The Stand Your Ground laws are similar, but extend outside of your home – if you feel your life is threatened, you can protect yourself by any means necessary.
Except that you can’t…
You see, both Castle Doctrine and Stand Your Ground can be countered by any number of “legal loopholes”.
If you don’t have the right lawyer, a prosecutor can manage to “prove” to a jury that you had other response-options you should have taken rather than to “shoot first – ask questions later”.
Bottom line?
These laws aren’t foolproof, and you still need to research your specific state’s legal requirements and know your laws.
Myth #2: Self Defense Insurance Will Cover Your Legal Costs
Very few home insurance companies will even offer insurance for using your firearm in self-defense – even if it’s completely justifiable.
That’s why a lot of gun-owners sign up for “legal insurance” from any number of these companies out there.
But even with one of these policies…
Like any “insurance” you have, there are limits – and it may not cover your full bill (which can easily reach $100k or more!)
You may still have to come up with your legal expenses up front – and then try to get reimbursed later (like months later!)
They usually won’t cover the cost of your bail or your lost wages from work
And if you lose your case, they may not pay anything at all!
In other words, you can survive the home invasion… and still go completely bankrupt trying to prove your innocence.
Your home… your car… your life’s savings… your retirement account… all wiped out within a year just to defend yourself in court!
Which leads me to…
Myth #3: Laws Are Meant To Protect The “Victim”
This is partially true.
But here’s what most gun-owners never stop to think about…
… violent home invaders have “rights” also – and even if they’re caught red-handed ransacking your home in the middle of the night!
(I know… kinda sickening – but absolutely true.)
The news is filled with honest, upstanding citizens – even those defending their family from an attack in their own home – who have gone to prison for just one tiny mistake they made defending themselves.
In fact, I recently saw a case where a gun-owner shot and killed a man in clear “self-defense” – but was still sentenced to 10 years in prison because the prosecutor was able to convince a jury that…
… his gun was “too powerful”
… his ammo caused “more damage than necessary”
… and that he was “one of those gun nuts” who was just looking for a reason to kill!
Now, none of that was actually true.
But in the end, it didn’t matter.
All it took was a sneaky, anti-gun prosecutor with a bag of “dirty legal tricks” to twist the man’s story the right way to a jury.
Any one of these “dirty tricks” can be used against you if you don’t know what they are – and more importantly…
… how to counter them (the right way!) in a courtroom.
The reality is that, if you’re a gun-owners, your “legal training” needs to match your “tactical training”.
You need both.
Most “gun training courses” only focus on one or the other – but not how these 2 factors work together to determine if you’ll go home to your family…
… or spend the next 10-20 years in a prison cell!
That’s why I commissioned one of the country’s top “legal experts for responsibly-armed citizens” to develop our “Bulletproof Legal Defense Certification Program” here…
Not only does this Certification course lay out the dirtiest legal tricks lawyers use against you (all in “common English”, not “lawyer-speak”)…
… but it also show you what “tactics” work and don’t work with real force-on-force training footage.
And here’s some good news…
All of your “legal training” can be admitted as evidence in your defense so jurors can’t be so easily swayed by a clever attorney that you’re “guilty”.
But here’s the “catch”…
This Certification can only help you (or even be considered as “evidence”) if you complete the short program before you’re forced to defend yourself.
Completing it after an attack won’t do you a damn bit of good.
(Which is exactly why we include an actual, dated “Certificate Of Completion” for graduates of our Bulletproof Legal Defense course – so jurors can see “when” you completed your training, boosting your “Reasonable Man Doctrine” defense that a prosecutor won’t even see coming.)
Whatever course you decide to go with, getting legit “legal training” could be the most valuable “weapon” you will ever own.
This is very GOOD advice! Also, go to ” The Law Of Self Defense” by attorney Andrew F. Branca. He has a huge website which everyone interested in “self defense” should check out? Andrew says, “Be hard to kill and hard to convict”. Also, I’m not being payed by Andrew in any way.
Folks, I’m both a State of Tennessee and National Organization credentialed firearms instructor, and a Platinum level member of Attorney Andrew Branca’s Law Of Self Defense community. Yes, I’ve also paid to take the “Bulletproof Defense” video course that Jeff Anderson is offering. While I’d challenge that any single piece of paper (i.e. course completion certificate) will “completely prove” your innocence in a justified use of force case (Attorney Branca often correctly comments that there’s something like a 10% chance that even totally innocent and legally justified defenders can still be convicted and go to prison), I take serious exception to what I consider to be dangerously cavalier and unreliable comments of the contributor tagged in this discussion as “Dante”. His ill-advised and seriously flawed chastisement of Jeff Anderson noting that Mr. Anderson should “educate yourself (a?) little more”, appears to me to be something which “Dante” himself should follow. My suggestion to others reading this post is to get every bit of (reliably vetted and legally accurate) training that you possibly can, to “up armor” your own defensive arsenal of documented pre-event knowledge. I’m personally glad that I have a completion certificate from the “Bulletproof Defense” course in my own defensive toolbox.
How likely are we to be sued if we use a Byrna to defend ourselves? Damage, yes, lethal – No. Just wondering?
The truth is, you can be sued for practically any reason (there are even cases of home invaders suing home owners for fighting back and injuring them!)
Even though a Byrna is a “less lethal” option, there are still some inherent risks in using one for defensive purposes.
Here are some pros & cons…
Pros:
Cons:
All in all though… it’s definitely an option… and a worthy one for the right circumstances.
Thanks for the question AP!
“….You’re Just One Trigger Pull AwayFrom Losing EVERYTHING”
In my personal case, I am well past my ‘Use By Date,’ so my credo may not suit the younger set. ANYBODY already in my home, UNINVITED, at almost anytime, but certainly after dark, will be DOA at the moment I can put sights on them! I’m not waiting to determine if they are armed, or just eating my ice cream. Additionally, I intend to not spend the first dime of my grandchildren’s meager inheritance on some shyster lawyer’s attempt to keep me out of jail. So, that demands that I REFUSE to be arrested for defending my home against ‘potentially’ lethal invaders. I have no false illusions that they can’t ‘get me;’ my only hope is that those attempting to arrest me have no families, and bring more than one bodybag! I have said that, contrary to the carved in stone screed above that SCOTUS lair, “EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW,” there has been “NO EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW” in AmericaI for decades. I stay ARMED 24/7, with at least one firearm within arms reach at ALL times. Many might ask, ‘Are You Scared,’ as the reason for going ARMED? My response is NOT scared, prepared! There are TWO reasons. 1) I never considered it necessary to be ARMED until around the mid ’80s. That was the time the bleeding heart Liberals determined it was cruel and unusual punishment to involuntarily institutionalize the mentally challenged, mentally deranged, insane, and criminally insane. That caused many mental institutions to SHUT DOWN, and the existential threat result is those same individuals are NOW walking elbow to bellybutton with we the ‘semi-sane!‘ 2) I never intend to voice the same lament as did my hero, Dr. Susanna Gratia Hupp, in her testimony before the Congress of The United States. Everyone should search her name on YouTube to view her testimony, it is riveting as well as instructional. Pay particular attention for whom she blames for her parents’ deaths! As I said, for the younger set YMMV. Stay ARMED and stay FROSTY!
My treatise was already too long; however, I would only add that I worry not about some lawyer or court trying to say my “ammo was too lethal” (see my arrest credo). In the animal kingdom, perhaps sans the BIG THREE big game boys, the two legged human critter is one Hardest To Kill animals! Just consider how many .40 cal bullets, curtesy of the Boston PD, that Boston bomber carried around in his body, before his brother made him dead by running him over with a car – *8*! My EDC ammo (10mm) is capable of one shot kills on coyotes @ a range finder 110 yds, from a 3-7/8″ barrel. A running hog kill, technically with two shots, but both were deadly, one through the heart/lungs, and the BIG boy was still running through the water, but the next shot right behind its ear sent him tumbling through the surf, both shots made from a following boat. Interestingly, that second shot to not penetrate the skull, BRAINED him from the concussion! That non-penetration probably had something to do with the construction of that SPEER BONDED GOLD DOT HP. That round is also one of the few handgun rounds legal to use on deer. The 10mm isn’t for all people, but those that can control the thing, and put two shots on target from concealment in under 2 seconds, will be more sure of STOPPING most any threat, see this comparison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5YLSNRf_A0 – The explanation is contained in the first comment.
Yours are old wive’s tales, or you live in Kalifornika, or state of the same venture…, this does not apply to castle doctrine and stand your ground law states…. I can shoot and will anyone deemed dangerous to my life and my family … and it will apply to anyone I don’t know in my house in the middle of the night … Stand your ground and Castle doctrine laws eliminated “other response-options” , at least in normal states, educate yourself little more