I live in England and speak with an English accent and have spent most of my life here. I think you'll find the law does not state that you lock yourself away in a room and hope. You'll find it clearly states that if you feel you are under threat and cannot avoid it you can use the nessisary force to stop the threat. Once the threat has stopped then you must stop. That is known as reasonable force. If you feel your life and the life of those around you on your property is under immediate lethal threat then you are allowed to use lethal force.
In Norway you are allowed to use force to protect yourself and yours. I am sure most places have that opening.
Eh...... just a point. The OP introduced the idea of seeking help to circumvent a law or policy. The idea of SD, "reasonable force" and the rest of it was introduced to rationalize the original idea of circumventing a law or policy. I raise this point because I am still smarting from the event yesterday where a person in Ohio similarly sought to circumvent the law. Part of the result was his suicide. Another part of the result was the death of at least 10 Bengal Tigers---in a single day--- when there are barely 2000 of these animals left in the World. Personally, I get real tired of having the quality of my own life impacted, even at a considerable distance, by people who don't want to play by the rules. FWIW. Best Wishes, Bruce
1) How does that work when the criminal could be armed way beyond anything you are capable of dealing with? Which relates to my whole point on being allowed to arm - criminals don't follow the law anyway. 2) How does calling for assistance help when the police response time is slow enough the criminal is long gone before they turn up? 3) If the offender is still in the process of entering the property, how do you confront given the potential of them intiating the violence? I asked an officer this question once, he told me you're not permitted to use force before there's a break in. 4) If the burglar does not attempt to come after you upstairs, I'm quite sure you are not allowed to use any form of force to confront them if they're just clearing out downstairs. This is a flaw in my opinion. 5) After police finally arrived after an attempted break-in at my home, my wife mentioned letting the dogs out if they came back. According to the attending officer this is illegal, we cannot allow the guard dogs to guard the property, the burglar must come in to where they are.
Target harden your property. Have a plan for certain eventualities, keep phone handy, have a "go bag" etc Make sure your family knows that plan. Try to build good links with your local nick, get on their radar but in a good way. Report any incidents in your area, the more "blips" they get in a certain area the more likely it will get attention. Learn the difference between someone breaking in to nick stuff and someone home invading with the express intent of doing you or your family harm. Why and how they might work and what you might have to do. However going about it the wrong way will get you in trouble regardless of if you defend your ego, possessions, life etc
Absolutely. Dogs are a big deterrent. I've got nearly 300 lbs of dog in my house. And that's only two dogs... a Great Dane and an English Mastiff. The mastiff's head alone is the size of some dogs. Best regards, -Mark
So I arm up with a sword, they arm up with a pistol. I buy a pistol, they buy a rifle. See where this is going? Because it is better than doing nothing, and if the criminal is long gone then the problem's over anyway. Calling for assistance means that, should you then attack them, the evidence of what happens is clearer. If they're entering the property then they're already guilty of entering, and you can assume harmful intent. You can then use reasonable force to drive them off or capture them. Blowing someone's brains out when your life is not under threat is hard to justify as lethal force. Clocking them with a frying pan as they sneak through a window isn't likely to get you locked up anywhere. You are wrong. You're allowed to use reasonable force to prevent an offense being committed. You can even arrest the criminal under citizen's arrest laws. You can allow the dogs to be kept in the garden, but not deliberately set them on someone who is in the garden. Then the burglar's coming in to where they are.
