re: #520 Renaissance_Man

The castle doctrine, as I understand it, is one that is enshrined in law pretty much everywhere, not just Florida or Texas. The requirement to retreat is legally a pretty fuzzy one, and it’s understood in most places that follow on from English common law that force in defence of the home is not a crime. Certainly self defence is enshrined in law everywhere.

I thought the controversy with the Florida doctrine was the expansion of the Castle Doctrine to pretty much anywhere - as in, you were no longer expected to try to remove yourself from a dangerous situation at all, even if not in your home, but instead authorised to use deadly force no matter where you were.

In any case, as for the neighbour taking shots at his car in the middle of the night from a window, you’d have to hope that there was, in fact, someone trying to steal his car, and not, say, someone passing by who’d dropped something that rolled under the car, or some drunk who was staggering around looking for a place to throw up.

Not exactly. IIRC, it specifies in the first part that an intruder into your home can be dealt with in whatever manner you choose.

In the second part, it specifies that if you are attacked in any setting, public or private, you have the right to stand and defend yourself; you are no longer required to attempt to flee.

Does that help?