Similarly, a few years ago, Florida adopted legislation that made clear that there was no duty to retreat from a threat if you are otherwise in the right, with a preliminary hearing available to a defendant to establish the defense and defeat a prosecution at an early stage. This so-called "stand your ground law" was controversial at the time but has stood the test of time. Many states have similar provisions by statute or judicial decision.
An episode of Breaking Bad even touches on the issue. An illegal gun vendor explains to Walter White that since New Mexico is a stand your ground jurisdiction, if he had only defensive gun use in mind, he would be better off buying a gun legally instead of an illegal gun with the serial number removed.
In application to squatters, "stand your ground" means that a homeowner or their agent could evict squatters and shoot to kill if threatened with immediate harm. Most people may not have the stones to do that sort of thing, but enough do to make squatting a dicey proposition where "stand your ground" prevails and guns are widely legal.
Or you can just not give squatters any particular rights.
“The American version of common law would almost certainly favor the homeowner.”
Guess again. There isn’t a state in the USA where killing a burglar with a booby trap wouldn’t get you charged with at the very minimum manslaughter and more likely murder.
The only time a topic is *controversial* is when the left opposes it.
Then they label it as such, even when it's not.
We need to stop accepting that label for hot button , common sense laws that everyone is behind except for the leftists who want to destroy our country.
People have the right to defend themselves and their property and do NOT have a *duty to retreat* in order to protect the criminal.
If anyone has a duty to retreat, it's the criminal who is breaking the law.