I have no doubt that there are indeed misunderstandings, but there lies the rub. In the U.S., there are no widespread misunderstandings. Every law-abiding citizen has the very clear right to defend his person or another person with lethal force if necessary and if warranted by the circumstances. Very simple and straightforward. Same for home-invasion robberies...if someone breaks into your house, you are entirely allowed to, in fact encouraged, to blow the scumbag's head clean off. (after-burglary cleanup is still the homeowner's responsibility, however).
The mere fact that there is misunderstanding indicates that there is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. Our British friends deserve not only the right and the means to effectively defend themselves, but also a clear understanding of what their rights and responsibilities are in these weighty matters. In this regard and many others, the UK press has been woefully deficient.
Not in the Kerry states. Self defense is a much more serious crime than robbery in NYC, NJ, MA, CT IL (Chicago especially),ME, MD, RI, and Kalifornia.
I don't disagree with anything in this, and there's no doubt that at the very least the law needs clarification: although a great deal of the confusion is the result of ill-informed and tendentious reporting rather than the nature of the law itself. There's obviously a difference between the situation here and in the US in that the body of case law in the UK has set a higher threshold for the acceptability of the use of force in defence than is the case in the US. The point I continue to make, however, is that this is a matter of degree rather than the absolute chasm which many people believe it to be.