Posted on 04/27/2002 4:37:45 AM PDT by scripter
The police yesterday told me I can't use a gun in self defense on my own property or in my house. Here's the story from central California.
Besides weekly garbage pickup, once a year our city provides a time when we can put nearly anything on the curb and they'll pick it up for free. It's a great time to clean the house and garage of items that just don't fit in the garbage can and any item you don't want. This great service also creates an opportunity for anyone to look through your trash and take items they consider valuable.
I have no problem with folks looking for something they can use. What I have a problem with are folks in search of such items tearing open boxes, bags and throwing items of non interest in the street, on the sidewalk, and most of all, in my yard and on my lawn. Four times yesterday I had to clean up the area in front of my house where some folks made a complete mess.
We took a dinner break and came back outside through the garage to put more items on the curb. That's when I saw two guys making a huge mess of my neat pile of garbage. They had gone through nearly box and bag, ripping open anything they couldn't see through.
I yelled at them, saying "Hey! Knock it off, you're making a huge mess in front of my house." Now, maybe I could have been nicer, but this was the third of eventually four messes I had to clean up and I was getting irritated.
Upon hearing me yell, one man grabbed a wooden handled mop out of the pile and another grabbed a metal handled weed whacker and raised the items up in a threatening manner, stopped for a second and started walking into my garage.
At any given time I have numerous items that can be used as weapons in my garage, but to get to them in this situation, I'd have to run past my 6 year old son, pick something up and run back. My first concern was of my son. He would be in the middle had I grabbed anything in the garage. Instead I grabbed my son, closed, locked and dead bolted the door into the house leaving the big garage door open and called the police.
After explaining the situation, I asked the police if I could defend myself with a gun if they attacked me. The dispatcher said "No. A gun is no match for someone attacking with a mop and weed whacker and they would be there as soon as possible." Yeah, right. I looked out the window and both men were already gone. At least I had a description of the men and their car.
I tried to reason with the dispatcher, asking if I could use different items to defend myself. She said "I'm not going to get into this with you. This call is recorded" and said to call the police when anything like this happens.
"What if they're in my garage attacking me, in my house, can I then use my gun to defend myself" I sarcastically asked again. Getting irritated, she said "No" and repeated that a gun is not a matching weapon.
"If they come back, can I show the gun as a detterent?", I asked. "No" she said, "then you would be brandishing a weapon." I replied "Even on my own property? In my garage? From my front door?". "Yes", she answered. She asked if I wanted extra patrols (as if it would really happen), which I did request. Some kids told me a couple women stopped by after that and made a fourth mess of my garbage pile. Sigh.
I have never heard of this matching weapon "law" if it's even a law. Does anybody know California law for something like this? Is there any legal way to use a gun in self defense in my yard, in my garage and in my house when an attacker does not have a "matching weapon?"
About two years ago I just got home from a "helping my friend" three day chore. I own a small home on ten acres in El Dorado County, California. It's a beautiful place about ten miles east of Placerville. I arrived home to find my long time live in girlfriend entertaining a friend. I chatted with them about two hours, excused myself, and went to bed about 4 pm. The month was March.
At about 5 pm, the sun was setting, Mary awoke me, she was visibly upset. "Rick, there are people on the ditch with one of those bad dogs." The ditch is on our property, about ten feet from my shop. Mary went on to say she told the people they were trespassing and to exit the property the way they entered. The man, aproximately 40 years, told her to fu**off. He had the right to walk on the utility easement. The man, his teen age daughter and their large, trained, Doberman continued on after Mary's rather terse warning. Enter me.
Knowing the trespassers had to return the way they came, I waited. My pickup was backed up to the ditch as always. Since Mary described the man and his dog as very adversarial I grabbed my double barrel 12 gauge, tossed it in the back of my pickup. In a few minutes, here they come. You are trespassing and have been warned. The man then explained he had the right to trespass on my land and that my mother was a female dog. I proceded, with my Black Labrador, to block the path. About 15 feet behind the man was his teen daughter and this regal looking doberman. The man turns away from me toward his daughter and dog, yelling, My dog will kill your dog. At this point I grab the 12 gauge. I will vaporize your Fu**ing dog! It is at this point that he realizes the gravity of his rather weak position.
He left, my dog was not attacked, end of story.
Not quite. The man calls the police, explains the crazed maniac. The police, in full military regalia, attack our house. I come out, as well as Mary, respond to the police by hitting the ground. They search us, the house, we are then handcuffed and questioned. I was placed under arrest, 30 minutes later Mary was released. The police took my 12 gauge, and other legal weapons they found.
About three months later we went to court. I recieved a jury trial, after two days I was deemed to be not guilty. If you wish more info contact me. Thanks for your time.
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