Maybe He Can Get Joe Biden as an Expert Witness

[Ben]

Super uninformative story, but it got me to thinking that I don't believe we've ever discussed this here: Shooting through your door.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/indiana-homeowner-shoots-through-front-door-to-keep-would-be-intruders-out-report

Obviously in the Joe Biden sense, it's a knucklehead move. In the story however, they allude to the door being smashed in as the homeowner shot. I suppose much depends on the location, but if my door is being smashed in, even if I don't see who it is, I consider myself in danger, and I'm not sure I would agree with "know your target" before firing - at least in a situation where I know what is beyond my target. I guess I could be in trouble if it was a SWAT team at the wrong house who didn't announce themselves properly.

Where I live now, I'm lucky in that I could empty a machine gun directly through any of my doors, and unless there was someone trespassing way downrange in the line of fire, it would be totally safe. Obviously different story if you live in an apartment.

Anyway, depending on circumstances, I think shooting through a door can be an effective move to a break-in / home invasion in progress. Thoughts?

[RoadKingLarry]

I'm a law abiding citizen( within reason).I have absolutely zero expectations of law enforcement breaking down my door with a no-knock raid.
If I'm in my home and someone is attempting a violent forced entry my instinct is to defend my family and self with as much force as I can muster. That force will include firearms.

[MechAg94]

I have heard of at least two incidents where people shot someone through the front door in the Houston area.  No charges as far as I know.  At least one was a drunk neighbor at the wrong house.  There was another case years ago in another part of the state where a man was on trial for shooting someone through his back door.  I can't remember how that turned out.

If you have a credible threat, I don't see the issue.  These guys knew someone was home and were still trying to kick the door in.  I would call that a threat. 

Not sure what the law is up there.  Is there a duty to retreat?

[RoadKingLarry]

Not sure what the law is up there.  Is there a duty to retreat?

Oklahoma is "castle doctrine". Basically,  if someone unlawfully enters your occupied home you own their life.

[zxcvbob]

and I'm not sure I would agree with "know your target" before firing

But you do know your target; it's someone trying to break down your door.  If it's firefighters that should be obvious, and be obvious why they are there.  Beyond that, identifying exactly who they are seems an unnecessary detail.

[K Frame]

My recollections on this are pretty hazy, but I think I have the salient points correct...

I'm thinking mid 1980s, a doctor was arrested for murder for shooting through a closed door and killing a person on the other side. The problems with the charges, though, were:

1. The doctor fired through his bedroom door.

2. It was in the middle of the night.

3. The person killed had broken into the home and was alleged threatening the doctor and his wife.

Back then Pennsylvania didn't have much in the way of codified castle doctrine at the time, relying primarily on the old Common Law standard that "a man's home is his castle."

Well, the prosecutor didn't agree, and filed murder charges against him, and took the guy to trial after trying his very hardest to get the guy to cop to all sorts of plea deals. If I remember correctly the doctor was either acquitted by the jury or on appeal, and it kicked off a big push in Pennsylvania to make changes to castle doctrine to clarify when deadly force could be used.

I've been searching the googletron, but so far I've not been able to come up with the case.

 

[Perd Hapley]

But you do know your target; it's someone trying to break down your door. 

That's what I was thinking.

[dogmush]

Isn't this similar to what that track and field guy did in South Africa?  [vague recollections turn over in my mind]