Officer! Arrest that man!
Published by Ninth Stage June 20th, 2006 in Culture, Gun Control, The Law.A homeowner defends himself and his home from an attempted home invasion robbery. Whom will the authorities charge with the more serious crime? Hint: this is in Canada.
Mounties allege that as the two were leaving, Young fired a shot at their vehicle and hit one of them.
The men apparently then drove to Russell, called the RCMP, then went to the hospital.
As I said, it’s Canada, so “it’s Young[, the homeowner,] that faces the more serious charges, including attempted murder, assault with a weapon, discharging a firearm with intent, possession of a weapon for dangerous purpose, and other offences.” The home invaders “have been charged with a number of offences including break and enter, uttering threats, and mischief.” Nice. Mischief for the bad guys and murder for the good guy.
The bad guys in the U.S. rarely call the authorities when a victim doesn’t play fair. In Canada the designated victims had best play their part or the law will come down on them. It’s a cultural thing.
Even in enlightened jurisdictions (NOT Canada) with strong “castle doctrine” laws that allow a homeowner to shoot a home invader without a duty to retreat, shooting at a fleeing burglar outside one’s home would result in charges against the homeowner. The homeowner acted irresponsibly and deserves to have the book thrown at him.
Once you’ve identified someone as a felon under common law it is not immoral or malum in se to use deadly force to apprehend them. It is a positive good for the community to stop a felon but. . .
You’re right that “shooting at a fleeing burglar outside one’s home would result in charges” in most cases in the U.S. but so far that is only an allegation.
The most amusing part of the story is where the would be home invaders call the RCMP because Young didn’t play nice and lie down.
When we moved here, Mrs Stefanou told us this was ‘one of the nicest bits of Crouch End’ while her son told us it was a great place to be because it was ‘so easy to get to Crouch End from here’.