Will someone please explain this to me?

[Wren of the Brown]

Come to Colorado, then! It's not as hot as Texas and there are trees and mountains and Make My Day laws, too!

[Shauna]

What in the light is a Make My Day law? Never heard of it

[Mirshann Uuranor]

But it's hot in Texas. in Ireland we're lucky if we see the sun 1 day in 7 :P 

 I'm from Idaho. You can just do what I do and stay inside with the air conditioning until November.

[Elgee]

Can I come live there too? In a cold place, though. I demand "make my day" laws AND snow.

[Wren of the Brown]

Can I come live there too? In a cold place, though. I demand "make my day" laws AND snow.

 

Northern Colorado it is for you!  Or any suitable mountain town.  Southern Colorado is more like New Mexico and we only get three or four major snows a year.

[Wren of the Brown]

What in the light is a Make My Day law? Never heard of it

 

It's a variation on Castle Doctrine.  Colorado law grants you legal immunity for employing lethal force of any kind to defend yourself in your home if you are certain the intruder poses a threat to you, occupants or your property inside.  It doesn't extend to property outside your home though we tried to pass a Make My Day Better law which would have extended it to lethal force anywhere on your property.  There are still plenty of stipulations that determine whether or not an intruder is a threat and you'll still be subject to legal inquiry to ensure you followed the letter and spirit of the law.  Shooting a ten year old kid who wandered into your house in broad daylight is not acceptable and you obviously can't invite somebody onto your property in order to call them an intruder later but what WolfBrother experienced would certainly be covered.

 

Also, shoot to kill.  Make My Day doesn't seem to prevent you from being sued by the intruder later if you shot to wound as plenty of folks have unfortunately discovered.

[Mirshann Uuranor]

You can come with me next time I go back to visit my parents, El.
The look on their faces would be classic when I explained to them who you are, where you're from, and what a "souvra" is. Lol!

[Elgee]

Lol that's a deal, Mirsh! Would be hilarious *grins*

 

Hiarth, that's fascinating. Is that right exercised quite often?

[Daruya]

*pouts because Florida was not mentioned at all in Elgee's must-go list"

 

We have "Stand your ground" laws here. IOW, we don't have to be threatened in our home to defend ourselves. If you walk up to me on the street, point a gun at my head and demand money, I have every right to pull a concealed weapon (assuming I have a CCW permit) and blow you away. Ditto if you try to carjack me using a weapon to threaten me with. We can also apply that to save the life of another who is being threatened with deadly force during commission of a crime.

 

We also teach our boys about weapon safety. They know very well that guns are not toys, that they are lethal weapons and are NEVER to be played with and should never be pointed at anyone unless that person is threatening their safety. They have been to gun ranges (both BB guns in Scouts and a police range a year or so ago) and learned safety from certified instructors. Living where we do, we wanted to assure that they could protect themselves and our livestock and pets from various threats (mostly 4-legged in the form of coyotes and feral dogs). But if they can protect themselves from a 4-legged predator, they'll certainly be better able to protect themselves from a 2-legged one.

[Ryrin]

Wolfbro, it sounds like you need to move to Texas.

When my son graduated from AF basic in San Antonio, we bought our younger son a T-Shirt that had a picture of the state of Texas on it with a gun and it said "We don't call 911 in Texas."

[Wren of the Brown]

Lol that's a deal, Mirsh! Would be hilarious *grins*

 

Hiarth, that's fascinating. Is that right exercised quite often?

 

I can't seem to find any statistics on it but there are usually some MDL stories a few times each year.  The last time it made the news was in May after a drunk college student wandered into someone's home.  The homeowners were in bed, warned the gal not to proceed and shot her as she continued walking.  She survived and no charges were filed because the shooting fit the requirements.  They couldn't identify her in the dark and weren't in any position to turn on the light in order to identify her so the onus is on her for intruding.

 

You can read more here.

 

There was a huge scuff-up about seven years ago after a man shot at two guys stealing his truck and trailer. Charges were pressed against him because he was firing at someone on his land - he wasn't in any immediate danger since he could have retreated into his house.

 

To give you an idea of how flexible Make My Day really is, here are the three major guidelines.

 

1. The intruder unlawfully entered the dwelling.

    

2. The occupant of the dwelling has reasonable belief that the intruder has

   committed a crime other than unlawful entry, or is committing or

   intends to commit a crime against a person or property in addition to the unlawful entry; and,

    

3. The occupant reasonably believes that the intruder might use any physical force, no matter how slight, against the occupant.

Like I mentioned earlier, we tried to extend it to property limits outside the home but it failed for a few reasons. Since Colorado is a mountain state, hikers unintentionally wander onto private property all the time so the ability to shoot people from your front porch didn't fly.  The attempted bill also included protections for defending your car from theft but nobody quite made it clear if you were able to shoot someone who was stealing a car while you were in it.  I'm curious about this because Denver and a few other major towns here are apparently dealing with bump-and-jump thefts.  A bump-and-jump is a carjacking where the driver of the other car lightly rear-ends you at a designated point and, as you step out to observe damage or get information to report it to the police, someone else runs up from the sidewalk, jumps in your car and drives off.  I haven't heard of it happening in my town but it wouldn't surprise me if it does.  I've decided that if someone does lightly rear-end me, that's their problem and I'm not going to bother reporting it.  I think I can get away with this because I'm not required to report the accident if the damage is below $1000 and since Colorado law declares the rear-ender to be at fault, the onus is on the other driver if I'm hit from behind.  If I'm seriously hurt, yeah, I obviously need to get the police involved but if my bumper is knocked out of place, I don't care.  The whole point of a bumper is to give a car character anyway so it all works out!

 

And, besides, I don't want to shoot someone over a car.  I'm glad we don't have that guarantee because killing someone over a car aint worth it.