So, in my story "A Charmed Life," I referenced a Massachusetts State Law (MGL Chapter 278, Section 8a) which allows you to defend yourself against an intruder without allowing the commonwealth to come after you.
What do the laws in your state/country allow you to do, if anything?
The 'Castle Doctrine' is a part of English common law — "A Man's Home is his castle" (read about Semayne's case). This is the source of statutory law in the United States, which varies widely, state to state.
The idea goes back further, at least to the Roman Republic, and similar doctrines existed in China from at least the Han dynasty.
It is referred to as the Castle Doctrine. For more info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_doctrine
I'm somewhat familiar with the Castle Doctrine, especially the name, but I'm mainly interested in how far folks are allowed to go with this doctrine... I am curious how it varies from place to place...
If you go to the link I gave, it specifies the differences from state to state. It also gives some foreign coverage.
Oh, okay, thank you. (Sorry, I usually don't follow links because I tend to get lost in the link rabbit hole...)
Castle Doctrine does not apply in Canada. If someone breaks into your house, bangs your wife and shoots the dog, and you try to defend yourself, you'll go to jail and the criminal will walk. And we just re-elected the idiots that made that type of action a law. Can some state in America please adopt the Western provinces? We have oil.
While my grandfather (Grandpére) was French-Canadian, I'd rather not encourage the orange guy living in the malarial swamp that is Washington, DC.
I might be interested in a trade for Parliament Hill, but I can't see how that would benefit you...
One thing that I do know, is (in most jurisdictions) you can't make TRAPS to defend against intruders.
One thing that I do know, is (in most jurisdictions) you can't make TRAPS to defend against intruders.
Can you go to a gay bar and employ a few instead?.... 😛
Sorry, but the relatively recent "Stand your ground law" in the U.S., which states that you can shoot anyone who you 'feel' might portentially threaten you, is nothing more than a 'you can shoot any black or dark skinned person you want', which is perfectly in keeping with America's long-history with slavery and the subjugation of anyone who isn't an older white man!
It has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with 'the Castle Doctrine' and pretending it does is itself a gross miscarriage of justice. But then, the U.S.A. has mostly gone feral at this point, with NO rule of law whatsoever.
The trick is to make sure you kill the other person where there are no cameras around.
Well, since I'm now disabled, I was (in my case) wondering about protecting myself and my family with a D-cell Maglite... (Remember those?)
Sorry, I got rid of all of those oversized flashlights once I bought my first 100 lumen digital flashlight. It's a fraction of the size, and you can illuminate nearly anything, and see clearly at much greater distances.
They're adjustable too, so you can either dim it, or even use a red-light filter (which doesn't travel nearly as far) when you want be largely unnoticed (i.e. doing something relatively illegal). Though I mostly use it when I walking along the street at night, so I don't wake the neighbors up with it, especially in a crowded, smaller city residential block.
No thank. As your 'point' was patently obvious enough. I was just raising a different point of view. You're not responsible for accepting it, it's simply an alternative, nothing else and nothing more. Take it or leave it.
It's a fraction of the size, and you can illuminate nearly anything
Yes, but can you use it as a weapon (club)?
This is what you were replying to:
Well, since I'm now disabled, I was (in my case) wondering about protecting myself and my family with a D-cell Maglite... (Remember those?)
I guess the real question with the Maglite is, "Is the 2-cell enough, or should I get a bigger one?"
Well, I have a small one that does that, but I wouldn't be able to get to that at night...
Obviously not, yet aside from using it as a cudgel, and cudgels have ALWAYS been better than flashlights anyway, as flashlights have a nasty habit of shattering when hitting blunt objects, I was merely pointing out that I haven't bothered with a heavy, inefficient flashlight in … ten or fifteen years?
Again, there are usually more efficient alternatives to virtually anything nowadays, if you search around for it enough.
So yes, you continue beating the crap out of whoever you want. Me, I have more productive actives I enjoy more. But hey, that's just me. As always, you do you (just warn me the next time you're in my neighborhood, so we can avoid each other on dark nights).
It would fix the problem either way! (I never got into D&D much, but my son plays it now...)