Posted By:
warshawlawFirst, you are presuming an awful lot to assume that either (1) you know why the intruder is in your home or (2) the intruder is telling the truth in stating that they are only there to steal the stereo. Do you really trust your child's life to your assumption or your faith in a criminal's word? I don't. I prefer to rely on the word of Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson.
Second, legally, there is a doctrine called the "castle rule". It presumes that an intruder in your home is there to harm you and that you need not retreat in your own home. I have never seen a case where shooting an intruder under the circumstances we all envision was not determined to be justifiable self defense. I seriously doubt that the DA would even bother to indict if I shot a burglar in my kitchen. And while I hate to go bumper-sticker on you, I truly would rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6. Finally, it is illegal in CA and most states for a criminal engaged in a felony to sue for injuries received in the commission of the crime. Simply by breaking and entering my home, the intruder is already in the commmission of a felony.
I have had to pull my gun once, just after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. My condo complex was badly damaged in the quake and as a consequence we lost power and had to open the parking garage gate to allow people access to the complex's tuck under parking. I was on the board of directors at the time and was in the garage helping other directors assess the damage in the hours after the main quake. I also had my .357 with me, which I started to carry just after the quake hit. A few of the other board members there also were armed. A pair of toughs from the low income apartments down the block came through the open gateway. The president of the board approached them as they were entering and asked them what they were doing. They responded by saying that they were there to "look around" and went right past him. Bear in mind this is private property, not the street, and would have been secured by a gate had we not lost power. The four of us who were armed and in the garage stepped out into the main aisle, pulled back our jackets and showed the guns. The thugs saw them, one said "cool", and they turned and walked back out. I have no doubt that we would have had a major problem had we not had guns that morning, as there was no police presence in our area and it was far too early for the National Guard to be deployed.
Unfortunately, Los Angeles is a particularly unstable and lawless place in a crisis owing to its sheer sprawl. The earthquake was one example; the riots were another. I had friends and clients in Koreatown who had to use their guns to protect themselves and their families and businesses from the looters and burners. The police are worthless in a city this expansive; they just cannot cover it all. Even the National Guard deployment was such that you did not see a trooper for miles. You have no idea what it is like to live somewhere knowing that natural and manmade disasters are a permanent feature of the place and that there is no short-term help for basic security.