Another Reason to Be Glad You’re an American
“An Englishman’s home is his castle.” That principle has a long history – back to Roman times, in fact. And it was perhaps most clearly expressed by Blackstone in Merry Olde England in his Commentaries on the Laws of England (Book 4, Chapter 16). But it looks like it’s no longer true – at least not in England.
Seems that a man and his wife were renting a farm house at Melton Mowbray, Leics. They had been victims of a series of recent break-ins. The last break-in occurred while the man and his wife were at home.
Confronting the would-be burglars, the man grabbed a lawfully-owned firearm. He apparently fired at the four intruders. They left.
His aim was apparently reasonably good. Two of the four intruders later sought medical treatment for non-life-threatening gunshot wounds. The police arrested all four of them.
But it seems the man’s marksmanship was his undoing. The police also arrested the farmer and his wife on “suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm.”
This isn’t the first time in recent years a man has been arrested for defending himself or his family in his own home in the United Kingdom. In fact, on at least two previous occasions the individual defending his home/family has ended up convicted and sentenced to prison.
Blackstone must be spinning in his grave. I’m certainly glad some of my ancestors valued their freedom and caught a boat heading west.
Category: Dumbass Bullshit, Gun Grabbing Fascists, Guns, Legal
Just not the Mid-West, particularly Hellinois.
There was a similar case in Israel a few years ago. A farmer in the Negev was jailed after protecting his property. He was cleared of manslaughter but convicted on a weapons charge. It led to a legislative effort to change the law.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shai_Dromi
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/132407#.UEUlOo4lbS8
There are actually people in the US who think no one should use firearms to defend themselves…even if their life is in danger!
In England, cops have been shot at–and returned fire (yes a few cops there do carry guns) and the public thought the cops should have not returned fire.
What this makes me think is- there are retards around who would rather die, then stop somebody from killing them. That’s fine—but don’t stop others who want to keep living.
“I’m certainly glad some of my ancestors valued their freedom and caught a boat heading west.”
With ancestors from England and Scotland, ditto here.
As for the Man With the Weapon (and all future other victims), all I can suggest is to practice (if possible) and improve your marksmanship. So that instead of four wounded gobs, you’d have four dead gobs.
From there, you could practice three of the four S’s:
Suppress
Shoot
Shovel
Silence
B Woodman: unfortunately, one Englishman who killed a robber during a robbery of his home in 1999 ended up being prosecuted for murder. He was convicted; his original sentence was life. His sentence was reduced on appeal to 5 years.
Thankfully, most US jurisdictions recognize the castle doctrine when it comes to home invasions and the homeowner’s response to same.
Hondo: It’s rather a slow day at TAH so here’s some punctuation information that will either tick you off or make you slap your forehead and say, “Damn. I knew that but I still hate that guy!”
The hyphenation of compound adjectives applies only to the hyphenation of compound adjectives, not to an adverb/adjective combination. In nearly every instance, the adverb which forms an incorrectly hyphenated adverb/adjective combination ends in -ly. There will be a test Thursday.
2-17 AirCav: noted. And cheerfully ignored, by both myself and MicroSoft Word. (smile)
Seriously, thanks. I usually catch stuff like that, but occasionally one slips through.
They were defending their Melton Mowbray pies. You haven’t lived til you have had those..had to share that bit of edumacation…….lol
You know a situation is messed up when the cops will watch a fellow cop torched (fire bomb) and not shoot the SOB who did it. And that was during a riot! I wouldn’t live in England if they gave me the friggin’ country and moved everyone else out.
The couple have now been released without charge, so common sense has won through. Sadly Britons are prevented by their government from owning firearms for reasons of personal defence. Bafflingly (but fortunately in this instance) the government allows people to own firearms for sporting purposes. Pistols and revolvers are totally banned, which of course has done absolutely nothing to prevent their use by criminals with innocents paying the bloody price.
BBC article: “Welby farm shooting: Couple will not face charges.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-19496531
Kenneth: thanks for the update. Great to see that common-sense actually was used for a change.