I suppose those court orders aren't worth the paper they're written on.

[ileus]

http://www.kxly.com/news/spokane-news/Homeowner-shoots-intruder-It-came-down-to-either-me-or-him/-/101214/13387596/-/2dfo8az/-/#

Parsons had been served a no-contact several hours prior to the shooting, but that didn't stop him from taking a shotgun and a pistol to Doug Snarski's Honeymoon Bay home to confront his ex-girlfriend and Snarski.

"I just laid on the ground around the corner and watched his shadow come up with the lights and as soon as I knew he had hit that last step I just pointed up and let him have it," he said.

It was the first time Snarski ever fired his revolver.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First shot ever....under confidence may have saved his life.

[DanM]

1. On the contrary...

...criminals can wipe their butt with the order they're ignoring, so the order *is* at least worth the paper it's printed on.

But, yeah, no court order has EVER protected anyone from someone else bent on doing violence to them. You have to be armed, if you truly want to protect yourself and your family. Or hire a security detail, but I don't think most folks can afford that.

[Common Sense Party]

2. What? He didn't have a can of string beans?

Why didn't he try some jujitsu moves?

[shadowrider]

3. I thought it was a can of baked beans. We may need to get clarification on that

Why didn't he use his handy staff I wonder. Hmmm, inquiring minds want to know.

[GreenStormCloud]

4. He did everything right.

Court order documenting that the dead guy was a danger.

Calls 911. (Giving police a chance to handle it and getting everything recorded.)

Takes cover. (Reduces chance of bad guy killing him.)

Bad guy starts shooting inside the good guy's house. (Show bad guy was threatening his life.)

Waits until bad guy is close. (Gives bad guy chance to change his mind and leave. Waits until he has to shoot.)

Fires one very well-aimed shot. (Doesn't show murderous rage or panic by emptying his gun into the guy.)

This should be a textbook self-defense claim.

[jeepnstein]

7. Emptying your weapon...

is common and perfectly understandable in these situations. It's a fairly common thing to happen once the adrenaline dump kicks in. Lots of cops shoot until their slide locks. It is not an indicator of "rage". You just shoot until the aggression is stopped. That doesn't mean spray and pray, though.

[GreenStormCloud]

8. But it can look bad in court.

What you say is true. Under stress many people just shoot until they run dry. But then they may have to explain it to a court that isn't very understanding of what happens under stress.

Personally, I would shoot rapid fire until he was down. Probably get off about three rounds, maybe more if the first one didn't drop him.

[GreenStormCloud]

5. Restraining orders are often the thing that put these guy over the edge.

I am NOT against restraining orders. Most of the time they are accomplish what they are supposed to do, keep the bad guy away. However, for some thugs they are the very thing that will push them into further violence. The victim should realize that hand have a gun and cell phone handy while the danger lasts.

[mvccd1000]

6. Where restraining orders CAN do some good is...

... in removing discretion from the police. If you've ever known someone who has been in a "tumultuous relationship" (or been in one yourself), you've surely seen the abused person call the police in fear for her (his?) life, only to have the police show up and be talked into believing that nothing is wrong, she's making it up, it's overblown, etc.

That little piece of paper does two things.

1) Removes discretion from the officers on the scene. It doesn't matter how convincing the guy is, a court has ordered him not to be there. Period.

2) Gives them justification for arresting him. In many cases, even if they didn't believe the aggressor's story, if there is no evidence, there is no cause for arresting him. With the presence of the restraining order, they have all the reason they need to remove him from the scene.


Since most domestic situations don't begin with a murder, the restraining order can slow things down enough to prevent them from getting to that point.

Once they DO get to that point, though, you're right - a piece of paper won't stop a knife or a bullet. At that point, a restraining order becomes merely a good part of a valid "self-defense" legal defense.

[BiggJawn]

9. Yeah, they're pretty worthless.

They come out of a laser-jet printer, so the paper is kinda slick and won't wipe the shit off your ass, so they aren't even worth bum-wipe.

[PavePusher]

10. Also, not soft enough. n/t