Homeowner jailed for firing warning shot

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MESQUITE, Texas -
A Mesquite man was arrested and hauled off to jail for firing a shot into the ground of his own backyard. He says he was simply protecting his wife and property, but police called his actions reckless.

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This is such a mixed bag of feelings, cops say he wasn't in danger and he says he was. I have a feeling that when he sleeps on it a little he will start feeling differently. They never entered the property and made no entry so did he jump the gun and fire a warning shot for no reason? One thing for sure this is what happens when you don’t know the law.

Homeowner jailed for firing warning shot - Dallas News | myFOXdfw.com

Many mistakes made here. Can anyone say, unintentional discharge.

As much as it would seem the thing to do - NEVER a warning shot. A gun is there to defend you. Even if they are attempting to break in, unless you have a Castle Doctrine law which covers the area involved (in this case the backyard and gate), I would say that one would need to wait until they came on the property. You can warn them (and it is good to do so, especially with witnesses to hear it) but you should wait until they have crossed the line. At least that is my opinion (I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, and I did NOT stay at a Holiday Inn last night).

One thing I will say is that we have had a lot of windy weather in the D/FW area for the last week or so. Could it have been that he was assuming there was someone there?

A warning shot is a bad idea for many resons.It is a violation of several laws and can land you-believing youself innocent,in jail. If there is no justification to shoot in self defense,then there is probably no justification for shooting at all. If the situation isn't immediately life and death,don't fire. If you really are locked in mortal combat,don't wast time and ammo making scary noises.Firing a warning shot may serve as evidence that you didn't believe the situation presented an immediate deadly threat. Warning shots are an irresponsible product of Hollywood that has no place in the real world.

Illegal in NC.

Violates one of the cardinal rules of gun safety. That to me is all there is on the subject.

Homeowner in this case was reckless. He did everything wrong IMO. 10 foot tall and bullet proof....What a jackass

I reserve warning shots for animals of the four legged persuasion.

Besides doing everything wrong, what makes it worse is he still does not understand what he did wrong....

I see three mistakes he made. He should have called 911 immediately after grabbing his weapon. Stayed in the house. NOT have fired a "warning shot".

That being said...I don't think he needs criminal punishment. I think a safety course would do it. Maybe a small fine. I am not sure it is available there, but a course in Responsible Self Defense would be good. I don't think that jail time or taking his weapon for good and always is the way to go.

To me warning shots if fired into the ground let's the person on "your" property, late at night, know exactly where your frame of mind is at. That is, your armed, capable and ready to defend your rights. Suppose the aggressor has a shotgun and comes thru the gate or sticks it thru the fence and blows you away because he did'nt consider you are real threat
but just in his way. Even a drunk will consider retreat instead of confronting an armed homeowner. I say better safe an alive, even if you make a little noise and even if your hauled off to jail. He's lucky he did'nt pee in his pants and get arrested for disorderly conduct.

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Originally Posted by rodford

To me warning shots if fired into the ground let's the person on "your" property, late at night, know exactly where your frame of mind is at. That is, your armed, capable and ready to defend your rights. Suppose the aggressor has a shotgun and comes thru the gate or sticks it thru the fence and blows you away because he did'nt consider you are real threat
but just in his way. Even a drunk will consider retreat instead of confronting an armed homeowner. I say better safe an alive, even if you make a little noise and even if your hauled off to jail. He's lucky he did'nt pee in his pants and get arrested for disorderly conduct.

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I completely agree with you sentiment and it is sad that the victim is now the criminal.

Now in reply to the actual question at hand. A gun shot is considered deadly force, not a warning. There is no legal place for warning shots under the law. The only legal justification for the use of deadly force is if you feel your life (or a third party's life) is threatened.

Once you uncork a round you are on the hook with police to justify why you felt the need to use deadly force. If you say "I just wanted to scare them away" then you are in trouble. There are no warning shots if a person is really in fear for their life and willing to use deadly force to protect it (their life).

Now with all of that said, I see plenty of uses for warning shots if they were legal. Anytime you can avoid shooting someone is a good thing....Too bad the law doesn't agree with me.

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Originally Posted by atctimmy

I completely agree with you sentiment and it is sad that the victim is now the criminal.

Now in reply to the actual question at hand. A gun shot is considered deadly force, not a warning. There is no legal place for warning shots under the law. The only legal justification for the use of deadly force is if you feel your life (or a third party's life) is threatened.

Once you uncork a round you are on the hook with police to justify why you felt the need to use deadly force. If you say "I just wanted to scare them away" then you are in trouble. There are no warning shots if a person is really in fear for their life and willing to use deadly force to protect it (their life).

Now with all of that said, I see plenty of uses for warning shots if they were legal. Anytime you can avoid shooting someone is a good thing....Too bad the law doesn't agree with me.

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But.... After you fire it, others and the local or state statues get to decide if what you did was correct. Never put yourself into that situation on purpose. If you discharge the weapon = you own the results of the action.

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Originally Posted by rodford

Suppose the aggressor has a shotgun and comes thru the gate or sticks it thru the fence and blows you away because he did'nt consider you are real threat

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Sorry, but that statement makes no sense whatsoever. If an aggressor has a shotgun and comes through the gate or sticks it through the fence, you can shoot him immediately because he is a threat. Firing a warning shot for someone who has a weapon and would blow you away if he didn't consider you a threat isn't likely to change that assessment, but if he knows you have a weapon, he may choose to try to preemptively blow you away anyway. As atctimmy has stated, there is no legal basis for a warning shot in most, if not all locales. So, you can choose to do so but you will be the one behind bars and not the aggressor. If the aggressor makes a threatening move, you can, and most likely should, take action. But any story I have ever seen about warning shots has the person firing them in trouble and not the bad guy.