Your Home Is Not a Free Fire Zone

And you can't just shoot at people because a car alarm is going off. Especially not in New Jersey. Man Shot Rideshare Pickup 3 Times At Howell Home; Now He's Headed To Prison | Howell, NJ Patch

Howell police learned that three teens who were friends with the girlfriend's son were sitting in a vehicle outside the home waiting for their rideshare service. When the rideshare vehicle — a Dodge Ram 1500 pickup — arrived, the three got out of the other vehicle but set off the vehicle's alarm system by accident in the process, authorities said.

So he hears the car alarm going off at 12:30 AM, and his first reaction is to start shooting at the vehicle in his driveway. It is a pickup owned by the rideshare driver.

Even if the guy wasn't there for a legitimate reason, even if he was stealing your car, that is not grounds for the use of deadly force. I don't know how things are where you live, but my criteria is that I need to have an "imminent threat" of death or grave bodily injury. That does not include an imminent threat of auto theft.

I can already see the comments flowing in. "Principle." Or "civilized society." "Hard earned cash/value/whatever." Fine. You do you. I am not in a place like the old west, where if you steal my horse, you have killed me. If you steal my old ass SUV, I will survive. I may swear a lot, but even that won't kill me.

"Let this serve as a reminder to think twice prior to retaliating against a possible intruder," [Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago] said. "The law is particular when you are permitted to use deadly force and this case was not one of them."

Howell, New Jersey is about 25 miles east of Trenton, and about 6 miles inland from the coast. It is about a 65 mile drive northeast of Philadelphia.

Every bullet comes with a lawyer attached. That is true everywhere, but clearly in New Jersey.