Personal Defense World has an excellent post written by Massad Ayoob in recent days that’s a good read for the legal nuances in the Castle Doctrine.
Illinois does not have the full Castle Doctrine. Land of Lincoln residents have what our attorneys refer to as “Castle Lite”. Almost as filling with only half the calories, so to speak.
For nuances between Illinois’ law and those “Doctrines” in other states, you’ll need to attend training by qualified lawyer-instructors.
In the meantime, Ayoob does a good job covering the high points and blowing up some myths that are common sense to those of us who have studied the topic intently, but to the average Joe may be as alien as consistently hitting a man-sized target with their handgun at 50 yards.
A teaser:
“A man’s home is his castle; attacked there, he need not retreat.” It’s a catchphrase known even to people who don’t keep weapons for self-defense. It’s a tenet of the English common law, from which American law so largely derives. It’s called Castle Doctrine.
But as with any law, we don’t fully grasp it until we read the fine print. Anti-gun Senator Nancy Pelosi famously—or infamously—said, “We won’t know what’s in the law until we pass it.” The senator’s quote lives on today as a classic example of irresponsible stupidity.
And if any of us ever have to shoot a home invader in defense of ourselves or our families, and are forced to invoke Castle Doctrine, if we don’t know what it actually says, we would be just as irresponsible and just as stupid.
That’s interesting support hand finger placement on the revolver. Methinks this guy runs the risk of getting it a bit toasty with the flash from the cylinder gap – not to mention that’s just bad form in terms of controlling a recoiling firearm.