Settle this discussion.

[stoc]

Thank you all for your input.

[Asketes]

So it is 3am and my wife wakes me up saying there is a strange woman in the house. She says that someone rang the doorbell and when she answered it some guy pushes this woman into my house. Then the guy that dropped her sped off. I grab my pistol and go to find out what is going on. I find a woman standing in the entry way of my home with her head cocked to the side staring at me. I ask her what she is doing in my home and get no answer. I tell her to leave, no response. I start to guide her out of my home with my left hand, pistol behind my back in the right. The strange woman starts to flip out ranting that "you can't treat me this way" waving her arms with other odd nonsense statements, etc. I then step back and point the pistol at her and tell her to leave. She calms down and stares at me. She then left the house at which time I shut and lock the security screen and call 911. The police come relatively quickly and escort the lady off of my property. The point of contention is. Did I overreact with the pistol?

Going out on a limb here:


Are you American? If so then hell yes you did the right thing


That is the rootinest and tootinest right **** thing to do


tell that chick to p*ss off if.. you tried asking her questions, she didn't wanna respond and started flipping out, you did what you needed to do for the safety of not only yourself but your wife and anyone else in the house.

[deadkitty]

In all honesty I would say no. People are unpredictable at times, and more so under the influence of drugs or alcohol. It could have been you and your wifes saftey on the line. I mean what if this person had a knife or a gun on person? Gun's are for recreation and protection. In this situation you were totally in the right in what you did.

[toughguyjoe]

Here is my guess. She was intoxicated. On what it doesn't matter. She told someone to drop her off, and gave them the wrong house of pointed to the wrong house, whatever.

Probably not necessary to point a pistol at her. Unreasonable? It's certainly not against the law.

It's further than I would go. In fact I probably would have given it to my wife and told her to hold onto it while I get this crazy lady out our door.

However, you did have every right to defend your home from a possibly crazy invader. Not my style, but to each his own.

[ehcsztein]

Did I overreact with the pistol?

Nope.

If you overreacted the coroner would have shown up with the police.

You did the right thing.

[Tirkan]

It depends.

If you were prepared to shoot her if necessary, then no, you weren't in the wrong.

If you were only threatening her with the pistol, and did not intend to shoot her, then you should not have pointed the weapon at her.

[PopeJual]

So it is 3am and my wife wakes me up saying there is a strange woman in the house. She says that someone rang the doorbell and when she answered it some guy pushes this woman into my house. Then the guy that dropped her sped off. I grab my pistol and go to find out what is going on. I find a woman standing in the entry way of my home with her head cocked to the side staring at me. I ask her what she is doing in my home and get no answer. I tell her to leave, no response. I start to guide her out of my home with my left hand, pistol behind my back in the right. The strange woman starts to flip out ranting that "you can't treat me this way" waving her arms with other odd nonsense statements, etc. I then step back and point the pistol at her and tell her to leave. She calms down and stares at me. She then left the house at which time I shut and lock the security screen and call 911. The police come relatively quickly and escort the lady off of my property. The point of contention is. Did I overreact with the pistol?

Depends entirely on what state you live in.

[Starlytes]

Wait wait ... Just wait ONE DANG MINUTE HERE ....



WAS SHE HAWT???????

[Nuralanya]

Not going to get into the question of gun vs. no gun - they're not my thing, and I'll leave it at that. (I'm not American.) I imagine you have the right to defend your family and property as you see fit.

My questions would be 1) why on earth was your wife answering the door at 3am, rather than just ignoring it, and 2) if she really felt it had to be answered, why didn't she send you or ask you to go with her? Maybe this stranger could have been prevented from even entering your property.

I might answer the phone in the middle of the night if I thought it could be an emergency, but it would be rare I'd open the door and certainly not alone. I'm just curious, not trying to be inflammatory - if you live in an area where you feel the need to keep a firearm, why answer the door at that time of night?

[stoc]

Thank you all

[Chai]

It depends.

If you were prepared to shoot her if necessary, then no, you weren't in the wrong.

If you were only threatening her with the pistol, and did not intend to shoot her, then you should not have pointed the weapon at her.

This.

If you draw steel you better be prepared to use it. Each time you pull trigger, you better mean it.

I dont know how many times I hear about armed robbery up in these parts where the robber just wants to point their weapon and talk smack, right up to and until they drop their guard feeling overly secure with their weapon, and the clerk unloads with both barrels.

[Impaqt]

Yes I am an American.

My wife does not like guns, thus the discussion.

No Coroner.

I was ready to shoot her if need be.

I live in Arizona.

No she was not hot.

Sounds like you did the rigjht thing then.

[stoc]

thank you all

[Burtle]

I'd prefer to hold a sword and just look at her and say..."There can be only one...."

[Tirkan]

Did good, Stoc.

[PopeJual]

Kind of silly maybe but I do not really "live in an area where you feel the need to keep a firearm". I live in a very nice area. I always feel like I need a gun and feel like this situation is proof of why. I did not ever think I would have need or cause but I am glad I had it.

Just finish leveling to cap as a FvS. Once you have the DR, you won't feel any need for guns in the house at all.

Also, I don't understand why people feel comfortable safer with a gun in the house than without one (although this might be because I'm generally less impressed with the good decision making of some of my relatives than I am afraid of home invasion).

[Musouka]

Being a fellow resident of Arizona, I totally agree with what you did. I've had to resort to firearm motivation to get people off my property before, but that was after I told them to stay away a few times. Didn't call the police, though. I was a bit younger/dumber when that happened though.

I live west of Phoenix, near the Air Force base, and still feel the need to be able to protect myself. So area's do not matter much. Crime can happen anywhere.

[evilgardengnome]

Wait wait ... Just wait ONE DANG MINUTE HERE ....



WAS SHE HAWT???????

Of course she wasn't. She was asked to leave the house. If she was hot, she and the wife would have started making out and he would be holding his other gun.

[Faent]

I'm confused. A woman who is obviously loaded is in your house (bizarre, yes), and you feel you can't handle that situation without pointing a gun at them? What sorts of situations are you incapable of handling without reverting to your pistol? Am I missing something? Did you perceive her as a deadly threat to your life (or any member of your household's life)? If so, would it be reasonable for most rational people to perceive this loaded woman as posing a deadly threat? Your answers to the above questions will be legally relevant. Don't answer them here. But, and I won't focus on this any more, I'd be a bit shocked if you were willing to point a gun at someone who you didn't legitimately perceive as a deadly threat. Now we turn back to the law.

In most states, you could be successfully sued by this woman for acting as you did (unless it was reasonable for you to perceive this drunk or otherwise loaded woman as some kind of deadly threat---pretty unlikely, it seems). In general, you can assume that it's always illegal to point a gun at someone unless a rational person would have good reason to believe a life was threatened by that person. Of course, this varies slightly from state to state.

A brief perusal of AZ Castle Doctrine law suggests that you could in fact be sued successfully by this woman. After all, she didn't force or try to force her way into your home. Nor did she (given your description) signify that she was putting you in any kind of imminent peril. Legally speaking, you could be in hot water. In fact, I'd delete this post if I were you, for legal safety's sake.

Final question? If you're so willing to brandish your weapon, shouldn't you have familiarized yourself with all your state's gun-related statutes? Start doing so immediately, for your own sake.

[ProdigalGuru]

Get a divorce, your wife is the real problem.