Technically sounds like you could open fire based on the whole "at night" thing but...intent of chl was to protect life and loss of property right? Since a live weapon and paintball gun sound nothing alike, and a paintball gun has an enormous hopper on top I would have a hard time defending myself in court and arguing killing a few people over some oil/water based paint spill.A-R wrote:This little tidbit prodded my imagination a bit ...
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/ ... ounty_beat" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In a nutshell, vandals "painted" an Austin city councilman's car and home at night with paintballs.
So here's the scenario, your wife hears a funny noise, you go outside to investigate (carrying, of course), it's dark, you see men in shadows aiming gun-like objects in your general direction, something pelts your car and makes that telltale "thud" .... would you have the mindset to distinguish a real gun from a paintball gun before drawing down on or even discharging your REAL gun at the "attackers"? Would you even knowingly fire at these vandals - after all this would seem to fall under "criminal mischief at night" in Penal Code?
Just food for thought and discussion ...
In the end, it isn't worth the time, heartache, loss of sleep and possibility of prison time over something so seemingly benign. A paintball gun being shot at my house/car isn't going to place me in fear for my life to the point where I see the need to end someone else's... Just my .02