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tbrown wrote:Unless your house is on fire, I think it's reasonable to assume the guy breaking down your door doesn't have your best interest at heart. If I was on a jury, it would depend if any innocents were hurt or only the home invaders got hurt. In the second case, I could not in good conscience convict the defender no matter what some lawyer says.

I think it's clear as day you're allowed to blow away the BG through the door. It's the innocents.

These are all very unlikely, but so is the original scenario, and it still happened:
- What if he's at the end of a crime spree and has a hostage?
- What if the teenager across the street is leaning against his car making out with his girlfriend?
- What if the commotion caused your neighbor across the street to step out on his porch and see what's going on?
- What if somebody who lives a block away is walking their dog in front of your house right as you pull the trigger?

Taking a blind shot can have a lot of unintended consequences.

"Be sure of your target and what is beyond your target" applies even during an emergency. I could justify shooting through a glass door or a door with a window, but I won't fire blindly through a solid door.

Everybody should think through home defense what-if scenarios. If an intruder is trying to compromise your door, you need a tactical position tthat gives you visibility to know what's happening without putting you in a compromised position. (Retreating to a safe spot and waiting won't work with kids in separate bedrooms throughout the house.) I'd then make an "if-then" decision. Normally, I expect mine will be: if that door opens, anybody coming through is going to be met with overwhelming defensive force.

I look out my dining room window to see unexpected guests on the sidewalk before looking through the peephole on the door. If my internal alarms are going off, I stay away from the door altogether.