NH Man Arrested for Firing Gun into the Ground

[CarlosDJackal]

NH man arrested for firing gun into the ground while capturing robber

This is why we were taught not to fire any warning shots. IMHO, the man screwed up because he put others in danger from the possible ricochet.

However, I think it is bogus that he will be charged for a felony for something like this. I hope they just let him off with a warning. JM2CW.

[Irish]

I'm not a proponent of warning shots. However, anyone complicit in charging this man with a crime should be shot themselves. No one was harmed and it ended with the bad guy being put in jail.

[maximus83]

I just read about this independently and came over to M4c to post about it.

Setting aside the issue of warning shots, it's just infuriating that this guy, who has a totally clean record and a legally owned pistol, could be arrested under the circumstances. OK, so it's illegal to fire your pistol except in direct self-defense, but what about when (a) your house has been robbed, (b) the burglar obviously just robbed the neighbor's house and is exiting it, and (c) you don't want to let him run off with your stuff but you feel endangered. Something very like this happened in TX and the property owner was let go, under MUCH more extreme circumstances.

I too hope he gets off with a warning, even if he was "guilty" of violating some NH statute.

[ForTehNguyen]

funny, a guy here in Houston did the same thing with a .50 Desert Eagle when someone was getting robbed on his street and the cops didnt care. Havent seen any articles showing they were gonna charge him

[Irish]

funny, a guy here in Houston did the same thing with a .50 Desert Eagle when someone was getting robbed on his street and the cops didnt care. Havent seen any articles showing they were gonna charge him

I think this is the same story you're talking about with video: http://www.khou.com/news/Bellaire-ma...139325908.html

[maximus83]

Here's the TX case I was thinking of, it's where the guy saw the robbers exiting the neighbor's house, confronted them with a shotgun, and killed them even while he was on phone with 911. There are differences obviously from the OP's incident, but in PRINCIPLE, there are similarities because it was someone else's house, he didn't HAVE to confront the robbers but chose to, and when he felt threatened, he responded (with deadly force in this case, with only the threat of force in the OP's story).

Maybe the moral of this story is, if you want to shoot BG's and have a better chance of not going to jail, move to TX. I've been considering it anyway (for job reasons).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Hor...ng_controversy

[Abraxas]

I'm not a proponent of warning shots. However, anyone complicit in charging this man with a crime should be shot themselves. No one was harmed and it ended with the bad guy being put in jail.

Agreed

[ryr8828]

My wife fired a warning shot once and it surely kept me from having to put a .357 hollow point into the chest of a man advancing at me with a frog gig. I was glad I didn't have to kill him. I had asked him twice to drop it and he kept advancing on me with it and was getting in position to strike me with it even though I had my handgun aimed at him in full view.
I didn't even know she was packing.

[chadbag]

As a former NH resident, this story is embarrassing (and not because of the Gentleman's actions...)


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[DeltaSierra]

As a former NH resident, this story is embarrassing (and not because of the Gentleman's actions...)


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Are you familiar with the seacoast area of the state? It is, for all practical purposes, Northern Massachusetts in terms of political and police procedure.

This also shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that knows the NH laws on justified use of force.

I don't know whether or not this guy was justified in his actions, but I am not in the least bit surprised that he should be arrested and charged, considering the location, and general attitude in that part of the state.