O Canada...

[WillBrink]

Cliffs:

4 men in masks fire bomb his house

He gives warning shots at them and they run off

Police arrive, he's taken into custody and his guns and ammunition seized and impounded

He's acquitted of major charges.

People are trying to set your home on fire with you in it, and you give warning shots, and you're arrested. I don't even...

At least this event may set a positive legal precedent for Canada, but WTF???!

PS, his choice of firearm seems very odd to me. :cool:

Man acquitted of charges in home attack hopes self defence precedent bolstered

OTTAWA - An Ontario man who says he has been cleared of charges stemming from an attack on his home says he is proud of the precedent the case sets with regards to Canadians’ right to armed self defence.

Ian Thomson says a judge in Welland acquitted him on Thursday of firearms-related charges in connection from a 2010 incident in which he fired three warning shots at a group of men who set his Ontario home ablaze with firebombs.

Some experts say the ruling by Justice Tory Colvin could have wide-ranging implications for self defence law in Canada.

Thomson described the two-and-a-half-year legal battle as a “horrible ordeal.”

“I firmly believe they wanted to make an example of me, and to put the fear into every Canadian firearm owner that you are not allowed to defend yourself with a firearm,” he said.

In August 2010, 54-year-old Thomson was sleeping in his Port Colborne, Ont., home when he awoke to the sound of Molotov cocktails exploding. Looking outside he saw part of his house and his porch ablaze, and four masked men outside. A former firearms instructor, he quickly unlocked his gun safe, loaded a .36 calibre revolver and stepped outside.

Thomson fired three warning shots, which caused the men to flee, before dousing the flames with a garden hose and calling 911.

When police arrived he was taken into custody, and his collection of firearms – assorted handguns worth over $10,000 – and ammunition were seized and impounded.

Cont:

http://news.yahoo.com/man-acquitted-charges-home-attack-hopes-self-defence-100701815.html

[Texas42]

Some people are just so wrong in the way they think that they just can't be fixed.

[WillBrink]

Some people are just so wrong in the way they think that they just can't be fixed.

Your forum handle and location made your response most predictable! :p

Just messin' with you :cool:

[Safetyhit]

Same thing can happen in states like mine. Use the gun in self defense in any way whatsoever outside the home or to shoot at/over someone outside the home and you're going through the system no matter what.

They must be inside and life threatening to legally shoot here.

[Whiskey_Bravo]

I am not sure what it would take for me to move to New Jersey, but I haven't been able to think of it yet.

[ralph]

Some people are just so wrong in the way they think that they just can't be fixed.

I believe that's called Mental Illness..I honestly think socialism is a form of that..

[WillBrink]

The "warning" shots got me to thinking:

Do you think his choice to fire warning shots - vs placed shots into the people attempting to set him and his home on fire - was part of the justification to arrest him?

Considering the severity of the situation, would he have had an easier time justifying his actions of aiming for the perps vs warning shots?

I don't know how Canadian law works in such a situation, but it's an interesting line of discussion.

[mildot]

It was an excellent outcome for Ian, however it basically bankrupted him.

That said, pointing a firearm at somebody is a criminal offence in Canada, and with no "castle doctrine" type law, it has it's consequences.
Here you must prove DGBH (death or grievous bodily harm) to justify the use of deadly force, whether your a civy or LE.

In Ian's case the crown went after the storage of the pistol and ammo at the bedside.They believed that the ammo was stored along with the pistol(in the bedside table), in Canada the firearm and ammo must be stored separately.They can be stored together in a vault, however the magazine cannot be kept in the pistol, that's an offence as well.

Overall a sad day when you cant't defend your home, but at least justice was done, however at what personal cost to Ian.

The police want you to "run away" or stand by and be robbed? since they believe there only ones who should have firearms. Go figure.
The "nanny state" mentality prevails.

[3 AE]

It just amazes me that a beautiful country with a great legacy, populated with wonderful people, has a government made up of total ****tards. England is another one, and the USA is rushing towards the same Tier 2 status.

I think what happens is that certain people that have their own agenda enter government service and over time raise to a position that enable them to hire like minded people. They in turn raise to a position to hire more like minded people, and so on. After a generation or two the bureaucracy has evolved into a one track mindset on how the world should operate. We are wrong and they are always right. They become so entrenched that it's almost impossible to correct. You cannot sway them with facts or logic. They have become fanatics in their quest to make their world perfect, they seek Utopia and will allow nothing to get in their way. There are very few solutions when it comes to dealing with fanatics.

[WillBrink]

It just amazes me that a beautiful country with a great legacy, populated with wonderful people, has a government made up of total ****tards. England is another one, and the USA is rushing towards the same Tier 2 status.

I think what happens is that certain people that have their own agenda enter government service and over time raise to a position that enable them to hire like minded people. They in turn raise to a position to hire more like minded people, and so on. After a generation or two the bureaucracy has evolved into a one track mindset on how the world should operate. We are wrong and they are always right. They become so entrenched that it's almost impossible to correct. You cannot sway them with facts or logic. They have become fanatics in their quest to make their world perfect, they seek Utopia and will allow nothing to get in their way. There are very few solutions when it comes to dealing with fanatics.

The worst type of fanatics are those who are doing it for "your own good"

[Skyyr]

The worst type of fanatics are those who are doing it for "your own good"

"Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

- C.S. Lewis

[MountainRaven]

"Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

- C.S. Lewis

What was it Dante said about good intentions?