I believe that when we are attacked in our own homes you have the right to use deadly force if needed to protect yourself or a loved one. The reason for this is because you never know what the intruder’s intentions are whether it is to steal or to cause harm. Also retreating to your own home may put you at risk. For example, let’s say an intruder broke into your home and you decide to hide in your closet you are potentially leaving yourself in greater danger because you’re not able to contact help from your location and if discovered by the intruder you’ll be in a disadvantage to react because of the limited space you’re in. Also if we didn’t have the choice to use deadly force you could set yourself for future attacks. As we learned in class those that have been victimized are most likely to be victimized again. This is what happened with Byron Smith his house had been the target for repeated robberies maybe because it went around that his house was unprotected. Byron Smith had the right to use some type force to stop the victimization however, in his case he killed the intruders when it was clear they did not provide a threat after the first shot.
2. Secondly, reflect on Stand Your Ground laws: essentially, allowing individuals to use deadly force in self-defense when there is a
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The state of Minnesota has laws that state you should retreat first instead of using deadly force and the only exemption to those laws is if you were cornered or pinned down and facing serious harm or death, then you would be authorized to use deadly force in self-defense. In the case of Byron Smith he was not legally within Minnesota’s stand your ground law because the teens that broke into his house did not corner or pinned him down and were not about to cause serious or deadly harm to him. In fact the law states he should have retreated first and avoid the use of any deadly force if possible and in this case that was