It's never wise to go into a gunfight over your property. Insurance can replace property. In a gunfight you risk your life and your loved ones, you risk losing your job, incarceration, legal costs, and possibly all of your possessions in a civil trial. Here are some of the Penal Code sections that discuss these matters.

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Gun Owner Responsibilities

Liability for, injury to, or death of any person, or damage to any property which may result through any act or omission.

Not be impaired by  alcoholic beverage

Not be under the influence of any medication or drug, whether prescribed or not.

Not be drowsy or sleep impaired

Justifiable Homicide, Sufficiency of Fear (PC198) – Limitation of Self-defense of Property Rule.  A bare fear of the commission of any of the offenses mentioned in subdivisions 2 and 3 of PC197, to prevent which homicide may be lawfully committed, is not sufficient to justify it. But the circumstances must be sufficient to excite the fears of a reasonable person, and the party killing must have acted under the influence of such fears alone.

Justifiable and Excusable Homicide, Discharge of Defendant (PC199) – The homicide appearing to be justifiable or excusable, the person indicted must, upon his trial, be fully acquitted and discharged.

Remember, you might be acquitted of criminal charges, but many times civil charges can cost you a high financial penalty.

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Storage of Firearms Accessible to Children (PC12035) – “Child” means a person under the age of 16 years.

Criminal storage of a firearm of the first degree – keep a loaded firearm within any premise which is under your custody or control and you know or reasonably should know that a child is likely to gain access to the firearm without the permission of the child parent or legal guardian and the child obtains access to the firearm and thereby causes death or great bodily injury to himself, herself, or any other person. Except as provided in subdivision C.

Criminal storage of a firearm of the second degree – keep a loaded firearm within any premise which is under your custody or control and you know or reasonably should know that a child is likely to gain access to the firearm without the permission of the child’s parent or legal guardian and the child obtains access to the firearm and thereby causes injury, other than great bodily injury, to himself/herself, or any other person, or carries the firearm to a public place  or in violation of Section 417. Except as provided in subdivision C.

Subdivision C – above shall not apply when 1) the child obtains the firearm as a result of an illegal entry to any premises by any person, 2) firearm is kept in a locked container or in a location that a reasonable person would believe to be secure, 3) firearm is carried on the person or within such a close proximity thereto so that the individual can readily retrieve and use the firearm as if carried on the person, 4) firearm is locked with a locking device that has rendered the firearm inoperable, 5) the person is a peace officer or a member of the armed forces or national guard and the child obtains the firearm during, or incidental to, the performance of the person’s duties, 6) the child obtains, or obtains and discharges, the firearm in a lawful act of self-defense or defense of another person, or persons, 7) the person who keeps a loaded firearm on any premise which is under his or her custody or control has no reasonable expectation, based on objective facts and circumstances, that a child is likely to be present on the premise.

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Firearms Accessed by Children and Carried Off-premises, PC12036

A person who keeps a firearm capable of being concealed upon the person, loaded or unloaded, within any premise that is under his or her custody or control and he or she knows or reasonably should know that a child is likely to gain access to that firearm without permission of the child’s parent or legal guardian and the child obtains access to that firearm and thereafter caries that firearm off-premises, shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or by both that imprisonment and fine.

A firearm capable of being concealed upon the person that a child gains access to and carries off-premises in violation of this Section shall be deemed “used in the commission of any misdemeanor as provided in this code or any felony” regarding the authority to confiscate firearms and other deadly weapons as a nuisance.

Drawing, exhibiting, or using any deadly weapon other than a firearm (PC 417(a)(1 and 2)

Drawing or exhibiting, selling, manufacturing, or distributing firearm replicas or imitations (PC 417.2)

Inflicting serious bodily injury as a result of brandishing (PC 417.6)

Bringing into or possessing firearms upon or within public schools and grounds (PC 626.9)

Stalking (PC 646.9)

Armed criminal action (PC 12023)

Possessing a deadly weapon with intent to commit an assault (PC 12024)

Driver of any vehicle who knowingly permits another person to discharge a firearm from the vehicle or any person who willfully and maliciously discharges a firearm from a motor vehicle (PC 12034(b), 12034(d).

Criminal possession of a firearm (PC 12040)

Various violations involving sales and transfers of firearms (PC 12072(g)(3))

Unauthorized possession/transportation of a machine gun (PC 12220)

Possession of ammunition designed to penetrate metal or armor (PC 12320)

Federal Gun Control Act, Title 18 U.S.C. Chapter 44

Pursuant to Section 922, any person listed below is prohibited from possessing, shipping, transporting, or receiving any firearm, who:

Has been convicted in any court of a crime punishable for a term exceeding one year

Is a fugitive from justice

Is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance

Has been adjudicated as a mental defective or committed to a mental institution

Is an illegally or unlawfully in the United States

Has been discharged from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions

Having been a citizen of the United States, has renounced U.S. Citizenship

Is subject to a court order that restrains the person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner or child of such intimate partner

Has been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence

Is under indictment for a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year

Has an out-of state prohibitive criminal history

Crime Reports: http://crimereports.com

Riverside County Sheriff’s Department: http://www.riversidesheriff.org

Riverside County District Attorney: http://www.rivcoda.org

California Penal Code:  http://www.leginfo.ca.gov

US Title 18: http://uscode.house.gov/download/title_18.shtml

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Bumper Sticker: Actually, Guns do kill people.

That’s the purpose of a firearm. It’s used by professionals in law enforcement and the military to stop assailants. Two quick shots to the thoracic cavity can result in death.  But many other objects can cause death: Automobiles, airplanes, power tools, fire, electricity, hurricanes, earthquakes, disease, eating habits, pills, drugs, alcohol.

Responsible firearm operation requires education, training, thinking thru what you would do, understanding the consequences of an error in judgement. Then, you must ingrain in your thinking and action the necessary speed to win the gun fight. “Adequetly” defending yourself takes time; getting your firearm can take several minutes or more and waiting for law enforcement can take 5 to 20 minutes depending on your location.

You risk everything and you don’t win anything. You just get to keep what you already have.

If it’s not worth killing for – it is not worth fighting for.

You may lose your business, your house, your savings and even your life.

There is nothing more valuable than your life and the lives of your loved ones.

If you have to think whether to shoot or not to shoot, you probably shouldn’t shoot.

So, before you pick up the weapon, you have to have resolved these issues and be prepared to act at a moments notice.

Can you hold in your space (room, your house) and wait for help? Can you retreat to a safer location (let them have the goods in the house)? Or, do you need to seek out the assailant in order to protect other family members in your house?