I’m going to save you and everyone the time…there’s no way to determine who should do what because laws change from city to city, county to county, and state to state. Asking what is legal in your area may not be legal in mine or someone else’s. rather than ask random lawyers who might reside in different states, you SHOULD ask someone in your area instead. Call some lawyers and see what their thoughts are. far better than asking john doe who lives in a very gun friendly area that believes you should shoot first and ask questions later without penalty.
This is a great question and a wonderful scenario for discussion. Generally speaking and across many jurisdictions, you may use deadly force when you reasonably believe that you or an innocent party are in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm. Whether you choose to shoot or not should be based on your ability (or your belief in your ability) to articulate why you believed death was IMMINENT. An attorney might argue that a firebomb on your roof does not constitute an imminent threat because you have time to escape or fight the fire. And, as another commenter put it clearly… what is legal in Texas may not be legal in New Jersey. So you need to know about your duty to retreat and other elements of self-defense law where you live. I fear there will be no bright line answer to this question.
I would think if you were trapped in your house because of an angry mob outside, this would leave you with no place to escape too. So if they were to fire bomb your house isn’t that a deadly threat, no?
I finally found some 12ga rubber bullets, I think those would come into play as the threat escalated, switching out to defensive rounds if I had to escape a burning building and make a path through the mob.
Remington 870, 12ga magazine fed (makes it easy to switch between less-than-lethal and slugs.
We have a law in AZ that covers this. We are fortunate to have a very active AZ Citizens Defense League that lobbies for pro gun/self defense laws and agains gun control laws:
13-411. Justification; use of force in crime prevention; applicability
A. A person is justified in threatening or using both physical force and deadly physical force against another if and to the extent the person reasonably believes that physical force or deadly physical force is immediately necessary to prevent the other’s commission of arson of an occupied structure under section 13-1704, burglary in the second or first degree under section 13-1507 or 13-1508, kidnapping under section 13-1304, manslaughter under section 13-1103, second or first degree murder under section 13-1104 or 13-1105, sexual conduct with a minor under section 13-1405, sexual assault under section 13-1406, child molestation under section 13-1410, armed robbery under section 13-1904 or aggravated assault under section 13-1204, subsection A, paragraphs 1 and 2.
B. There is no duty to retreat before threatening or using physical force or deadly physical force justified by subsection A of this section.
C. A person is presumed to be acting reasonably for the purposes of this section if the person is acting to prevent what the person reasonably believes is the imminent or actual commission of any of the offenses listed in subsection A of this section.
D. This section includes the use or threatened use of physical force or deadly physical force in a person’s home, residence, place of business, land the person owns or leases, conveyance of any kind, or any other place in this state where a person has a right to be.
while I like your reply… the question I am asking is… this is happening around a populated neighborhood of homes where one house being set ablaze… and given the closeness of homes now… could result in the entire neighborhood going up in flames… so you could lose everything even if the firebombing happens several blocks from your home…NOT somewhere in the city around a business district… perhaps I should have been more clear…
IMHO anyone lighting a firebomb in such a neighborhood is a murderer… or is attempting to murder innocent people in their homes… peoples homes and lives are at stake… further if they burn down your home… and the weather goes south… and you have people in your family that suffer from health issues… then there is the possibility of a slow murder as a result of firebombing…
in business district… entirely different thing… peoples lives and homes are not at stake…
Where I live each of us has a 1 acre lot so the homes are spaced out, but, it is rural with sage brush which accompanied by wind is very dangerous when adding a person bent on fire bombing a home.
I see your point and agree that it could be a threat to my family and I and my neighbors, confronting an individual myself could make them start a fire that could spread to other homes as well as my own.
The Sheriff would still be my first call, I would have to make the decision if it was an immediate threat.
