Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Texas home shoot video

I was getting ready to post something when I saw that CHL and fburgtx posted some similar stuff. I will go ahead and throw this up anyway. My apologies for any redundancy.





Yes to rockinbbar's post.

I don’t know if the shooter will ever spend any time in jail, because theory and practical reality (burden of proof, community attitudes, prosecutorial discretion) are two different things. But, for the sake of discussing theory, what constitutes the crime of “illegal trespassing” in Texas within the context of this situation? This does not appear to be an attempted burglary or theft or anything like that. It is just an irate, verbal playground squabble at the point when the shooter tells dad to leave. Is presence outside someone’s residence without permission, or after implied or express permission is revoked, a felony or misdemeanor in Texas? (I am assuming that shooter had sufficient interest in the property to lawfully request dad to leave.) Does Texas law allow you to retrieve a firearm, hold it in your hand, swing it up in an aggressive manner (whether or not it actually swept dad), and command dad to leave under a strongly implied threat to use deadly force?

The real aggression by dad toward shooter did not begin until after shooter swung the rifle. Before that, all dad did was point his finger and threaten the issuance of subpoenas and litigation. He kept his distance from ex-wife with his arms visibly away from his body, and he did not get on the porch. (New wife was filming, most likely to document the situation for dad’s lawyer, so dad appears to have been trying to be careful with spacing although his voice sounded angry and he did point in an accusatory manner.) If the law does not allow the shooter to do what he did, shooter is the aggressor threatening the use of deadly force, and dad thereafter could have defended himself against the threat of deadly force by being very aggressive in return. Again, I don’t know Texas law, but an aggressor generally cannot claim self-defense unless he disengages from the conflict in such a manner as to convey to the other party that he no longer wants to engage in such behavior. Here, as soon as the parties separated, the shooter fired, which strongly negates any intention to call a time out.

In the end, a life was lost. Some children lost their father because dad and ex’s boyfriend worried more about their egos than the kids.

It will be interesting to see how this thing turns out, although I don’t have a dog in the hunt.