Pistol-Tottin’ Grandma Forced Burglar to Call 911

I’m not familiar with Penn laws, but in a lot of places it’s illegal to do that, even if you catch the burglar redhanded. It’s considered wrongful imprisonment unless you’re an officer of the law. At the least he can bring suit in a civil court for emotional duress, since she held him at gunpoint.

At least she didn’t take a shotgun and just shoot him in the back.

Nicholas Dollak -

Well, good for you for supporting deadly weapons in the hands of private citizens. But that doesn’t change the law. If her finger had slipped on the trigger, she could have killed him, and been put in prison herself for murder. Since she’s very elderly, the burglar could have taken the gun away from her and killed her with her own gun, and gotten away since she didn’t immediately call the police. This lady did not do the right thing.

I agree with Nicholas Dollak, the granny did a good job remaining level-headed and handled the situation well. Emotional duress? Hello! He broke in! Who caused who emotional duress in the first place?

She wouldn’t have gone to prison for murder. There is no U.S. court that would convict her.

Furthermore, haven’t you ever heard of a citizen’s arrest? I may not want a gun in my house and I never plan on owning one. But that woman did EXACTLY the right thing in that situation. She did not discharge her weapon. She kept a level head and she was smart about it. Just because I don’t feel comfortable holding a firearm does not mean I should strip away the rights of others to LEGALLY procure and own one. She owned a small handgun, not a semi-automatic (which I do have issues with private citizens owning, but that’s a whole different debate.)

Bean – you’re being very closeminded. Get over yourself.

Each state with the exception of North Carolina permits citizen arrests if the commission of felony is witnessed by the arresting citizen, or when a citizen is asked to assist in the apprehension of a suspect by police. The application of state laws varies widely with respect to misdemeanors, breaches of the peace, and felonies not witnessed by the arresting party. American citizens do not carry the authority or enjoy the legal protections of police, and are held to the principle of strict liability before the courts of civil- and criminal law including but not limited to any infringement of another’s rights.[24]

Though North Carolina General Statutes have no provision for citizen’s arrests, detention by private persons is permitted and apply to both civilians and police officers outside their jurisdiction.[25]

Detention, being different from an arrest in the fact that a detainee may not be transported without consent, is permitted where probable cause exists that one has committed a felony, breach of peace, physical injury to another person, or theft or destruction of property.[26]