NY man jailed for defending home with AK47 from gang members

[mfcorey1]

A homeowner who grabbed a rifle from his house and fired warning shots in a confrontation with a group of men on his lawn faces criminal charges, but his family said he was defending his home from a threatening mass of strangers.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local-beat/LI-Homeowner-Arrested-for-Defending-Home-with-AK-47.html

[derby378]

1. George can be my neighbor anytime

Hope he weathers this legal storm.

[RSillsbee]

9. I'm confused

To me the word “gang” has very specific connotations I see that a mob assembled on Mr. Griers’s lawn but I don’t see that a gang assembled on his lawn.

Why didn’t he just stay inside and call the police?

[Fumesucker]

2. IBTM

[TK421]

3. I suppose he should have broken out the grill and brats!

[closeupready]

4. If I were on the jury, Grier would be found not guilty.

n/t

[slackmaster]

5. Warning shots are never appropriate

You don't discharge a firearm unless you really need to stop a threat, in which case you aim for center of mass and keep firing until the threat is stopped.

The homeowner handled the situation very poorly.

[Poll_Blind]

6. The concept of the "warning shot" is outdated. Warning shots should never be fired.

If you have to defend yourself from extreme injury or death, you fire the gun at the attacker. Anything else is absolutely inappropriate and unnecessarily dangerous to innocents around you. A gun in a situation like this is the Last Resort. Not to be used as a noise maker. Every time a gun is fired those little bits of copper-jacketed lead go whizzing someplace and not aiming them at real targets is extremely dangerous and irresponsible.

None of this is meant to reflect lightly on his attackers who...I have no idea what that was about but it sounds like some sort of lynch he averted.

PB

[Bonhomme Richard]

7. Thought that they were gang members, more importantly.....

he should have gone in the house, with his rifle, and waited for police. If the "gang members" tried to get in then he would have my blessing to fire away. If I believed I was in danger I would not go out on my lawn with my pistol and make a stand there. Dumb, dumb. First of all he would have zero cover and what if a lot of them were armed. He would end up dead. Bad tactical move.

[WingDinger]

8. If he really thought they were a big gang, then he is REALLY STUPID

His grandstanding would make him a hazing target for the gang. Or an innocent citizen.

My grandfather was shot, kicked against a brick wall, stabbed multiple times, right in front of my grandmother. Why? Because a crossing guard reported the story of a raped little girl. They didnt want to get in trouble, so they found the first white person to kill. Used underaged killers. Made it a hazing.

NEVER telegraph your punch. EVER. If this idiot really acted against them, he would require protective custody, if not a new persona. STUPID STUPID STUPID.