I find this funny, myself. Always hire a security guard for your abandoned properties. And in the US, the police could toss them out. They're trespassing.

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That's fucking insane. In America(Texas most of all), I would have shot them, as in Texas(where I lived for three years) you can shoot some one on your property as long as you feel threatened and you didn't do it in their back(you can shoot them in the legs to make them turn around), and there is a blood trail leading back to your property.

That's not even close to true. You can shoot someone if you are threatened, which means they have a weapon in their hands or are advancing towards you or something like that. You can't go in with a gun to clear out squatters, and you can't shoot them just because they won't leave. The "shoot them in the back" thing is because it implies you show someone who was running away (which isn't allowed in self defense). And shooting someone in the legs is just a retarded decision in general...you're aiming at a tiny target that doesn't even do much to disable your attacker if they also have a firearm. If you are at the point where you need to fire a gun at someone, -always- aim at center mass (in other words, shoot to kill).

JRA wrote:

Shit like this is the reason why white Americans are stubborn about illegal immigrants. Their afraid they are gonna come home and shit like this is gonna happen.

...I'm sorry, what does race -or- immigration have to do with this at all?

Anthraxinsoup wrote:

In my county and from what my Representative said, it is legal to protect property or self.

It is, but that does not mean you can shoot anyone who comes onto your land.

You have the right to use deadly force to protect yourself or another person -only- if you are that person are threatened with deadly force. That's true everywhere. If someone attacks you with a knife, you can shoot them. If someone attacks a baby with a knife, you can shoot them.

You never have the right to use deadly force to protect property. If someone is breaking into you car, you can't shoot them. You can use force to stop them, and if they pull a weapon, you can then justify deadly force. But you can't pop someone for just theft.

What the "Castle Laws" (also called "Stand Your Ground laws") mean is that if someone breaks into your home and attacks you, you are not required to make an effort to get away first. You are allowed to respond with like force to defend yourself and others in the home (not your home itself). States without this law require you to first attempt to retreat, and then only use force if retreat is impossible. That's all this means...if you catch an unarmed burglar in your house, and you pop him one between the eyes, you damn straight you broke the law.

Texas, being batshit crazy about guns, of course has a stand your ground law. and here it is. Read it. Get educated. 30 other states have them, too, I think.

Doddsino wrote:

You trust your Representative? Remind me to never take up residence in London. How hard is it for law enforcement to go in there and clear it out? Aren't they in clear violation of law? Why does this have to go to court before anything else? From the pictures, it seems clear that they're just using the place to party and trash it up.

They're claiming they've taken up residence, so they're no longer trespassers, they're effectively "tenants". That means, they gotta get evicted. That means legal stuff.

Alowishus wrote:

This would all be well and good except i have a friend in law and for squatters rights to be applicable you have to live there was like 10-15 years. ...so irrespective if it had been unoccupied for 2 years, they have only lived in it a week.

I've heard England is very liberal about allowing squatters to live in vacant buildings, and they're claiming it was one of those. Again, always hire a guard to watch your mansions.

I'm not sure which of my points you're replying to, GP. I'm also not sure what point you're trying to make.

You do have the right to defend your stuff. You do not have the right to -kill- to defend your stuff. You -do- have to right to kill someone in defense if they're about to kill you. And you have the right to arrest someone you catch in the commission of a crime.

However, as a general rule, we have the police to apprehend people, and the courts to judge and punish them. Any time there's a threat, the police should get involved immediately. It takes seconds to call 911. You don't even need to stay on the phone, trust me, you pick up the dial and press 9-1-1 and just leave it off the hook to go confront the guy, they WILL show up and will probably do so pretty quickly.

In a life or death situation, you do what you gotta do. But nobody deserves to be executed for the crime of simply being someplace he doesn't belong.