Pretty good clarification of the Texas law. I work a lot in Texas and according to this some of the Texans I know are a little fuzzy on the law.

https://www.everythinglubbock.com/n...oot-your-rights-to-use-deadly-force-in-texas/

If in doubt, salute. If in sight, shoot? Used to be the school of thought. You have rights, but it pretty much is outweighed by the perps rights. Better to be schooled the right way because there are lawyers who love putting new feathers in their hats. Stay vigilant.

MauserLarry said:

Pretty good clarification of the Texas law. I work a lot in Texas and according to this some of the Texans I know are a little fuzzy on the law.
https://www.everythinglubbock.com/n...oot-your-rights-to-use-deadly-force-in-texas/

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There's a few problems with the Linked info. The Professor and the Firearms Instructor are providing "their" slanted (not fuzzy) opinions which don't match what is in the Texax Penal Code. If you use the Articles Link to read the pertinent sections: it dumps a PDF file of 432 pages to dig through without somuch as a Title or Number. Collectively, it only discourages a person's lawful conduct rather than educate them. IMHO

No ding on MauserLarry, I had recently read the specific Texas Penal Codes and digested the Link with that fresh knowledge.

wildrider666 said:

There's a few problems with the Linked info. The Professor and the Firearms Instructor are providing "their" slanted (not fuzzy) opinions which don't match what is in the Texax Penal Code. If you use the Articles Link to read the pertinent sections: it dumps a PDF file of 432 pages to dig through without somuch as a Title or Number. Collectively, it only discourages a person's lawful conduct rather than educate them. IMHO

No ding on MauserLarry, I had recently read the specific Texas Penal Codes and digested the Link with that fresh knowledge.

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Well said and rational thought!!!

wildrider666 said:

I think there is some confusion: Texas Penal Code 9.41 & 9.42 justifies use of deadly force including trespass for property crimes at night. Sundowner Laws/policy/intimidation targeted racial, ethnic or religion. Blacks, Chinese and Jews are among those targeted.

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This is true. In general the semantic term "sundowner" implies racist laws, including "Jim Crow". In practice as laymen in Texas the colloquial "Sundown Law" is typically specifically related to the use of force to protect property between dusk and dawn. I am from here but lived in Houston for 25 years. Read many stories...one a wrecker driver had repo'ed a car and was literally driving down the road about 700 yards and the homeowner shot and killed him...he was not charged. it is as stated a staunch deterrent...don't go messing around folks property at night in Texas; very high probability you will get shot. The fellow stating something about walking down the road and get shot obviously did not read my post. It requires another act, not just accidentally walking across someone's property at night. But if such person attempts to damage, steal, threaten, or a plethora of other justified reasons, the Texas Courts have held strongly to the landowners in these cases. The wrecker case was a mistaken address/vehicle. If one wants to think i am inaccurate somehow I just highly suggest they don't testit! I do agree, force only in proportion or as justified, not a first option. it's just the way it is there. Thanks for the spot on Penal Codes, the law is clear on this. We need similar rights in Florida as a stronger deterrent. If there is a high likelihood one shall be shot while trespassing; well, they probably won't risk it!There literally is not much a landowner can do unless the trespasser is armed here...

A word of caution and of course this is coming from someone that is not a lawyer or knows anything about texas.
This is coming from what I have heard from lawyers and others -CASE LAW
The caution is reading and understanding the written text of a law may not be the entire story. There is what is case law that is a way in which judges modify laws with opinions or decisions that they make. In Florida that has been used to pervert the law.

Regardless of the law
What will work most of the time is shooting solely in self defense and having done everything before hand from having gotten into the confrontation. Obey the S's Not doing stupid things, in stupid places, with stupid people, and at stupid times.

A homeless person that has trespassed to steal pears from me can not be shot just for that. By the way stealing fruit in Florida is serious crime and can be a felony. Now if my dog spots him that is another story, especially if I have the area fenced with the right signage. If he brings a weapon to deal with the dog then the dynamic changes. He is an armed trespasser and in some circumstances could reasonably present a threat to me; but not if he is running for the fence and he gets shot in the back.
It really depends a lot on what the prosecutor wants to do also. I know of stories in Pensacola where the shooting was legally bad, but everyone let it go. Depends a lot on who gets killed and also what the press wants to make of it.

LowRiderRed said:

I have long wondered what the solution is for our homeless population. I really wish I was smart enough to come up with a great idea, it's really sad.

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Sorry to say, we're wasting our time trying to deal with it. It will never end because, nobody is ever going to even raise the subject of population control. Truth is, there's simply too many people on this planet. Like any other animal, when faced with extinction, they reproduce. Then, they want to migrate to our country. Maybe, this short video will put it in a little bit better perspective. https://youtu.be/LPjzfGChGlE

General Snafu said:

Sorry to say, we're wasting our time trying to deal with it. It will never end because, nobody is ever going to even raise the subject of population control. Truth is, there's simply too many people on this planet. Like any other animal, when faced with extinction, they reproduce. Then, they want to migrate to our country. Maybe, this short video will put it in a little bit better perspective. https://youtu.be/LPjzfGChGlE

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No matter what your population is there will be people that can not function well in society. There have always been homeless people in the USA. Shanty towns are nothing new. Now at certain times like with the dust bowl you have normal families that were uprooted and homeless. They were more like refugees.
Those were hard times if you ever hear any of the stories from those days.
During the housing crisis at the end of the Bush Jr Regime we almost ended up back there. Obama carried the plan for that government buy back debt that was apparently formulated in the last days of the bush whitehouse. We were close to disaster then. I do not like Obama,, but say how i believe it happened.
Homeless Dust Bowl Refugees likely the 1930's

General Snafu said:

Sorry to say, we're wasting our time trying to deal with it. It will never end because, nobody is ever going to even raise the subject of population control. Truth is, there's simply too many people on this planet. Like any other animal, when faced with extinction, they reproduce. Then, they want to migrate to our country. Maybe, this short video will put it in a little bit better perspective. https://youtu.be/LPjzfGChGlE

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I understand what you're saying, but I don't think I've heard anyone say that over population is a contributing factor to homelessness, especially in NW Florida. We are not faced with extinction, and I don't understand what migration has to do with this. I'll pass on the short video if that's the direction it leads.

wildrider666 said:

There's a few problems with the Linked info. The Professor and the Firearms Instructor are providing "their" slanted (not fuzzy) opinions which don't match what is in the Texax Penal Code. If you use the Articles Link to read the pertinent sections: it dumps a PDF file of 432 pages to dig through without somuch as a Title or Number. Collectively, it only discourages a person's lawful conduct rather than educate them. IMHO

No ding on MauserLarry, I had recently read the specific Texas Penal Codes and digested the Link with that fresh knowledge.

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Hey Wildrider-I never have a problem on being corrected if I have some bad info. Your stuff is always well researched and I respect that. To be truthful I'm too lazy to read 432 pages and the article I linked to seemed to agree with what I hear them talk about over there. Although a lot of them do seem to get it a little confused. I had one tell me "Dammit I can kill somebody here in Texas for rattling my mailbox at night." I made a mental note-no going around rattling mailboxes at night. I also had a landowner threaten me with a rifle if I crossed his property line. I had a staked ROW across his place but he decided he wasn't paid enough money and wouldn't let me cross. I saw no need to be a test case for who's right and who's wrong. It seems clear to me that not many people seem to really know their local gun laws so I think I'm going to get better knowledge of our laws here in Florida. The ass I keep out of jail may be mine!

Someone I know in MS has a neighbor he says will shoot anyone crossing his property and he thinks it is ok with the sheriff.

Big Shrek said:

Used to be ECSO would pick up non-local vagrants and take 'em to the State Line & drop 'em off, with a "Don't come back!" That policy was just fine with me. The locals would get local help. The few that were unrepentant druggies or drunks ended up in the nuthouse or died of natural causes (like walking onto Davis Hwy drunk during rush hour).

Santa Rosa just needs to nut up and take 'em to the state line. Brewton is nice this time of year

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Didn’t they make a movie with that theme.....back in the 80’s called “Rambo....?” Just sayin’

Ric-san said:

Didn’t they make a movie with that theme.....back in the 80’s called “Rambo....?” Just sayin’

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Yes they did and some of these people are military veterans. In past years enlistments in countries were 25 years because they did not want unemployed service men roaming around. The romans after 25 years usually gave them land in some conquered province.

But as I was saying earlier in the OP you do not want people without a fixed abode loose on the streets or the woods.

Right,that's why we gotta keep them from crossing the border. --- SAWMAN

LowRiderRed said:

I understand what you're saying, but I don't think I've heard anyone say that over population is a contributing factor to homelessness, especially in NW Florida. We are not faced with extinction, and I don't understand what migration has to do with this. I'll pass on the short video if that's the direction it leads.

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Maybe you hadn't heard it said, so I'll say it: over-population is a contributing factor to homelessness. Not the main one, but it's part of it.

Too many people breeding in an area that can't sustain it, so what happens? Since they're human, modern societies will generally exhaust resources to try to help them. A society without the resources and social construct will fall behind the rate of births overcoming deaths. Population rises; problem gets worse locally. These unsustainable population numbers begin to naturally try to spill over their borders into other areas with better resources: more physical room, healthcare, jobs, lower crime, etc. The new area will attempt the same response: help the humans in need.

"Overpopulation" is only an accurate description when the available resources are less than what the environment can provide. My property isn't overpopulated with humans. Other parts of this Country and this planet most definitely are.

Available resources include jobs and homes, so the more people you flood into an area (not moving there on purpose for a job), the higher the chances that the "homeless" numbers will rise.

Sure, NW FL doesn't look like take-your-pick of sanctuary cities, YET, but the connection is real.

The video is short. It's merely a demonstration of how flawed/ridiculous is the arguement that increasing immigration into the US will somehow help the "needy"/"poor" of the world.

The solutions need to be applied where the problem actually IS, not where the consequences want to spread.

You don't treat a severe laceration by wiping up the blood. You close the wound.
You don't treat a burst water pipe with a mop and bucket. You fix the pipe.
Both of those examples are easier to accomplish when the flow is restricted (apply pressure to reduce blood flow while you address the wound, and shutoff the main water while you work on the pipe). Immigration is the same.

WHY are they immigrating? The cause must be fixed in Their country; meanwhile, restrict the flow to ours.

Again: immigration is not the "main" cause of homelessness in the US, but it is a contributing factor. For NW FL, I have no idea who the homeless people are that Pensacola moved to Santa Rosa County.
I do know that if we were unlucky enough to be one of the "destination cities" for the waves of illegal immigrants being set loose by a broken immigration system at the border, we would most Definitely have an increase in urban campers. Not even a doubt. It's already happening in other towns.

Isn't a "Housing shortage" a sign of area overpopulation verses available housing resources?
Isn't a "affordable housing shortage" a sign of lower income overpopulation verses available and affordable housing resources?

How about water rationing? What about road congestion? School overcrowding? All signs of population exceeding resources even though there are continuous planning and projects to counter these problems.

FrommerStop said:

Someone I know in MS has a neighbor he says will shoot anyone crossing his property and he thinks it is ok with the sheriff.

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I'm from Mississippi and if he's from the right family and has money......he may be right!

As former LEO and loyal student of crime stats I was always intrigued by the fact Escambia has Hillsborough level crime with a quarter to a third of the population. ECSO deputies will tell you it’s the second most dangerous county in the state. Certainly statistically a lot safer in Santa Rosa. Always reminded me of Hispaniola with Haiti on one side and DR on the other. First noticed the homeless start to creep over into Santa Rosa a-few months back when I saw several in the Walmart parking lot with two panhandling with signs as well as a well dressed entire family panhandling with signs. The wife laughed and said we should tell them they’re doing it wrong and they need to dress down and look dirtier if they expect to get any money since their clothes, phones, and kids stroller were all nicer than ours. Wednesday on my way home from work I saw one sleeping it off at the front door of Wallace Baptist. Previously I had observed this same individual stumbling and staggering around the Tom Thumb at woodbine/alt 90 with no shirt or shoes while having a long screaming match at the wall. It’s gonna be interesting. When we lived in Panama City there was a lot of tension between those in favor of the shelter, who usually lived far from it, and those of us who lived closer to it.

Right now the weather is warm, what will happen in late Jan and feb when we start getting temps below freezing or just cold rains with temp in the 50's they will have to scramble for shelter maybe die from exposure.
Santa Rosa is big on churches. Maybe the churches might get involved, but I am doubtful. I am mostly worried about a billy boyette type ending up here.

authorities say Boyette, 44, and Rice, 38, have managed to elude capture by staying "very mobile." They're believed to have camped in wooded areas; two photos circulated by police show the pair walking in woods with supplies and an apparent handgun, reports WKRG. "What we are experiencing is a running nightmare, quite honestly," a police rep says, noting all victims apart from Greer appear to have been selected at random

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Just saw a News tickler as of Jan/19: San Fran has a Dept of Homelessness: had 8,000 homeless, 1200 waiting for Shelter space and evidence of another 600 living in vehicles. LA County reports 68,000 homeless!

Haven't heard much lately on the Feds Immigrant Bussing Program that dumps off a few bus loads (normally without notice) into different areas of the Country creating local burdens and problems.