Hardly Seems Fair

George Grier faced a gang of men outside his Uniondale, Long Island (New York) home on Sunday night. He thought they were members of the MS-13 gang and that they were about to invade his home. He ran inside his home and returned with his legally owned AK-47.

The men started shouting at him and another 20 more thugs arrived. Mr. Grier then fired 4 shots into the grass in front of his house to disperse the crowd. He felt that doing so would bring the police as his town has the "ShotSpotter" technology. After the police arrived and the crowd dispersed, Mr. Grier was arrested and charged with felony reckless endangerment by the Nassau County Police.



From WCBS New York:

You may think a person has the right to defend their home. But the law says you can only use physical force to deter physical force. Grier said he never saw anyone pull out a gun, so a court would have to decide on firing the gun.

Police determined Grier had the gun legally. He has no criminal record. And so he was not charged for the weapon.

In looking at what he did, I think his first mistake was being outside in the driveway. He was without cover. If he had been inside of his house, he would have had more protection and been able to call the police without being assaulted. If the gang had forcibly entered his home, then it would have been a home invasion and he would have been legally justified in using force. Not that I don't think he was justified in what he did but legal justification is different that just being "justified."

Given the violent and vindictive nature of Latin gangs such as MS-13, it is probably just as well that Mr. Grier didn't shoot any of them.

Despite it being in New York, the comments on this story are running heavily in his favor.