É«É«À²

And if I can’t get to the shotgun and the cartridges under the circumstances, I’ve got a baseball bat close to hand.

Whether standing my ground results in a criminal charge against me, well, that’s a problem for a later day. In split-second moments, judicial consequences are less urgent than immediately nullifying the menace.

That’s coming from someone whose home has been broken into — door kicked in — on three occasions already, when I wasn’t there. The last time they even took the patio furniture. I can live with robbery, I can live with stolen property, but not a violent intruder possibly armed.

Unlike the United States, Canadian law doesn’t ascribe to the “castle doctrine’’ that allows residents, under broad circumstances (varying from state to state) to use deadly force against a home intruder. We’ve got castle doctrine lite and, for all its specifics — a range of caveats under the rubric of “reasonableness,’’ 11 factors that include “size, age, gender and physical capabilities’’ of both parties — it’s essentially a subjective decision by cops and prosecutors.

But even in this country, juries are extremely unwilling to convict an accused charged with killing or severely wounding an intruder where the defendant legitimately believed that person had a violent intent. Which is why appeal courts have done the dirty instead, invalidating acquittals by a jury or trial judge by applying a narrow interpretation of reasonableness that lands squarely on the side of the violator.

In one particularly notorious case in 2019, the intruder even had the gall to sue a homeowner for $100,000, claiming he’d suffered pain and post traumatic-stress disorder after being shot by a homeowner in Calgary.

While overall crime in just about every category is trending downwards in Ontario this year, violent break-ins and home invasions with a weapon have spiked in É«É«À², Peel, Durham and Halton. It doesn’t feel safe because it isn’t safe.

Public outrage hasn’t abated over a Lindsay man charged last month with aggravated assault and assault with a weapon after an intruder armed with a crossbow broke into his apartment. The charge sheet against Jeremy McDonald alleges he turned a knife on the suspect during the altercation and the “victim’’ suffered “serious life-threatening injuries.’’

Beleaguered Kawartha Lakes police Chief Kirk Robertson defended laying the charges, noting critics aren’t yet fully aware of the details surrounding that incident because police haven’t disclosed them. “The law requires that any defensive action be proportionate to the threat faced,’’ Kirk said in a released statement.

In June, an Oakville family awoke to loud banging and glass shattering in the middle of the night. It was the second break-in at the home in less than a month. The residents jumped out of bed and rushed forward, carrying baseball bats they’d kept on hand following the first incident. They found five people dressed in all black knocking things over. “We went to scare them off — and that’s when a shot fired off,’’ the homeowner told Global News. “It hit the wall thankfully, no one got shot, but at that point in the chaos (another member of the household) ran out, fire extinguisher in hand, spraying it all around and I think in that chaos they got scared and started to run.’’

That is precisely what cops don’t want homeowners to do.

York Regional Police Chief Jim MacSween stressed that admonition in a press conference on Wednesday, called to provide updates on three investigations, including the horrific home invasion in the early hours last Sunday of a Vaughan home that police say had been targeted for robbery of valuables. There were four children in the house, aged four to 17; the youngest had a gun pointed at her head. All of them were witness to their father, 46-year-old Abdul Aleem Farooqi, being shot and killed by the masked assailants.

It’s still unclear why Farooqi, a widely respected and beloved local businessman, was shot.

“In the unlikely event that you find yourself the victim of a home invasion, we are urging citizens not to take matters into their own hands,’’ said MacSween. “While we don’t want homeowners to feel powerless, we urge you to call 9-1-1 and do everything you can to keep yourself and your loved ones safe until police arrive and be the best witness possible. This could mean locking yourself in a room away from the perpetrators, hiding, fleeing the home, but don’t engage unless absolutely necessary.’’

Who can be the judge of absolute necessity in moments of mayhem and terror? At least one of the attackers in the murderous Vaughan episode had a firearm, possibly more. They fled but within 90 minutes another home invasion occurred — three armed suspects — occurred less than a kilometre away. The incidents have not been formally linked as yet but investigators are looking at possible connections.

At the news conference, police also played frightening video from another forced entry into a residence, home to two adults and two children, aged six and nine. Those assailants fled in a waiting getaway vehicle.

Hiding and non-provocation may be the prudent response to protect life and limb but it also sends an emboldening message to predators. And compliance won’t necessarily avert bloodshed.

Under Sections 34 and 35 of the Criminal Code — somewhat loosened under former prime minister Stephen Harper in 2013 — the premise of “unlawful assault’’ was eliminated and the legal standard ostensibly simplified. It now states that a person is not guilty of an offence if they believe force or the threat of force is being used against them or another person; if their offence was made to protect themselves or another person from that force; and if their actions were “reasonable in the circumstances.’’

But then you take your chances with police and prosecutors in a justice system that many have slammed for being generally too far inclined toward defendants, rehabilitation emphasized over deterrence.

Ali Mian was 22 years old when he confronted five intruders breaking into his home in Milton, Ont., in early 2023. He shot one of them dead with a legally registered firearm. His lawyer argued Mian was defending his mother, who was being attacked. But Mian was charged with second-degree murder. Five months later, the Crown withdrew the charge, conceding there was no reasonable prospect of conviction.

Peter Khill’s journey through the courts was much longer and ended differently. The military reservist was awakened by his partner on Feb. 4, 2016, alerted to knocking noises outside their Hamilton home. He went to the window and saw that the dashboard lights of his pickup truck were on. Retrieving a shotgun from the closet, wearing only underwear and in bare feet, Khill quietly approached the vehicle, where a man was bent over the open passenger-side door. He shouted: “Hey, hands up!’’

As the man turned around, Khill twice fired, hitting him in the chest and shoulder. Searching the man, Khill found he was armed only with a folding knife. He called 9-1-1, saying he’d shot a man he thought had a gun and was going to shoot him.

A jury acquitted Khill of second-degree murder, overturned on appeal, then convicted of manslaughter in a new trial. That case went all the way to the Supreme Court. Khill was ultimately sentenced to eight years for killing the Indigenous man, reduced in February on appeal to six years.

Violence is rarely justifiable. Sometimes, however, it can be compelled. Sometimes mistakes are made. A potential truck-jacking isn’t worth a life.

I am a city girl through and through, but my father taught me to hunt. And I’m a good shot.