To my Canadian Friends

[useless tony]

Absolutely true.

In Canada we are only legally allowed to bring a hockey stick to a gun fight

To be honest though, if you defend yourself in Canada, YOU are now on trial, lethal outcome or not. Did you hit them too hard as opposed to simply subduing them? Criminals have rights too you know.

Beating the living crap out of a bad guy or shooting them dead doesn't mean you will face jail time, it does mean "we are going to assess the amount of force used and all the details regarding your use-of-force and IF we determine that excessive force was used or any laws were broken, REGARDLESS of the fact that you were defending yourself/family, you will most likely be facing charges too".

Years ago, someone I knew (he has since passed) shot and killed an intruder. They did not face any jail time but it did cost them $50,000 to defend themselves. Along those same lines, recently someone tried to rob a variety store with a baseball bat. After a scuffle, the clerk got control of the baseball bat and the robber ran. The clerk followed, caught him and beat him. Good for the clerk right, that piece of garbage deserved everything he got!! ... well, not here in Canada, the clerk is now facing charges because the "robber was running away, the event was over, you had no right to chase him down and beat him due to the robber no longer being a threat".

[Too Many Projects]

Originally Posted by useless tony

To be honest though, if you defend yourself in Canada, YOU are now on trial, lethal outcome or not. Did you hit them too hard as opposed to simply subduing them? Criminals have rights too you know.

recently someone tried to rob a variety store with a baseball bat. After a scuffle, the clerk got control of the baseball bat and the robber ran. The clerk followed, caught him and beat him. Good for the clerk right, that piece of garbage deserved everything he got!! ... well, not here in Canada, the clerk is now facing charges because the "robber was running away, the event was over, you had no right to chase him down and beat him due to the robber no longer being a threat".

The right to defend ourselves is coming under more scrutiny every day too. Even if we are not charged with or prosecuted for defending ourselves, we can be held liable for, what a personal injury lawyer tells the jury is wrongful death, or excessive use of force.
Your example of the clerk chasing the robber down and beating him would be viewed as unnecessary here too, for the same logic, the robber was no longer a threat. A clerk here would most likely face charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, being the bat.