castle doctrine q

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does the castle doctrine apply if you are not in your own house? what if you are a guest at someone elses house?
also if you have a small safe box type dealie can you store your firearm at a house where there are no ltc holders if you are present (sleeping) or what if you are not present?
 
does the castle doctrine apply if you are not in your own house? what if you are a guest at someone elses house?
also if you have a small safe box type dealie can you store your firearm at a house where there are no ltc holders if you are present (sleeping) or what if you are not present?

if you are not present at the house and the people who are do not have LTC then No i think its safe to assume you cannot keep your firearms there, and leaving them there opens up both you and the homeowners to alot of legal problems if found out by authorities. If your on the premise and they are secured i dont see a problem but then again this is MA
 
does the castle doctrine apply if you are not in your own house?

"Castle Doctrine" technically does not. The specific laws will vary by state, but "castle doctrine" does not apply outside your home. Typically in someone else's home you're in general self-defense and/or stand your ground rules.

what if you are a guest at someone elses house?

Laws vary by state, but generally if you're in someone else's house, even as a guest, you're in general self-defense / stand your ground territory, not protected by specific "castle doctrine"

Also if you have a small safe box type dealie can you store your firearm at a house where there are no ltc holders if you are present (sleeping) or what if you are not present?

You're getting into the terms of posession. If you are present, and you are an LTC holder, then if it's stored in a locked box and only you have access to the box, you are clearly in posession. If you leave, even if the people at the house do not have access to the lock-box, you're in a very gray area and likely opening up the homeowners to the potential for procecution if caught.

If you're staying over night, bring the lock box with you, if you leave, DON'T leave the firearm in the house, even in a locked box, if no one there can legally posess that firearm.
 
Remember that you are able to legally use deadly force in defense of another. So in theory, you have a duty to retreat, but the homeowner does not.
So using force in defense of a non-retreating homeowner would be legal.

Here's another interesting link. It goes to MA jury instructions as they relate to the use of force in defense of yourself and others. One interesting part not related to the OP is that it says that an officer acting out of his jurisdiction is effecting a citizens arrest. There's lots of good stuff in there about a citizen's arrest powers.

http://www.mass.gov/courts/courtsan...s/criminal/pdf/9260-defenses-self-defense.pdf
 
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