Black Kansas City teen Ralph Yarl sues white man who shot him for ringing the doorbell

Could you imagine if the thing that kills HOAs ended up being liability for the actions of their members?

Go Ralph go!

I'm a little hard.
- Just make sure it isn't visible from the curb.
That would be great, but police can barely take a person's guns away if they aren't actively involved in a crime. I'd be shocked if a court found an HOA to have that power. I'm not against it but I don't even think the Supreme Court of 12 years ago would do for it, much less this Supreme Court.
- It wouldn't be "no guns", it would be "carry this insurance if you have guns" and then fining the people who don't or won't carry the insurance.
- I'd be shocked if a court found an HOA to have that power.
  Courts have pretty consistently found that HOA’s have more power than local authorities. That’s why they can set their own laughably restrictive bylaws.
  Second amendment violations may not fly, but that’s a constitutionality problem, not a limit specifically on HOAs.

Good. Adults need to be responsible and held accountable for their actions.

Shh. If there's one thing "responsible gun owners" can't stand, it's being held responsible.
- Gun enthusiasts here, does me wanting to "disarm" people for breaking gun safety rules count?
This lawsuit is explicitly about the opposite of that, holding his neighbors responsible for his actions, as if he were a toddler and they his parents.
- Fuck off.

Because intruders always ring your doorbell before breaking in.

Not to justify the actions of the shooter, but ringing the doorbell before breaking in is definitely a thing. It's a means of checking if the house is occupied - if you're just trying to steal things, an unoccupied house is ideal, and if someone answers when you ring, it's easy enough to make up an excuse and walk away.
A much better solution than a gun, though, is a security door (similar to a screen door, but more kick proof).
- ringing the doorbell before breaking in is definitely a thing
  It’s only a thing because that’s predominantly what “normal” people do. There’s plausible deniability, and it still doesn’t change the fact that almost all people who knock on the door are not breaking in
It's in the crime handbook under "must do"

I wouldn't be shocked if somehow the kid lands in jail

Considering he's black and in America, he has a good chance of that anyway unfortunately, often for some low-level drug crime that would have gotten a white person at most community service.

I hope this 84 year old piece of shit doesn't die before this case concludes. Hard to believe it's already been more than a year since this happened.

Every time a case like this comes up I either think “wow, it’s been THAT long?” Or “wow, it happened THAT recently?”

Anyways this is part of why I support a legal duty to retreat. If you can shoot anyone on your property some people will do shit like this

Last I saw I thought he was also criminally charged since this was well outside the scope of castle doctrine or no duty to retreat. Both of them require a reasonable threat which was not present.
- You’re right, I do hold multiple pro-social beliefs.
- Saddens me to know NPCs made it to Lemmy.

Suing the HOA is an interesting one; I wonder if the rest of the residents in that HOA could sue as well, I mean, having a known psychopathic firearms enthusiast in the neighborhood must decimate the property values.

Maybe after the conviction they could have a bylaw like, "any owner housing a resident convicted of an armed assault will be fined $1,000 daily."
I think the idea is that if that old geezer croaks while the court is twiddling their thumbs on this case, the HOA will at least still be there to pay...
- I'm really liking the precedent this could set. HOAs like to wield government-like authority with none of the limits that actual government (is supposed to) operate under, ostensibly to provide a "nicer" neighborhood. And then a young man gets shot for ringing a door bell.
  I ask all the other HOA residents of the nation: Are any of YOUR neighbors getting ready to tank YOUR property values like Andrew Lester did for his neighbors? If a resident of your HOA answers his doorbell with a hail of lead, and it makes the news like this one did, you think it's going to be easy to find a buyer for your house?
- There will still be his estate after he dies.

Funny fact, "Stand your ground" is also the Law in Germany. And in 150 years of German Law there were exactly seven cases where "Stand your ground" was used to defend an violent act.

Because it's extremely limited in scope with a corresponding duty to retreat or because there aren't enough black people for racists to be scared of?
- I don't think fear of minorities is the reason. We have other optically different minorities around. Arabs, Vietnamese, Turks. On the other hand I think I have only interacted with one black person around here EVER. Which was kinda funny because he spoke heavy Bavarian dialect and had a perfectly German name.
  While lots of people feel uneasy around Minorities, violence still is very low. To be honest, as a German I am more afraid of a left German punk or right German Skinhead than any other minority.
  Sure, there are also Poles, Romanians and Italians but those are not visibly different

Make that bitch homeless. The only reason you should ever be homeless for, being a racist POS. Merica's 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲

Get em

Go for it, milk that old shmegeggie 'till the teats fall off.

This makes total sense, with the typical MO of a ne'er-do-well ringing the doorbell before trying to get into a building nefariously.