Man faces jail after protecting home from masked attackers

**lewisipso** · 01-23-11, 11:26 PM

Ian Thomson moved to a rural homestead in Southwestern Ontario to lead a quiet life investing in a little fixer-upper. Then his neighbour’s chickens began showing up on his property. He warned his neighbour, then killed one of the birds.

The incident began six years of trouble for Mr. Thomson that culminated early one Sunday morning last August when the 53-year-old former mobile-crane operator woke up to the sound of three masked men firebombing his Port Colborne, Ont., home.

“I was horrified,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know what was happening. I had no idea what was going on.”

So Mr. Thomson, a former firearms instructor, grabbed one of his Smith & Wesson revolvers from his safe, loaded it and headed outside dressed in only his underwear.

“He exited his house and fired his revolver two, maybe three times, we’re not sure. Then these firebombing culprits, they ran off,” said his lawyer, Edward Burlew.

His surveillance cameras caught the attackers lobbing at least six Molotov cocktails at his house and bombing his doghouse, singeing one of his Siberian Huskies. But when Mr. Thomson handed the video footage to Niagara Regional Police, he found himself charged with careless use of a firearm.

The local Crown attorney’s office later laid a charge of pointing a firearm, along with two counts of careless storage of a firearm. The Crown has recommended Mr. Thomson go to jail, his lawyer said.

His collection of seven guns, five pistols and two rifles was seized, along with his firearms licence. Mr. Thomson said he lives in fear that his attackers will return and has taken to arming himself with a fire extinguisher.

“I don’t have enemies,” said the soft-spoken man, who now studies environmental geosciences full-time at Brock University after being injured in a workplace accident. “I don’t know that many people. I’m a quiet man. I just want to go back to my life and be able to live out my days in relative peace.”

Read more: Man faces jail after protecting home from masked attackers | Features | National Post

**Xiphos** · 01-24-11, 12:19 AM

We have actually codified deadly force as a reasonable response for someone setting fire to an occupied dwelling.

**StoleIt** · 01-24-11, 09:52 PM

UFB.

How does the legal system allow this?

How can "having firebombs lobed at you" not be construed as an attack thus allowing an individual the right of self defense?

**KaiGywer** · 01-24-11, 11:08 PM

Glad I settled on this side of the border...

**armsmaster270** · 01-24-11, 11:46 PM

I came across this post where Ian Thompson was in his house while it was being firebombed in Ontario by two masked subjects he fired his weapon in defense and was arrested. What is wrong with that picture. Survellience video follows.

Man faces jail after protecting home from masked attackers | Features | National Post