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Security isn’t about luck—it’s about strategy. In this podcast, we break down how to protect your home, family, and business from threats most people don’t even think about. We’re not here to fuel fear—we’re here to help you prepare.
Hosted by security professionals, Michael Johnson, a retired law enforcement captain with 29 years of experience and James Kerr an expert from Boss Security Screens, this podcast delivers real, no-nonsense advice. We know what truly stops burglars—not just locks and alarms, but layered security strategies that keep your home and business safe.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
✅ Why the concept of “layered security” is the only way to protect your property.
✅ Guns for self-defense: myths, reality, and what you really need to consider.
✅ How to build a safe space for yourself and your family while minimizing risk.
✅ Real-life stories of break-ins and assaults - and why some homes remain impregnable.
📢 Subscribe now and stay one step ahead of those who rely on luck.
🛡 Ready to take home security seriously?
Visit https://bosssecurityscreens.com/free-consultation for a free consultation.
let's get into the Castle Law The Castle Law what is the Castle Law uh you don't have to be a victim in your own home you have the right to defend yourself and the lives of others if you decide to pull the trigger that is what you're going to be measured against we just had an incident over on the Las Vegas Boulevard we did couple weeks ago and he ended up dying you know I'm just going to blast away when somebody comes in now the question is is am I in imminent Jeopardy right now your home is your castle and uh you don't have to retreat from your home what if somebody's breaking in my house do I get to shoot them right and you should be prepared to do
that okay we're back with MJ Michael Johnson he's our resident law enforcement security expert by now you've already seen his resume either online on our website or through previous conversations and let me just say you know that we need some kind of disclaimer that you know things we're talking about are very serious things and obviously we're just talking about them we're not giving you advice on on legal issues or you really should talk to a professional you need to you need to work with a professional you know talk to an attorney we're not giving legal advice here we're not telling you you can or cannot do certain things uh but this is just based on experience and uh what we see in the industry and uh but we encourage you to educate yourself and to make sure that you are following the local laws and uh your state level laws and of course all federal laws yeah so let's get into the Castle Law The Castle Law what is the Castle Law there's really two laws out there um there's a stand your ground uh law and then here in Nevada we have something called The Castle Law and it's not unique to just Nevada but uh Nevada has uh codified uh to some extent there and it allows us to understand what we can do for self-defense uh within our own home the Castle Law basically says here in Nevada that your home is your castle and uh you don't have to retreat from your home in the case of an intruder uh but I don't know how many times I hear people say uh yeah you know I'm just going to blast away when somebody comes in listen you know one of the most important things people out there our audience need to understand is that the minute you decide to use deadly force there are parameters around that there are legal things that you need to understand uh was it reasonable the term reasonable and that gets measured uh based on what a reasonable person would do in the same or similar circumstances as you uh and it can be a difficult thing to decide what's reasonable I mean we just had that big trial with the uh fellow that was was choked to death on on the train New York and was his use of force reasonable not reasonable I'm not here to debate that right um but uh at the time at the moment he felt it was necessary and reasonable now would a jury of his peers feel the same way obviously there's differences of opinion there um but that's not what we're here to talk about what we're here to talk about is reasonable force and if you decide to pull the trigger that is what you're going to be measured against and uh within the Castle Law there's uh also a concept of being in fear for your safety right if you are fearing for your life or the safety of another um those are also measurable and uh are important when you're talking about Defending Your Home some guy's out there banging on your window or trying to take the screen off you can't just walk up to the window start blasting away right because you have options right um you know in deadly force uh there's things that we talk about um one is does the bad guy have the ability to hurt you now you and I are in close proximity and you have uh martial arts so do you have the ability to hurt me at this point yeah you're we're in close proximity um do you have the opportunity to hurt me yeah cuz you're again right here now the question is is am I in imminent Jeopardy right now is my life currently at this moment in Jeopardy and the answer is no cuz you're not doing anything correctly no reason to believe so would I be justified if I just pulled a gun and shot you no no not at all so those are the things that they look at and then of course the last one is preclusion which is your retreat did you take any opportunity to try to retreat and that gets really complicated when you start to talk about the difference between a Castle Law or a stand your ground laws because some states here in the US have a requirement that you have to retreat at all costs before using deadly force and then you have the vast majority of states that uh adhere to the stand your ground yeah and uh stand your ground doesn't mean that you have to run right uh it means that you do have to have that reasonable fear and were your actions reasonable yeah uh another concept in that is proportionality is it proportionate all right so again um if I am a 6'5 275 lb man and I Pummel a 105 lb female U because she's attacking me was it proportionate right you know so there's a lot of things in there that you have to unpack when you're starting to talk about these laws yeah I I I think what the Law's trying to do is capture what we would all call good judgment if a mouse breaks into my home the mouse really isn't a threat are they in my home yes they are it's a mouse uh do I need to like blast it out of the house or is there a way that you know we can solve the mouse problem and I'm using Mouse as a metaphor right so what if someone has the wrong address what if they what if someone you know maybe someone's been drinking and they try to undo my door and they come in and they had some mistak taken home yeah you just read my mind because I was going to tell you a very brief story about that um you know here in Vegas people have a tendency to drink and uh when they get to drinking they also forget where they live I don't know how many calls for service I had when I was in law enforcement or how many we receive where somebody's out there trying the door handle to get in and what they really they don't realize is that they're not at their own home yeah they're standing in somebody else's home so now they go around cuz they can't get in the front door and now they're going to climb in through a window huh uh now just imagine how bad you would feel right if you were blasting away just at that first thought that somebody was coming in your home right and that's not the intent of the Castle Law yeah the intent of the Castle Law is to inform you and allow you to understand that uh you don't have to be a victim in your own home you have the right to defend yourself and the lives of others and it's very important that people understand it's not about property right interesting yeah I can't just blast you because you're stealing my TV uh you know we're not here to defend back yeah it it's it's not something that uh it's not something that you can just do and and then say later I feared for my life because he's stealing my TV it's very important that you understand the legalities and again I'm going to go back I always hate to say this over and over again but people really do need to consult with an attorney they need to understand they need to know the law read it for yourself understand the law uh we're not giving you that specific advice I think the two most important questions I get at every homeowners association meeting I go to is what if somebody's breaking in my house and do I get to shoot him and the other one is what kind of gun should I have you know those are the two biggest questions I get you know and everybody wants to know because everyone is confused yeah they they want to be safe but they just don't know the answer to the question and so it's very important that we talk about that provocation you know somebody breaks in like you said right um you know they're stumbling around your house uh they're intoxicated they they think they're in their home right um the provocation isn't there there's no threat to you now you might be afraid because obviously somebody's in your home that you don't know but you also have to take into account what their actions are yeah do they have an identifiable weapon in their hand MH uh are they being aggressive or not aggressive all of those things come into play uh that will then substantiate your imminent Jeopardy or your fear for your safety yeah you know in an earlier segment we talked about just having the physical ability to seek safety or to defend yourself but I can also Imagine you know people in Las Vegas you said drink the person who's entering your home is drunk has the wrong home but you've also been drinking and now you don't have clear Judgment of what's actually happening here right you can see where a pretty innocent situation goes south pretty quickly it really does and and again those are all those ultimate responsibilities you have when you have a firearm respons and when you make a choice now when we talk about the Castle Law you know everybody's always thinking in terms of their home but what about your car right okay road rage um we just had an incident over on the Las Vegas Boulevard we did a couple weeks ago and ended up dying and he ended up dying uh so again what was the course of conduct that led to all of these things and did he have uh the right to shoot from his car again I don't know all the facts and circumstances but again you are to be safe in your own vehicle right and so if you are under attack and in fear for your life uh then you will have to justify and was it reasonable to use that Force but just understand that these laws these stand your ground and Castle laws they extend beyond the home uh to the places that you have a legal right to be in many cases your workplace uh or your car right um but you have to have a legal right yeah to be in that location yeah I you know I try to make this as simple as possible for say my kids right the 12-year-old and the bottom line is look if someone's trying to hurt you or or take you somewhere you absolutely have the right to hurt them back right and you should be prepared to do that not everyone wants to hurt anyone right and that's a good human trait right but if someone's kidnapping you they're not going to take you to Disneyland right the the thing I really am emphatic about with my 12-year-old is look some is trying to hurt you you got to be willing to hurt them and that brings up the level of damage let's say that someone is stumbling around my home and let's say I do have the castle and let's say I do have my weapon Within Reach I don't really need to pop them a couple times in the head right I can shoot a few round as a as just like a again we're not giving legal advice but a friend of mine had someone try to break into their home I love your scenarios guy is impossible with a scenario a friend a friend of mine they're trying to break into his home it's at night and instead of he had all the skill and all the training and all the practice to double tap them right there in front of their home but he decided just to put a few rounds in the ground right and by putting a few rounds in the ground they fled right well putting a few rounds in the ground and putting a few rounds somewhere else in their body is a little bit different right again going back to training uh the purpose is to defend yourself we are not uh shooting to kill people we're shooting to stop the action right right we are trying to prevent and under stress everyone always talks about shooting center mass that would be the Torso body uh and that's because uh under stress you're probably going to have a hard time hitting your target especially if you're not as practiced and Polished as you should be but going back to your scenario where you're talking about popping them um if you're thinking in those terms you're already on the kind of on the wrong footing okay you're here to defend yourself if he's across the room and and he's not attacking you you're you're not in a justifiable use of force situation so I don't want anybody to get confused in the concepts here because again it does get very legal it does get very technical and the minute you pull a trigger you're going to be under the most scrutiny that you've ever been in in your life so this is a really important point so what you're saying is look if you're playing games by putting rounds in the ground were you really being threaten to begin with so you know there's not really a warning shot out there um interes you know again there's laws about firing a firearm in a city yeah you defitely at or near an occupied structure or where people congregate so there's there there's laws there's laws around pulling that trigger cuz those rounds will go through walls and into the neighboring home I mean I think people would be surprised how far that round is going to go and you see on TV people like popping rounds into the sky bad it doesn't go into orbit it comes back down and where it lands as fast as it left the muzzle right in in general the physics is as fast as it came just remember that you are the gatekeeper the minute you pull the trigger you are releasing around that you are responsible for yeah to summarize that is to say that there are laws in every state in America that govern whether you can stand your ground or as in Nevada you have a Castle Law yeah just remember it's all about what is reasonable yeah what is proportionate right and always remember that your life or the life of someone else has to be in Jeopardy uh meaning that you are in imminent danger right for you to make that decision um so don't take that responsibility lightly because it is it is a very very critical and important decision that you're going to make and we want to make sure that you're making it with a clear mind and with a clear purpose and intention