Titled:   Son says he used gun to break up family fight

This is a confusing story from Macomb county in Michigan. It seems that a teen intervened in a fight between his mother and his step-father with a .22 caliber rifle. After shooting his step-father in the leg, and a resulting tussle over control of the firearm, his mother was accidently shot in the toe. So far there doesn't seem to be anything too complicated there. It is not illegal for a 19 year old to own a rifle, and from the report it seems that the boy genuinely believed he was coming to the aid of his mother, saving her from serious injury.

He is, however, out on bail, facing charges of assault with intent to do great bodily harm, possession of a dangerous weapon and using a firearm during a felony.

Now, they did find a selection of firearms in his room - six rifles, two shotguns, a BB gun, 10 long knives, a cache of ammunition and a homemade pipe bomb. But that seems secondary to the event itself, and apart from the pipe-bomb would seem like a reasonable collection to a non-hoplophobe.

Without further information, I can't see why this isn't a case of a self-defense shooting, assuming that the step-father was able to cause serious bodily harm to the teen's mother or himself. I guess the upcoming court case might reveal further cause. The pipe-bomb alone is enough to get him into trouble, and he deserves what he gets for that.

At 19, it is hard to expect clear judgement as to how dangerous a new step-father can be, especially in the stress of the moment with a fight between adults in your own house. Police say three or four shots were fired, and this may even have involved a warning shot. By shooting his step-father in the leg with a .22 rifle, when he had easy access to a shotgun, I would think it would be hard to prove that he was doing anything other than trying to stop a felony in progress.

I'll try to follow up when the case comes around.