Hmmm....
Dead Bear......
Dead or maimed child...

Hmmm...
So hard to choose....

Hmmm...

Given that the Bear was up a tree..at the time of the shooting..
More info needed..

But if..me or mine twere in real danger..
DEAD BEAR..FER SURE...

For me, the news (?) report and video raises more questions than answers.  How come the guys young kids were in the open garage in the early morning hours?   Was the bear a legitimate threat when it was up the tree?  Did the dude actually expect the bear to "back down the tree" when he's shooting his gun and his dog is very likely adding to the commotion?  Etc. ?  Etc.?  I've just skimmed through it, but it strikes me as rather iffy reporting.

Edit: The guy hit the bear by firing "warning shots"???? I wonder where the bullet(s) would have gone IF he was actually shooting at the bear.   Heck, I could only hit gophers about 50% of the time, but I figure chances are pretty good that I could have missed the bear with a warning shot. 

I might be shooting (!) the messenger, but like rumble this is from a right wing site. & of course they’re gonna Cherry pick out some incident in the “liberal northeast”.
Here’s some promo stories from their site,, 

If it was a decision between my kids and the bear, it would be a dead bear.... after I got my kids inside and safe. I hope the guy gets off free. It's a duty as a parent to protect your kids as best you can.

I pulled in my driveway the other night and saw my garbage can knock over
I knew it was a bear. As I was getting out of my truck I spotted the bear standing up by a tree about 10 yards from me with a bag of garbage next to him.
I got out of my truck as he climbed the tree.
I had to get the bag of garbage before he comes down and spreads it all over the place. So I walked over ,grab the bag while he was up there put it in the can and put it in the garage
No need to shoot him.
He left after awhile
The bear in the article likely smelled something to eat in the garage would be my guess.
We have plenty of bears here that like peoples trash 

What I’ve always heard is that bears only attack if you surprise them and startle them. When out in the forest people wear bells on their lots or talk constantly so bears are aware of human presence.

Bears climb trees when they are scared,not when they are aggressive
There have been a few unfortunate encounters around here but they were the result of people being stupid.

There are the odd rogue bears around,,, my daughter, SIL, and grandkids live in the East Kootenay Mtns in British Columbia,,,, at certain times of the year they kids have to be driven to school because of bear alerts.

Chuck, this is off onto a tangent, but this news item t'other day had me thinking of your relatives that own/owned a remote resort in N. Saskatchewan.   https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=985447660402076&set=a.179419761004874 

We taught part of a year in Lac Brochet and the locals regularly went on caribou hunting excursions up near the boundary .... who knows??? ... maybe some of our former students.  

Owen

Brochet is north of my SiL and daughter’s lodge on Reindeer Lake. They do mostly fly-in fishing in the summer, and this year are also holding a 2 week moose hunt in September.

a shameless plug (#24)

https://youtu.be/_Xmqp39jW1U?si=0kRIcRYBRsWQ3Uep

If that happened here in da U.P., dat bear would be in da freezer so fast there would be no time for a story!!! Just sayin!!!
Slammer!!!

The article talks about him being charged, and the charges being dropped. Nothing about him being convicted. Maybe things work differently in the US (no maybe about it really). Here the police would probably have arrested him him and a judge, or judge and jury for a more serious case, would have decided if he was guilty. It's not up to the police (or in this case 'The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection' - though a quick Google shows that they are different agencies ) to decide if mitigating circumstances mean they do nothing. Perhaps this is a nothing story designed to promote the current anti federal employee narrative ?

Probably a nuisance animal.

Regardless, I can't bear to think of the grizzly outcome had it not been unalived.

No reason to shoot a bear up in a tree
Call the game warden or DEC
Discharging a firearm in a residential area doesn't go over well around here

Whether bear or dog or human, self defense requires that one be in immanent danger, and that the person in question has not added to or caused that danger, and that the response is "reasonable", which may be a bit undefined but allows for the many variables in any situation.
So in most places you can defend yourself from an actual bear attack, but you can't attack one that is just prowling around your property. Whether or not you can use a gun for defense varies state by state. I would not live in any state (or country) that makes self defense a crime, but I'm glad that the yahoos can't go shooting anything on sight. It's a balance!

Are there states/countries where self-defense is illegal?

quote:

---

Originally posted by AndrewD

The article talks about him being charged, and the charges being dropped. Nothing about him being convicted. Maybe things work differently in the US (no maybe about it really). Here the police would probably have arrested him him and a judge, or judge and jury for a more serious case, would have decided if he was guilty. It's not up to the police (or in this case 'The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection' - though a quick Google shows that they are different agencies ) to decide if mitigating circumstances mean they do nothing. Perhaps this is a nothing story designed to promote the current anti federal employee narrative ?

---

Exactly. Everyone needs to just let it shake itself out. That is how the process works.

Owen--"Are there states/countries where self-defense is illegal?"

The answer is in the legal terms de jure and de facto, and while The Law gives lip service to the Right of Self Defense, the "facto" is that there are places, both in the US and otherwise, where the actions of local prosecutors and judges make most any self defense a crime, and punished harshly. Sadly, the identity of the victims and the accused matter more than the facts to some, but we don't need to go further down that road here.

^^ sounds like a pretty good system.    

Looks like everyday's a school day ............. 'cept today. 

We got a phone call one morning when my older boy was 4 years old. It was the day care center telling us that none of the kids would be released until the bear was removed from a tall tree in the back yard. An hour or 2 later the Wildlife dept. arrived and shot the bear with a tranquilizer dart. It was a great adventure that every kid probably replayed 100 times in the next few weeks.

We have bears visit here pretty regularly they are mostly pretty timid. If it is up a tree they stay there until the danger( humans are gone). Here is our night marauder raiding the bird feeder. Bear is around 400 lbs notice the dainty way its carrying the suet feeder.

Don: " ... great adventure that the kids probably replayed .....  ."

Apparently there's no shortage of police wrangling elusive pigs; here's one from out in your neck of the woods (?): 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wwQxCg6i8Y

A daughter of ours [who has taught, but is currently home-schooling her kiddo], commented, not entirely tongue-in-cheek, that the incident would very likely be the highlight of the students' year, if not their whole school "career."  

The man should have his guns taken from him. The bear was up a tree scared and he fired “warning shots” and accidentally hit the bear. He could have just as easily shot a neighbor. If a bear is trying to eat you, kill it. If a bear is stealing your trash and hiding in a tree from a dog, put your gun away before you accidentally shoot something.