At least four times in the past month – and three times last week alone – Southern California residents elected to use deadly force and shot people who broke into their homes or were trying to, according to law enforcement officials.

No one can say if this is a trend or just a coincidental burst of incidents. But polls and rising gun sales indicate Americans feel less safe and just might be more inclined to defend themselves.

The percentage of Americans who believe having a gun in the house makes it safer, 63 percent, doubled between 2000 and 2014, according to a Gallup poll. And gun sales skyrocketed in Southern California after the Dec. 2 San Bernardino terror attacks.

Paul Wallin, a prominent criminal defense attorney, said people are entitled under California law to protect themselves and their family.

“This is your house,” Wallin said. “They are invading the house where you live, where you eat, where you sleep.”

But the headlines worry some. Ari Freilich, staff attorney for the San Francisco-based Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said, “Deadly force should be a person’s last resort in legitimate self-defense.”

California law has “castle doctrine,” which authorizes the use of deadly force in some cases, experts said.

Generally, Wallin said, “You have the right to use whatever reasonable force is necessary under the circumstances. … It’s compared to what a reasonable person faced with the same situation you were faced with would have done.”

RISING GUN SALES

The flurry of shootings comes a little more than three months after the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil since 9/11 – the Dec. 2 massacre at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino that stunned the nation and region, taking 14 lives and leaving 22 other people injured.

It also comes at a time when sales of handguns are booming.

Sales were soaring even before the San Bernardino mass shooting. According to the California attorney general, annual handgun purchases more than doubled between 2010 and 2015 in Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties.

Then purchases multiplied.

“There was a tremendous, immediate response after Dec. 2,” said Mike Conway, chief firearms instructor at Bullseye Sport Guns & Ammo in Riverside. “It was just instantaneous.”

Sales continued at a torrid pace throughout December.

“Roughly we did a whole quarter’s worth of business in that month,” Conway said.

Since then, sales have returned to near-normal levels, he said, but remain ahead of last year’s pace.

divergent views

Michael Dunn of Riverside, a Quaker and longtime member of the Inland Valley Religious Society of Friends, termed the spike alarming, given that it comes at a time when violent crime has generally declined.

“I grew up in a family where hunting and fishing were very important,” Dunn said. “I have nothing against gun ownership for the purpose of hunting.”

But, he said, “Guns that kill people are not something that should be part of a civilized society.”

“It’s just sad that we are in an environment where we have to be vigilant about our security,” said the Rev. Jon S. Harris, president of Riverside’s Eastside Reconciliation Coalition. At the same time, he said, “I’m a realist.”

Harris said homeowners have the right to arm themselves and the duty to protect their families. And, so, he said, he supports a homeowner’s use of lethal force as “a last resort.”

But Harris emphasized such a decision must be carried out in strict accordance with the law.

“No vigilantes,” he said. “We don’t want any Clint Eastwoods.”

Conway, the firearms instructor, said the Second Amendment affords opportunity.

“But with that opportunity comes responsibility,” Conway said.

And under California law, he said, it means “you can only meet force with force.”

‘LIKE CONDUCT’

If a person has broken into someone’s home and is approaching, or is armed with a weapon, force may be used, said Wallin, the attorney. But that changes if the person turns around and heads for the door.

“Now you call the police,” Wallin said. “Now they’re running away.”

In another scenario, he suggested that if someone were to walk onto someone’s front lawn and make a threat while holding, say, an apple in his hand, deadly force would not be justified.

“But if a person comes on your property and says, ‘I’m going to rape you and kill you,’ and pulls out a knife, that would be a situation in which (pulling out a gun) would be reasonable force,” Wallin said.

“Basically, you can use like conduct to defend yourself,” he said.

In that sense, California law, while similar to that of other states, is different, experts said.

“We don’t have a stand-your-ground law in California like they do in Florida,” said Jim Bueermann, retired Redlands police chief and president of the Police Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based research group that aims to improve policing through innovation and science.

This type of law, which came under intense scrutiny a few years ago when Florida resident George Zimmerman was tried for murder in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, tends to give homeowners wide discretion in the use of force. But California law puts more emphasis on the specific circumstances of a shooting.

“It’s either justifiable or not,” Bueermann said. “If it’s not justifiable, it’s a crime.”

PULLING THE TRIGGER

And, so, Conway said, “Once you pull the trigger you’ve got problems. … Chances are you’re going to have to answer some questions.”

Bueermann said police officers will want to know whether there is evidence the person broke in through a window or kicked in a door, whether the intruder was armed, whether there were signs of a scuffle and whether the intruder and homeowner knew each other.

And if the shooter is cleared of wrongdoing, that’s not necessarily the end of it. Conway said he or she still could face a wrongful death lawsuit from relatives of the person shot.

Then there’s the psychological factor, Conway said.

“None of us are equipped to take a human life,” he said. “It just goes against what we’re all taught.”

Contact the writer: 951-368-9699 or ddowney@pe.com