Is It Lawful to Come to the Door Armed?

 The case is Knibbs v. Momphard (4th Cir. 2022).  Sadly, the Estate of Knibbs.  This tells you how the incident ended.

The acts of the case:

1. After midnight, an unilluminated porch;

2. a sheriff's deputy announcing his presence  with no other evidence that he was actually an LEO (no lights illuminated on the car);

3. deputy claimed that the dead man aimed the shotgun at him (the coroner said no, he did not);

The decision held that:

1. deputy did not enjoy qualified immunity;

2. "Racking a shotgun inside one’s home, without more, is no more threatening than coming to the door with any other loaded firearm. Indeed, any reasonable officer would presume that an individual carrying a firearm has already loaded it." 

This was an appeal from a summary judgment in favor of the deputy.  This case goes back for a full trial to determine the facts in a somewhat more comprehensive manner.

Summary judgment means the judge has decided the facts and law are so clear that a full trial is not needed.