Cali LE Help with Question

[bdogfish]

Hey guys I have a question. I live in Hayward Ca. and my neighborhood is some what ok. I had these thugs living across the street from me who with the help of the comunity we had them evicted, yippie. So our neighborhood has gotten better.
My problem is that the street I live in is a well used street for car and foot traffic. We sometimes get the late nite drug user and thug who walk through our street. I sometimes like to sit out in front of my porch to see the sunset and relax. I wonder if I have my XD40 on me and say something did happen to where I had to use it to defend myself can I be setting myself up for trouble with the law?
I once heard some noise comming from my neighbors house and got up and walked my property with my gun. My neighbors where out of town so I knew it was not them. I did not see anything but the next day my neighbors noticed that someone tried to open their sliding door as there were smudged finger prints on the door and their side fence door was pushed open.
My porch is open and anybody can come up to it without notice. I just wonder if I am doing the right thing by having my gun on me on my property as I am out late any input?

[danp]

This is kind of a gray area in the law. CA law allows a person to arm themselves if they believe their life is in immediate danger. It also allows for keeping a loaded firearm in your home for self defense. Now while you could argue that your porch is a part of your home due to the curtiledge rule, a savvy attorney could also argue that because "anybody can come up to it without notice" it is not part of your home, but open to the public.

I would suggest either getting your CCW (if possible) or finding a place to stash your XD just inside the door. That way you can argue that you keep the gun there in case of an altercation at the door and that when the thug approached you while sitting on the porch, you came to believe that your life was in immediate danger, so you retrieved your firearm.