https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-50619952A 65-year-old American man who rigged his home with a booby trap to keep out intruders has been killed by the device.
Ronald Cyr called police in the town of Van Buren in the state of Maine to say he had been shot.
Police found a door had been designed to fire a handgun should anyone attempt to enter. Mr Cyr was taken to hospital but died of his injuries.
It is not uncommon for home-owners to install such traps - but it is illegal.
Police in Van Buren, which borders the Canadian province of New Brunswick, said they responded to a 911 call in the early evening of Thanksgiving, last Thursday, from a man who said he had been shot.
"Following an extensive investigation that lasted into the early morning... it was determined that Mr Cyr had been shot as the result of the unintentional discharge of one of his homemade devices," the police department said in a Facebook post.
You can shoot an intruder who breaks into your property while you are at home to protect yourself, your family and your home but if you set up booby traps to protect the same property while you are away from home, then you are breaking the law.
it's not legal in all 50 U.S. States to have booby traps in your own home to protect it from burglars and criminals while you are not home.
I wonder why that is?
