What is the law here on protecting your home,family,property, etc.?  If someone is outside your house beating on the door or crashing it in, what if you shoot him or her to protect your family or yourself?

A person may legally use deadly force to prevent someone from killing her or inflicting great bodily harm.  If an attacker is using non-deadly force to commit an assault the victim may use the amount of force to reasonably repel the attack.  The victim cannot use more force than appears necessary.  In general the same levels of force may be used in defense of others.

A person may use reasonable force to protect property, but cannot use deadly force unless there is a threat to life.

A person in North Carolina may use deadly force to prevent someone from entering her home if she reasonably believes there is a danger of death, great bodily harm, or a reasonable belief that the intruder intends to commit a felony.

A statute, N.C. Gen. Stat. Sec. 14-51.1, covers the use of deadly force to protect a home.

Self-defense is a defense to prosecution for unlawfully killing or injuring another, it is not a bar to being prosecuted.  The accused bears the burden of persuading the jury that the use of force was justified.