You could have said this a lot better in much fewer words.
Boyfriend is a poser/pussy. You pull your pistol you better get to work, no hesitation, no leg shots, no problems.
Also most self defense laws say if you pull your gun it's only legal to do so in the face of a deadly threat. If the threat is so deadly why didn't you fire? Same legal issue as a warning shot. Either you were about to die or you weren't. If you are about to die then get to work with that ratchet.
This is incorrect. If you brandish, and the threat reduces due to you brandishing, you are not obligated to shoot someone. The threat level changed. You won't get in trouble for having second thoughts about shooting someone if they go from threatening your life to turning tail and running and you didn't immediately gun them down. This advice is going to put someone in prison.
That's not how stand your ground laws work, my dude.
If you brandish a firearm, you are doing so due to imminent fear for you life it doesn't matter if the situation diffuses by brandishing. If you pull high ready, you better fire. Because it's a life/death situation already. If you just point it at someone, good job, that's assault with a deadly weapon. If you mag dump into them, it's self defense.
Guns aren't designed for 'intimidation'. They're designed to kill so if you bring one out, you better make damn sure that it's purpose is served. Guns aren't toys. They're not meant to look tough. They're meant to kill and killing is only justified when your life hangs in the balance.
I understand that, but applying the rule of thumb that if you brandished, you better commit to shooting- you're making a mistake. I used to subscribe to this same line of thought.
Here's a scenario, an aggressor threatens your life, you are outnumbered and so draw your gun on said aggressor. As soon. As you begin drawing they turn tail and start running. Maybe your gun snagged on clothing or you didn't practice safe fast draws enough. In a second the aggressor has turned away from you. If you commit to shooting, you had better have a very good lawyer when ballistics shows bullets entering someone's back. Especially if you hit a jogger.
Here's another scenario, you subscribe to the thought process, "if I pull, I'm shooting", you are facing an aggressor. You aren't sure of the threat level, maybe the aggressor is doing a lot of posturing but you aren't sure if they're armed. As they approach, you decide, well I don't see myself in danger yet. They draw a knife or gun and beat you to the draw. Now you're dead.
There are two ways people might respond to this- they are either going to commit to always shooting if they pull their gun and potentially end up in a situation where they are in legal trouble, or they are going to hesitate and possibly allow a situation to escalate to the point where they are no longer in control.
Police draw without shooting every day. I know they live under a different set of laws than us. People also de-escalate situations every day by brandishing and you never hear about it. Is it a legal grey area? Maybe. But, when it comes to self defense, I'd be very careful getting tied up in taking hard rules to live by for every situation. You're risking not only your life but also your wealth when you are making these decisions.
To be my own devil's advocate- maybe having hard defined rules is a good thing because when you are in a high stress situation, you don't want to be making decisions so much as reacting via decisions you've already trained yourself to make ahead of time.
Anyone who follows self defense advice from the internet deserves to be in prison.
Also what your stating is not what happened nor is it the scenario I was talking about. You just invented a random situation to prove me wrong.
Some one pulls a gun on you(brandishing). That is a threat of deadly force. You can now legally respond with deadly force, meaning quick draw your pistol and shot. For your situation to manifest the person brandishing the gun would need to drop the weapon or holster it again, thus eliminating the imminent threat of deadly force. This is not what happened as far as we know and no where did I suggest to shoot someone who is surrendering. That is called murder.
Pulling out your gun(brandishing) just to prove you have it is stupid. You have now escalated the situation without solving it in anyway. You are taking an extreme risk that the other person brandishing is bluffing and despite being in your right to fire in self defense are only interested in bluffing.
The main point, and only point, is that legally speaking if you have the right to pull a pistol to defeat an imminent deadly threat you also have the right to fire that pistol. There is no middle step legally speaking, either the threat is going to kill you or it isn't. Brandishing instead of just shooting is the same bullshit as a "warning shot". By brandishing and NOT shooting you admit the threat was not imminent and you could afford to bluff.
You could have said this a lot better in much fewer words.
Also most self defense laws say if you pull your gun it's only legal to do so in the face of a deadly threat. If the threat is so deadly why didn't you fire? Same legal issue as a warning shot. Either you were about to die or you weren't. If you are about to die then get to work with that ratchet.
This is incorrect. If you brandish, and the threat reduces due to you brandishing, you are not obligated to shoot someone. The threat level changed. You won't get in trouble for having second thoughts about shooting someone if they go from threatening your life to turning tail and running and you didn't immediately gun them down. This advice is going to put someone in prison.
Easy peasy: shoot to kill, your word against a dead man's.
That's not how stand your ground laws work, my dude.
If you brandish a firearm, you are doing so due to imminent fear for you life it doesn't matter if the situation diffuses by brandishing. If you pull high ready, you better fire. Because it's a life/death situation already. If you just point it at someone, good job, that's assault with a deadly weapon. If you mag dump into them, it's self defense.
Guns aren't designed for 'intimidation'. They're designed to kill so if you bring one out, you better make damn sure that it's purpose is served. Guns aren't toys. They're not meant to look tough. They're meant to kill and killing is only justified when your life hangs in the balance.
I understand that, but applying the rule of thumb that if you brandished, you better commit to shooting- you're making a mistake. I used to subscribe to this same line of thought.
Here's a scenario, an aggressor threatens your life, you are outnumbered and so draw your gun on said aggressor. As soon. As you begin drawing they turn tail and start running. Maybe your gun snagged on clothing or you didn't practice safe fast draws enough. In a second the aggressor has turned away from you. If you commit to shooting, you had better have a very good lawyer when ballistics shows bullets entering someone's back. Especially if you hit a jogger.
Here's another scenario, you subscribe to the thought process, "if I pull, I'm shooting", you are facing an aggressor. You aren't sure of the threat level, maybe the aggressor is doing a lot of posturing but you aren't sure if they're armed. As they approach, you decide, well I don't see myself in danger yet. They draw a knife or gun and beat you to the draw. Now you're dead.
There are two ways people might respond to this- they are either going to commit to always shooting if they pull their gun and potentially end up in a situation where they are in legal trouble, or they are going to hesitate and possibly allow a situation to escalate to the point where they are no longer in control.
Police draw without shooting every day. I know they live under a different set of laws than us. People also de-escalate situations every day by brandishing and you never hear about it. Is it a legal grey area? Maybe. But, when it comes to self defense, I'd be very careful getting tied up in taking hard rules to live by for every situation. You're risking not only your life but also your wealth when you are making these decisions.
To be my own devil's advocate- maybe having hard defined rules is a good thing because when you are in a high stress situation, you don't want to be making decisions so much as reacting via decisions you've already trained yourself to make ahead of time.
Anyone who follows self defense advice from the internet deserves to be in prison.
Also what your stating is not what happened nor is it the scenario I was talking about. You just invented a random situation to prove me wrong.
Some one pulls a gun on you(brandishing). That is a threat of deadly force. You can now legally respond with deadly force, meaning quick draw your pistol and shot. For your situation to manifest the person brandishing the gun would need to drop the weapon or holster it again, thus eliminating the imminent threat of deadly force. This is not what happened as far as we know and no where did I suggest to shoot someone who is surrendering. That is called murder.
Pulling out your gun(brandishing) just to prove you have it is stupid. You have now escalated the situation without solving it in anyway. You are taking an extreme risk that the other person brandishing is bluffing and despite being in your right to fire in self defense are only interested in bluffing.
The main point, and only point, is that legally speaking if you have the right to pull a pistol to defeat an imminent deadly threat you also have the right to fire that pistol. There is no middle step legally speaking, either the threat is going to kill you or it isn't. Brandishing instead of just shooting is the same bullshit as a "warning shot". By brandishing and NOT shooting you admit the threat was not imminent and you could afford to bluff.
Please don't be stupid, it hurts my soul.