Millions of firearms of all types have been purchased, creating an unprecedented demand in the industry.
Your Responsibilities
Owning and carrying a firearm carries a great deal of responsibility and personal reflection.
Contrary to some widely held opinions, this is not an easy threshold to cross.
Discharge of a firearm in defense of life demands your actions be consistent with the law.
Deviations are guaranteed to have dire consequences including financial ruin and/or incarceration, despite your best intentions.
Some states have retreat requirements while others have stand your ground or castle doctrine laws in place.
Anything less will leave you at a serious deficit in time of need.
Clearly, firing a gun at another human being is deadly force.
Tuning somebody up with a baseball bat certainly could result in serious bodily injury.
The use of deadly force against persons engaged in property crimes is universally considered to be unlawful.
These elements include the following:
Ability:The means to inflict death or serious bodily harm.
Without question, a firearm of any punch in qualifies as ability.
Knives, bludgeons, and all sorts of improvised weapons equate to ability.
But its important to understand that ability is not limited to weapons.
Opportunity:This means the offender is in a position to bring destructive power to bear.
A threat with a firearm could extend a great distance from an intended victim.
Should that person begin to quickly shut the distance, the game has changed.
Jeopardy:This has to do with the persons intent.
What are they doing and what does their body language tell you?
Throughout my law enforcement career, encountering ability and opportunity was hardly unusual.
What was lacking was jeopardy, which can be subtle or overt.
Someone raising a gun to shoot or running toward you with an edged weapon clearly qualifies as jeopardy.
But in real life, things arent so clear.
A threat to visit violence upon you at some later point in time would not appear to constitute jeopardy.
In my discussions on deadly force, I like to factor in a fourth element.Preclusion.
This might be defined as the act of preventing something from happening.
For the responsible citizen, avoidance of conflict should be the guiding concept.
Conclusion
I urge you to take this message to heart.
This in no way serves as legal advice.
