stephen426
New member
38SnubFan said:Like the other guy said, I'm keeping pepper spray in the "condiments" category.
If I'm being attacked with lethal force, I'm responding with lethal force.
38, I'm with you on this one but pepper spray is an intermediate step before using lethal force. If the guy is acting in a threatening manner but has not done anything to justify the use of lethal force, are you going to be the one to escalate the situation and draw a gun? It is possible that the other person may have a weapon but it hasn't gotten there yet. If the use of lethal force is avoidable, it should be done. You greatly lower your chances of being prosecuted and or sued civilally but the family of the person you shot.
Many times, the drawing of a weapon escalates the situation to where it is difficult to back down. If someone draws a weapon on you, you must respond by drawing your own weapon. By my reasoning, I don't know if he will shoot me so I had better shoot first to eliminate that possibility. This is why you should only draw when you have to use it. I know there are incidents where by displaying the weapon, the other prson backed down but that is optimistic. I believe that in the heat of the moment, merely drawing a gun may not be enough to stop a person. Will you shoot if the person antagonizes you and dares you to pull the trigger?
I will share from my experience. Living in Miami, we have more than our fair share of the homeless. When I was younger and even dumber than I am now, I carried a pellet gun in plain sight when I got into downtown. I had an agressive bum hounding me for money and I pointed to the pellet gun. He dared me to shoot him and asked what was I going to do with that. In retrospect, I should have just maced him and driven away. I had other cars in front of me so I couldn't just drive off. I wasn't justified to shoot, but the guy was pretty big and acting in a treatening manner.
I hope this changes your perspective as there are many situations in where less than lethal force should be attempted first. I do agree that if lethal force is being used, that you should respond in kind.