threegun, retreat and/or get out of the way should be revised to "move out of the way."
Retreating, if you are on the path the guy is following, keeps you in his way even if he's proceeding legitimately.
Vanya and threegun, if what you two think I'm saying is, "I can handle him unarmed so I'll just let him close," then you two are missing my point entirely.
My point about hand-to-hand skills is that, in certain circumstances they are usable when your gun legally is not; and, in certain circumstances where your gun would be legally viable, those skills may be the edge that helps you bring the weapon into play.
I am not remotely saying, "Intentionally let a real threat close to bad-breath distance."
What I have said in this scenario is basically this - the burden is on you to prove that the guy is really a threat.
That might work--if you are able to provide at least some evidence to support your belief, and if you are able to convince others that a reasonable person, knowing what you knew at the time, would have reasonably believed that (1) your life was threatened (the concept of A, O, J again) and (2) that you had no other alternative.Posted by skydiver3346: If he still comes at you, then do what you think is best, (for me personally, I would shoot). Remember, he could have a knife or gun hidden that you can't see. You did your best to avoid this and tell law enforement that you felt your life was threanted and you responded to said threat.
Yeah, if he keeps coming and you cannot get away, you may conclude have to shoot. Be aware that there are people serving long prison terms for concluding just that, not necessarily unreasonably, and not being able to prevail afterwards.
It would certainly seem so, and that is one of the several necessary elements of justification.Posted by threegun: ...once you have "moved out of the way" , if the threat continues to follow his intent is obvious.
Understood about the H2H thing. My point is that once you have "moved out of the way" , if the threat continues to follow his intent is obvious. Others have indicated that this is not so.
Not sure about that. But as you say, once you've moved out of the line and he's had to change direction, something is amiss and you can act more appropriately.