Threatening lethal force.

S

smithtim

Inactive
i have a carry permit and carry all the time, i have read and know all the facts about when you can use leathel force(shoot someone), but i have looked and havent been able to find any info on when it is legal to threaten leathel force(draw your gun on someone(not actually shoot them)) to some one. for example if i catch someone breaking into my car, or someone else's car for that matter but i cant tell if they have a weapon or not, am i allowed to draw my weapon on them to make them stop. any info or links to tell me more info would be appreciated..

thanks tim:confused:
 
Smithtim, I think in most states you can only draw you weapon to prevent death or bodily harm, but check your state laws on lethal force. Remember it only takes a moment to call 911. Of course, it may take the rest of your life for them to respond.:)

badbob
 
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Check the use of force laws in your state. If you are justified in drawing your firearm, you are justified in using it. In other words, don't draw unless you can legally shoot. If you already have your carry permit but don't know when you can and can't use lethal force you've either forgotten what you were taught or you weren't taught very well.

Oh! And learn to use your shift key.

-Dave
 
His original question was specifically with regard to threatening someone to use lethal force against them.

Common sense tells me that a threat of bodily harm against someone doesn't require that you have a CCW, nor would the legal ramifications change whether you had a CCW permit or not.

The law would most likely look at the threat you make against someone separately. Now what you do after that (where you either brandish or shoot) may be tied to the threat in court somehow, but that's a different story and you can't know beforehand what effect that might have on your trial.

For my part, I would never threaten lethal force against ANYBODY for ANY reason. And it doesn't matter if you're carrying a gun, or a baseball bat, or nothing but fists and ability to use them.

Threatening someone does two things, and really quickly. It first can quickly escalate the incident by prompting the other guy to respond to your lethal threat with a lethal action against you, and second, it gives away your advantage of surprise you had up until that point. Even if you go no further, he will be on high alert to act against you. Not smart. You want your attacker to feel comfortable and cocky so he will be off guard.

If you find someone breaking into your car, just yell at him to stop. If he bolts, fine, he knows he got caught and he's gone without any further threat from you.
If he doesn't run, then you KNOW that he is willing to act against you so it's time to use your surprise advantage and just shoot the SOB because if you don't, you know damn well that he didn't run therefore he's got some of his own plans for you... and they aren't good.

In short, I see no advantage in threatening anybody.

My tactical .02

Carter
 
Many states employ the "reasonable person" doctrine for cases like this one. If a reasonable person would have thought that he/she was in danger, then the use of lethal force would be justified.
 
At least, from what I understand, in North Dakota, THREATENING to use lethal force is allowed in certian circumstances. If someone is breaking into my car. I can threaten to shoot them, however I can't actualy shoot them unless they start to attack me or make other agressive moves. If they run away, I was justified to threaten them, but not to shoot them.
 
If they run away. If they take ONE step towards you after you've given them the command to get down on the ground...well, that just seems mighty threatening to me. But yeah, if they run away they're golden...
 
The question came up in our CCW training: the answer was simply that if there is enough justification to shoot, . . . there is justification to threaten.

If there is not enough justification to shoot, . . . you may very well be facing an assault with a deadly weapon charge, . . . and if you are convicted on that charge, . . . it is one which will forever deny you a CCW license in the state of Ohio.

Anyway, . . . that was the answer we were given, . . . makes sense to me.

May God bless,
Dwight
 
I think the proper way to deal with this situation is to have one hand on your firearm (still holstered) and tell the feller to back off. If he backs the wrong way (toward you) you've got your justification.
 
But if you see some random bad guy, head in your vehicle, legs flailing in the air, trying like mad to remove you of your cheapo best buy special cd player, isn't that enough provocation to draw (but not shoot yet?)?
 
Be careful....

In most States that I am aware of, the act of drawing your weapon IS considered deadly force. The act of "threatening" would constitute brandishing, if you are not justified in using deadly force to begin with.

Best place to check is your local prosecutor's office.
 
SD is pretty much the same as ND. You have to "fell your life is threatened" before drawing your weapon. Thus yell at teh BG and if he walks twoards you, you have justifiaction.

SW
 
I'm gonna fix that as soon as I'm elected dictator...

Stealing car stereos should open a window of opportunity for the stereo owner to end the miserable life of the jack*** offender. Yes, instant death for a car stereo. You heard right. See how many are taken after I make THAT decree into law...
 
[quote-EMB]Stealing car stereos should open a window of opportunity for the stereo owner to end the miserable life of the jack*** offender. Yes, instant death for a car stereo. You heard right. See how many are taken after I make THAT decree into law...[/quote]

That is the main problem with American justice. The punishment does not fit the crime anymore. Theft used to mean hanging from a tree after a trial of course. A taken life should equal the same.
 
Over the course of my life, I have watched as my own opinions on various subjects have changed -- sometimes even 180 degrees.

The idea of using deadly force against someone who attempts robbery has always made sense to me, and still does, and I expect it always will.

A large part of the reason is that lawlessness is lawlessness. A person who would steal your car stereo simply does not respect your standing as a fellow human being with a right to keep his own earned property. Why should we figure that he respects our right to life any more than our right to property?

Our country's permissiveness (to say nothing of the permissiveness in countries like Britain) has led to widespread disregard for the law, and for others' lives and property.

There is no -- absolutely NO -- justification for telling the victims of criminals that being a victim is just a fact of life we have to accept, and that fighting back vehemently is wrong. It is NOT wrong to fight back. We'll reach a certain point, I think, when we are going to have to realize and acknowledge that it is crucial.


-azurefly
 
I would like to make this statement for consideration,I have severe Emphysema, 42% lung capacity, and others with heart conditions,disabilities such as Wheelchair bound,well you get the picture, if we are put in a situation of being threatened by a bad guy, what are, or can we do, if I was in that sort of a situation, and a bad guy came at me, I would have two choices in my opinion, hurt him real bad real quick, because I would have no endurance to put up a sustained fight, or Shoot the SOB.

I'm not talking about a situation of yelling at him if that works cool, but if not then what am I, or anyone else supposed to do, stand or remain in the wheelchair and take a beating from a Criminal, or defend ourselves to the best of our ability, if armed that means to fend off with a single warning, then if that fails, Shoot to KILL not to stop.
 
Let's see how long it is before someone theorizes that you don't have the right to defend yourself because you did something to bring the emphysema on yourself, Kelly J. :rolleyes: We have here some folks who'll likely see it that way.


-azurefly
 
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