Conceal carry politics welcome - THUNDERDOME

[MurphCO]

I am going to get my CCW here pretty soon, so the wife and I had a long talk about


What would it take for you to actually draw your weapon?



What is the minimum situation that would cause you to pull the gun out and be prepared to use it?



::017::

 

[nwryder12]

In defense of my own life or that of another.

 

[MurphCO]

Granted, but what constitutes that?



Physical altercation?


Another weapon drawn?

 

[MikeBear]

If you fear for your life, draw and shoot. Nothing complicated about it. After the fact all you have to say is:"he/she was going to kill me. I had to stop him/her".
Couple of rules thou:
If you are not ready to pull the trigger, don't draw your weapon.
Don't hesitate. If you have your gun out, shoot.
Don't shoot in the back: it's murder.

 

[RED CAT]

And if you ever get dragged through court, no matter what, never, ever utter the word kill.

 

[nwryder12]

It is what you perceive as an articulable lethal threat to yourself or someone else. Shooting someone in the back is not necessarily murder. If you're standing behind someone who is assaulting a third party with a baseball bat for instance, it's not reasonable to expect that you move in front of him to stop the threat to the third party is it? It would be more realistic and reasonable to give the assaulter a verbal command to stop what he's doing and in the absence of compliance, the use of lethal force (yes shooting him or her in the back) is justifiable. Just saying...

 

[creggur]

In defense of my own life or that of another.

^^This^^

By the way, I wouldn't pull a weapon unless I was prepared to use it. Finger not on the trigger until it was time to put it to use.

 

[Firefight911]

If you don't already know that answer to this question why would you get a CCW?

If you carry a weapon you better make damn sure you have already decided that if it is drawn you will shoot once your sight picture is assessed.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk which means there are more than likely spelling errors!

 

[MurphCO]

I know my answer, I'm asking to see what everyone else's answer is.....

 

[TheCabinetMan]

The short answer is: if a threat has the "means, opportunity, and intent"1 to cause severe bodily harm or death, then I'm justified in using deadly force to defend myself and others. This also presumes that I've exhausted my options for escape and employing force of a lesser degree. Fortunately, in Colorado, we do not have a duty to retreat but I'd be remiss not to advise my fellow readers to just walk away if they are afforded that option. The best gunfight is the one you're not in!

Yup, that's the short answer. (Can you tell that I teach this stuff?)

Long answer? Hire an attorney to give you a rundown of your state's "use of deadly force" laws. If you CCW, you have that attorney on speed-dial already, right?

TCM

1 Believe it or not, these terms have legal definitions. Your attorney can elaborate...

 

[TheCabinetMan]

... never, ever utter the word kill.

This!!

You never "shoot to kill" -- you shoot to stop the threat. And you continue to shoot until the threat stops. Once the threat is no longer a threat, you're obligated to stop shooting. If the threat gets killed in the process, bummer for him. But you never "shoot to kill".

TCM

 

[nwryder12]

The short answer is: if a threat has the "means, opportunity, and intent"1 to cause severe bodily harm or death, then I'm justified in using deadly force to defend myself and others. This also presumes that I've exhausted my options for escape and employing force of a lesser degree. Fortunately, in Colorado, we do not have a duty to retreat but I'd be remiss not to advise my fellow readers to just walk away if they are afforded that option. The best gunfight is the one you're not in!

Yup, that's the short answer. (Can you tell that I teach this stuff?)

Long answer? Hire an attorney to give you a rundown of your state's "use of deadly force" laws. If you CCW, you have that attorney on speed-dial already, right?

I agree. "Walk away if you can" is the very best advice on this topic.

TCM

1 Believe it or not, these terms have legal definitions. Your attorney can elaborate...

 

[creggur]

I would only pull the trigger to stop a threat. Two center-mass - check - one just a few inches up - check - two more center-mass... Rinse and repeat...

 

[tomatocity]

Life Threatening Scenario ?
- You are legally carrying a handgun.
- You are walking down the stairs of a public parking garage.
- You turn the corner and see two people.
- Person #2 is on the ground, distressed and facing Person #1.
- Person #1 is standing, distressed, facing Person #2, and holding a handgun.
- You are twenty feet behind and to the left of Person #1.
- You can see that Peron #1 has their finger on the trigger and the safety is off.
- What do you do?

 

[Firefight911]

Retreat to cover and call out. If the threat turns to you and draws, fire. If they run, check status on victim, call for help.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk which means there are more than likely spelling errors!

 

[nwryder12]

Life Threatening Scenario ?
- You are legally carrying a handgun.
- You are walking down the stairs of a public parking garage.
- You turn the corner and see two people.
- Person #2 is on the ground, distressed and facing Person #1.
- Person #1 is standing, distressed, facing Person #2, and holding a handgun.
- You are twenty feet behind and to the left of Person #1.
- You can see that Peron #1 has their finger on the trigger and the safety is off.
- What do you do?

Is person #2 a scantly clad hot college co-ed? Seriously, there isn't enough information to respond. Perhaps person 1 was just defending himself from person 2. There are nuances, tones, body language, and many other things that need to be considered that can't really be conveyed in a sterile and written scenario. What you described could be several different situations and I hate to say this, but I would almost have to be there to pick up on all of these cues if that makes sense. Not trying to be difficult.

 

[dcstrom]

You get mugged by a couple of teenagers. You're on the ground and they are asking for your wallet. Do you;

Pull the wallet and lose $50 (or whatever)?
Pull the gun and shoot them?

I guess the answer depends on who you are. If you are cool and have determined that they just want money, you might give it to them. On the other hand the adrenaline's probably flowing, you may be in fear for your life, and pull the gun. Once you do, you better use it cos now there's chance they might take it and use it on you.

So now you have three likely outcomes - you lose your wallet, you have one or two kids dead or wounded, or you are dead or wounded yourself.

I don't know what I'd do if I was carrying (probably nobody does unless they have trained for this), but I know I don't have to make the choice cos I won't be carrying. The most likely outcome is that I lose some money, and the kids get to grow up and perhaps lead useful lives. Or perhaps not, but there's no way of knowing if they are dead...

 

[MurphCO]

If you are broken enough to physically assault a stranger to the ground in order to rob them, you deserve whatever recourse that victim exacts.



Let me be clear though, it would take some doing to get me personally to the ground, and I wouldnt necessarily pull a pistol in a simple scuffle. If I were on the ground and being persued, absolutely.



To assume that you have to shoot if you pull the gun is asinine......sometimes all you need to do is expose the weapon,not even draw it.

 

[dcstrom]

Different mentality I guess - I don't trust myself to be judge, jury and executioner except in the most dire circumstances.

As for "assinine" - I don't think so. Sure the punks might run as soon as you expose the weapon, OR they might launch a full-fledged frenzied attack to take it from you, OR they might draw their own. You have no way of knowing in advance how it's going to play out.

If you are broken enough to physically assault a stranger to the ground in order to rob them, you deserve whatever recourse that victim exacts.



Let me be clear though, it would take some doing to get me personally to the ground, and I wouldnt necessarily pull a pistol in a simple scuffle. If I were on the ground and being persued, absolutely.



To assume that you have to shoot if you pull the gun is asinine......sometimes all you need to do is expose the weapon,not even draw it.

 

[Siseneg]

Training is really the best answer. Take the basic and advanced courses and get on a tactical range. Self defense comes in a lot of forms and ccw is a big responsibility. One can do a lot of hypothesizing but putting yourself in a controlled environemt where situations can be scripted and decisions can be practiced is way better. And, it's much better to have your decisions discussed in a training environment than by a prosecuting attorney.