[QUOTE=Gloria;7784709]
Wait - so you shoot to kill, but never say you shoot to kill? And never say you shoot the air, or the ground, or you are “brandishing” the gun - so what exactly do you say?[/QUOTE]
You say: I feared for my life. I am very upset and I don’t want to talk about it without my lawyer."
Even cops will not talk about a shooting until they talk to their lawyer.
And again I say that you had better have the facts on your side that will convince a reasonable person that you were justified in that fear.
Even if you get an unreasonable cop and a worse prosecutor, you do have a good chance to get a reasonable jury.
The fact that you live way out, in the woods, on a dark night and someone is in your yard is not a reasonable reason to shoot someone.
As for shoot to kill…if you take the concealed course you will be taught to shoot at “center mass”, which is the area between the breast bone and the belt buckle. You will be taught to shoot until the person stops advancing toward you…assuming that the advancement is threatening in nature sufficient for you to believe you life is in danger.
Since most of the vital organs are within that area, it is only a matter of chance as to whether any are hit. Therefore, a certain percentage of bad guys will die.
But what happens to many who have not thought it through or who are not familiar with their state’s laws is that they shoot their mouth off to the cops while under the influence of an adrenalin supercharge and say something like:
“I told the S.O.B that if he took one more step I would kill him.”
Bad trouble in court if you get the wrong PA.
A short story. Really happened two or three years ago.
I forgot what state, but at one of the many quick service stores with gas.
Young fellow either just out of service or still in, don’t remember exactly came out of the store with his girl friend and some guy tried to rob him.
He whipped out his pistol and shot the bad guy twice in the chest and then shot him in the head before he hit the ground. Fantastic shooting.
The PA charged him and in court made a really big deal out of the fact that he shot him three times, once in the head. The PA painted him as a blood thirsty nutcase who was just itching to kill.
In his defense, the soldier testified that he shot the bad guy that way because that was the way he was taught.
My guess is that he was probably ex special forces to learn how to shoot a pistol that well.
But in any case, it shows how careful you must be about what you say. Had he said something like “That trash deserved to be killed” in his early on statement, he would have been toast.
As it was, he was found not guilty.
Maybe someone here read the same story and will remember more detail.
