Disclaimer:

I am not a lawyer and am not dispensing legal advice in any way, shape or form in this article. To clarify any legal aspects of self defense with a gun or without a gun please consult a qualified attorney.

continued From "The Problem With Guns (Part 1)"

How about when someone is calling you every name in the book and telling you that they would like to beat your a** and knock you silly and witnesses are present? You can not draw your weapon then either. They are verbally threatening to fist fight you and calling you names. This does not constitute lethal force and when you draw your firearm you have now turned a domestic squabble into a lethal force situation and you are responsible.

So, when can I draw my firearm? When they have lethal force ability and are bringing it against you in some manner. Do you think the average criminal will tell you they are doing this? The average person finds out that there is this level of problem at the point when they are being attacked. So, when can you utilize the firearm? In reality not very often because most of the time either there is not enough provocation to legally justify it or the attack has already begun. The types of situations where a firearm can be utilized are a home security situation where someone is breaking in while you are home and they are making it obvious that they are going to try to kill you and a car jacking where you see them coming with firearms and you have the time (if you are that lucky) to see them coming and do not have a way to drive out of it. By the way make sure to familiarize yourself with your states laws regarding Duty to Retreat and always call 911 if you can. For instance in your home if someone is breaking in or trying to break in and you have the ability to dial 911 and you don't but then shoot them and it is obvious that it took them a couple of minutes to tear your door off its frame then you could be tried for murder because you simply waited for the attacker with your firearm in hand and did nothing to get outside help from the proper authorities. You get the idea.

I am not saying that I am happy with all of this. I am all for the proposition that a criminal attacker gets what they deserve. But, I am a law abiding citizen and in teaching proper and excellent self defense would be remiss in my duties if I did not explain the situation and someone reacts or responds poorly because they have not been exposed to the way the law works in this regard.

I look forward to your feedback and discussion on our forum. I know there is a lot more to this and the purpose of this article is just to get the basic education out there and get the discussion started. Because of the brevity of this article I indeed may need to clarify some of what I have stated here as I have presented a very limited amount of situations and of course there are thousands of possibilities and variables that need to be considered. However, my main theme point is that out of 50 random average situations/disputes/fights/altercations/arguments etc you will be quite lucky to find 1 that allows for the drawing of a weapon while also allowing the time necessary to draw and engage that weapon against a serious and determined attacker who attacks with little or no warning at a time that is most opportune for them and really sucks for you.