Legal Implications if you Draw Your Pistol?

[fritz1255]

OK, here's at least one incidence of what I was asking about, although in this case the person apparently showed himself to be a true Neanderthal, which probably contributed to getting him in lots of trouble: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/m...010-story.html

[fritz1255]

I bought a copy of Massad Ayoob's book "In the Gravest Extreme", which covers this topic extensively. The book was published in 1980, so the pictures are a little dated (most of the people look like they just stepped out of a disco), but I assume the information is still good. The overall message was that you cannot legally shoot someone unless your life is in danger. If you are carrying, you need to swallow your pride and walk away from situations that could escalate into deadly force incidents. If I had shot the person in the road rage incident in the original post, I would almost certainly be a convicted felon today, as well as being several thousand dollars poorer. The only point where I disagreed with him was that I believe you need to call the police if you pull out your firearm to "dissuade" someone from trying to do you harm. If the other party calls the police first, he/she will be assumed to be the victim and you will be defending yourself against false allegations.