Warning vs threat

[StonewallRabbitry]

Is there any legal description between a warning and a threat?

I started thinking about that after a friend of mine was followed several times while she walking down the street by a registered sex offender that just moved on her street. The last time she was being followed she said " Stop following me, I have pepper spray" and he turned and walked the opposite direction.

If she had her ltcf and had said "Stop following me, I have a handgun" would that be considered a threat that she could be charged with?

[4tun8]

That's a good question, im interested in the answer to this one.

But in my opinion i don't think that you should need to reveal that you are carrying. Just saying stop following me should be enough, but obviously it doesn't work that easily.

[gnbrotz]

I don't think that either quote would be either a warning or a threat. They are either a statement of fact, or a lie. There was no suggestion that the "follower" do anything, nor a stated penalty if they did not.

"I will mace you" or "I will shoot you" could be either a warning or a threat IMO, depending on the circumstance in which they were uttered.

[StonewallRabbitry]

"stop following me" should be enough but when a guy is brave(??) enough to repeatedly follow a female down a back road I don't think it would work. There is also no cell phone service on the road, I told her to atleast pretend to talk to someone on the phone when he follows her but he likely knows that there is no service. It is also in an area that only has state police coverage.

I guess if it continues the next step might be to call the police and tell them what is going on. I am a guy and I would feel threatened if someone followed me for over a mile.

[Truckman]

She should definitely report it to the LEO's. At the very least it shows he is acting badly, and if it comes to an attack, or worse, she has something to back up her claim.

[renalp]

+3 on reporting this to the police, and directly to the offender's parole officer.

As far as "threat vs. warning," I expect that the circumstances and actions are more important than the precise wording.

[GunLawyer001]

What governs here is the principle of "justification". What might be considered harassment or terroristic threats in one situation, might be completely justified in another.

You could be prosecuted for saying "I have a gun and I will blow your fucking head off", if you say it in a movie theater to someone who just won't turn off his cell phone. But if you say it to the rapist who has a knife to your daughter's throat, it most likely will be held to be justified.

The threat has to cause less harm than the act that the threat is intended to prevent.

You can probably "threaten" to kill someone, to prevent an actual beating, because the physical beating is more harmful than the fear and trepidation caused by the mere verbal threat. That's why "defensive displays" of firearms are such a valuable tool for the law-abiding, although they are often confused with "use" of deadly force by those who don't understand the law or the language.

[dmcdonnell]

Tell her to file a report NOW.. and document EVERY time he follows her and EVERY single instance where he might appear where he could be watching her. She should document every instance AND she needs to get an LTCF and some training.. and start carrying a firearm.

This way, if the eventual outcome is her having to shoot this guy, whether he is killed or just injured and arrested by the police, she has a documented paper trail that proves he was stalking her and she had cause to defend herself.

"stop following me" should be enough but when a guy is brave(??) enough to repeatedly follow a female down a back road I don't think it would work. There is also no cell phone service on the road, I told her to atleast pretend to talk to someone on the phone when he follows her but he likely knows that there is no service. It is also in an area that only has state police coverage.

I guess if it continues the next step might be to call the police and tell them what is going on. I am a guy and I would feel threatened if someone followed me for over a mile.

[Python73]

"I have a gun and I will blow your fucking head off", if you say it in a movie theater to someone who just won't turn off his cell phone.

If we shot a few of these cell phone bastards maybe the rest would toe the fucking line.


As for the OP... this young lady needs to have a few of her friends "have a talk" with the guy. A talk that involves baseball bats and him crawling home bleeding from his sex offending knees. When are we going to stop putting up with this kind of bullshit and demand that our women (and children, and selves) be safe from fucking predators.

And while I'm all about some tough talk and not about advocating actual violence in general, these repeated stories really fire me up. If that's my sister / wife / friend being followed I'm not going to put up with it at all. Fuck that. There are some things in life that are worth facing a jury of your peers, and protecting your people is the very first on that list.

[bac0nfat]

This is why sex offenders shouldn't be released from prison. It boggles my mind that they let out sex offenders to make room for potheads.