question about ccw

[jeepdude90]

so ive done a little research on my question and havent really gotten a solid answer. if someone threatens to fight you and or throws a punch at you, does that fall under bodily harm?

[streaker69]

Terms for you to research on your own related to this:

Disparity of Force
Fear of Great Bodily Harm

Do some reading first.

[jeepdude90]

all right. thanks ill catch up on some reading.

[str8shooter]

so ive done a little research on my question and havent really gotten a solid answer. if someone threatens to fight you and or throws a punch at you, does that fall under bodily harm?

The threat is assault and for that alone you can have them arrested, following through is assault and battery.

Now if your true question is whether or not you're justified in using deadly force, that becomes circumstantial. If someone threatens you and shows no intention of carrying out the threat or you don't believe their threat is possible based on your H2H skills and/or physical size, not a good idea to draw because remember, if you draw you must be prepared to shoot. If someone threatens you and starts running at you like a mad man with or without a visible weapon, I wouldn't hesistate to draw. Their intent is clearly to do harm and waiting to find out if they had a blade or pipe wrench in their jacket could be a deadly mistake.

Similarly, if someone decks you, how prepared are you to take their life? Unless you have reason to believe they intend to put you in the hospital or morgue, or there are multiple assailants use of deadly force as a response to a one on one street fight might not go over too well with jury. Personally I'd rather get my assed kicked and be the complainant in a trial than kill someone for bruising my pride and be the defendant.

[jeepdude90]

this is actually what i was looking for! i kept typing questions into google and never got a solid answer.

Terms for you to research on your own related to this:

Disparity of Force
Fear of Great Bodily Harm

Do some reading first.

[jeepdude90]

that is also the answer i was looking for. there are some crazy people out there. ive just been thinking about hypothetical situations in my head where it would be just or unjust to draw. ive come to the conclusion that unless the other person is armed, there really isnt a reason to draw. if someone verbally attacks you, you can probably just walk away or defuse the situation.

The threat is assault and for that alone you can have them arrested, following through is assault and battery.

Now if your true question is whether or not you're justified in using deadly force, that becomes circumstantial. If someone threatens you and shows no intention of carrying out the threat or you don't believe their threat is possible based on your H2H skills and/or physical size, not a good idea to draw because remember, if you draw you must be prepared to shoot. If someone threatens you and starts running at you like a mad man with or without a visible weapon, I wouldn't hesistate to draw. Their intent is clearly to do harm and waiting to find out if they had a blade or pipe wrench in their jacket could be a deadly mistake.

Similarly, if someone decks you, how prepared are you to take their life? Unless you have reason to believe they intend to put you in the hospital or morgue, or there are multiple assailants use of deadly force as a response to a one on one street fight might not go over too well with jury. Personally I'd rather get my assed kicked and be the complainant in a trial than kill someone for bruising my pride and be the defendant.

[bmel17]

you can always take a CC course. NRA certified instructors will give you tons of info and scenarios when/when not to draw, when to fire, etc. I just took one yesterday and though a lot of it I knew from reading up on the subject, it was still very informative and worth my time.

never hurts to get more info!

[donm]

Training is always a good idea, and Phil Kline (Gunlawyer001) occasionally offers a course in the legal aspects of armed self defense, among other topics. I strongly recommend that you pick up a copy of the book "In the Gravest Extreme." It's 30 years old but still in print (Amazon), and except for advice on guns (before Gaston Glock changed the landscape) it will give you a pretty good legal and ethical grounding.

As for the original question, using deadly force against an unarmed attacker is a dicey proposition and there's no "always do it this way" answer. The standard is "reasonable fear of death or grave bodily injury." And somebody else gets to decide -- after the fact -- what "reasonable" means.

[BimmerJon]

ive come to the conclusion that unless the other person is armed, there really isnt a reason to draw. if someone verbally attacks you, you can probably just walk away or defuse the situation.

What if the other person is unarmed, but their arms are the size of Arnold Schwarzenegger? What if the person is the size of Peewee Herman, but there are 20 of them?

You have some (a lot) of research and thinking to do. Thankfully, you landed on a goldmine of info with this site.

[jeepdude90]

if someone had arms the size of arnolds i would just run away haha
i was just thinking about a one on one situation. not 5+ guys against me.