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I hope you never find yourself in such a situation, but be careful. Saying your intention would “not be to kill him.. [but] Rather, it would be to make him stop hitting me” could get you in a lot of trouble in such a situation. Most states would claim you were not justified in firing a shot if you only shot to incapacitate rather than kill. I’m not criticizing you, I’m simply saying that’s the way it is in some places. I remember a case where a victim took the gun away from the robber and shot the robber dead; the DA’s office felt the victim unnecessarily killed the robber because the robber no longer pursued the victim. The victim suddenly became a defendant. It’s crazy.

What is crazy AND irritating is that they don’t take human nature into consideration. It is rational for a biological machine, the way we are wired, to try to stop an attack. It is also natural to fear the worst - like the single smack on the concrete that ends you. If I were on a jury I would completely understand a person using a gun to just stop the beating, without even being mindful that it may kill the other guy. Worrying about the other guys wellbeing in such a situation is completely unnatural.

It is all about the “fight or flight” hard wiring. If you give them no escape route, attacking a bear, a dog, a cat or a human can get you killed. The latter is especially true if you are in a CCW state.

I hope you never find yourself in such a situation, but be careful.

One of the ways I’ve tried to prevent it is by moving, two years ago, from my home of 45 years, Seattle, to a farm in central and very rural Kentucky.

I’m also getting old and don’t really care what the courts think. I’ll do what I think is right, from a Christian perspective, and let the chips fall where they may. Everything happens for a reason and it is all useful for teaching and learning.

And if I DID find myself in a situation where ridiculous charges were brought against me. I’d be in my “safe-haven” city in a few hours, never to step foot in this country again.

As a criminal defense attorney Fred Reed used as source material for a law article said, and I paraphrase, “You do not ever want to find yourself in criminal court. Whether or not you are found innocent or guilty will have almost nothing to do with whether or not you are innocent or guilty.

I read that article over ten years ago and vowed that if I EVER was charged with a felony, I was history. But that is because I DO have places to go, and I’ve experienced enough change in my life that I would just consider it another adventure.

Life is a mist.

Once the victim had disarmed his attacker and had the upper hand, he was no longer being attacked. Such a shooting is not self defense unless the attacker is still posing a threat. Disarming someone doesn’t automatically give one the right to shoot him.