I agree with you completely. If and only if I felt that my life was in danger would I draw my concealed carry weapon and then I would "shoot to live." If for any reason, I expose my concealed carry permit, I should understand that I may go to jail.
The use of deadly force and creating a deadly force confrontation when one doesn't exist is what the owner of the Sig did. When he drew his weapon he should have either fired it or not drawn it. If he drew his weapon without intending to fire it he was wrong. But let's assume for a moment that he is a "wrong headed" kind of guy who intended to draw his weapon but not fire.
What could he have done that might have provided evidence in a court of law that he thought he was in a deadly force situation, where drawing his weapon would be what a prudent man would do? Well, if he thought his life was in danger, a prudent man could draw his weapon with the intent to save his own life. If he said something like I was afraid for my life, he could honestly testify in a court of law or under a polygraph interview that he said he feared for his life and that is why he drew the firearm. If there were witnesses they might confirm what he said and all that would substantiate a calm on his part that his drawing his weapon was what a prudent man would do. I would never do what the Sig owner did, but I was try to say what he probably should have done, if he was going to do the crazy things he did and wanted to minimize his chance of going to jail. I also don't think it is a citizens job to restrain anyone but the most dangerous of fleeing felons and only if you feel you can do so safely (which is highly questionable).
Good post. I don’t disagree. Completely.
There is always the prospect that you could draw your weapon with ~intent~ to fire, because you believe your life to be in danger, but at the very last nanosecond before you pull the trigger the perp gives up and drops his weapon or otherwise becomes a non-threat.
I have carried a concealed pistol for about thirty years. In that time I have only had to draw it “in anger” twice. That is, there have only been two times in those years that I’ve felt in danger of my life such that I have had to draw the weapon. I’ve never had to fire my weapon. In both cases the situation was diffused before a shooting situation evolved.
It’s true that you never want to pull a gun just to “brandish” it, and I’ve never done that. In both of the times I’ve pulled my gun I intended to fire. But in both cases I had the situational awareness to realize that the target person suddenly became a non-threat, so I did not fire.