> “Current law prevents someone who feels he is in mortal danger from brandishing a firearm or fire a warning shot. If you wave around your weapon or fire a shot in the air, you can get a minimum of 20 years in jail.” [column]
How close or far off is that from the truth? It seems to me that the best time to pull out a gun is well before the attacker has broken your nose, and is sitting on top of you and pounding your head into the pavement (Zimmerman was lucky to be able to get off a shot at that point). If you pull out a gun when the words or gestures of an approaching person indicate that you’re about to be attacked, that might be effective in preventing the attack. What are your chances of going to prison if you do?
I don’t have a permit to carry myself, but wonder what’s the recommended practice. Do you put your hand on the concealed weapon and say, “I have a gun. Stay away!” And if so, at what point do you actually take it out?
I was told in CCDW class (KY):
Do any thing you can to get away from it. If you can't and you honestly believe your life is in danger, pull the gun, aim, say "stop or I'll shoot", they don't stop then you shoot them. Unless of course it is happening too fast to give a verbal warning.
Do not shoot a warning shoot. NEVER shoot a gun into the air, extremely dangerous thing to do.
I am grateful never to have been anywhere near a situation that dire. I honestly believe that although I might hesitate for myself, if my wife or daughter was the intended prey, I would not hesitate to be brutal. No fooling around, you're dead.
My policy is to not show until you feel you are in danger and then be ready to make a quick decision. If leaving is not an option, posture means everything.
I have legally carried my tools, concealed and openly, in many states and a few foreign countries.
Frankly I have defensively brandished my car more times than I have displayed my weapon(s).
My personal self-defense arsenal consists of a number of disparate things, including various lethal physical attack movements, edged weapons, and some fairly arcane knowledge of defensive poisons.
I have never been accused of physically attacking anyone.
If attacked, I would not waste any advantage in protecting myself.
So no, there is no such thing as “warning shots” or “scare tactics” I would be willing to employ if I was forced into a physical self defense situation.
Why anyone would think I needed to suffer any degree of physical harm before I actively defended myself from physical attack is something I just don't understand.