Self Defense

A few years back I was standing on the sidewalk talking to my grown son while a dog kept sniffing my feet and slobbering on me. After several attempts to get rid of the dog, I gave him a gentle slap to let him know he wasn't appreciated. A young man came from the door and wanted to start a physical confrontation because I slapped his dog. He even went so far as to tell me what he would do to me and assumed a fighting stance with fists up. He never touched me though. I told him I was too old to be fighting young men such as he and that I didn't intend to fight him. What I did not tell him was I was prepared to put a bullet in him at the first chance should he press the issue farther. Luckily he recovered his sanity and moved away.

Would this be considered self defense if I had shot this man? I know the paperwork and such would have been a pain but could I have been charged? I am not that old but certainly in no condition to fight with a man in his 20's or 30's.

It hasn't changed my mindset one bit. I will still put one in anyone who threatens me and take my chances rather than take a beating.

Check your state laws. The rules vary from state to state.

That's why I carry a 45. I'm too old to be jawing and duking with assholes. But, you have to be very discretionary in your use of lethal force generally. Somebody coming at you with a weapon of some sort is 'logically' justified (not necesarily lawfully though), but with fists???? I guess if you made every attempt to avoid the confrontation, leave the scene peacefully, etc, etc but were wounded by the aggressor and could assert that you feared for more wounds, then posibly the use of lethal force to stop the attack would probably be justified?? Hopefully just showing your weapon and letting the aggressor know you will not stand for any BS will be enough to defuse the situation. But that takes some skill to pull that off too.

Well, the way I see it. Not being a spring chicken any more. Some punk getting into a'a fighting stance with fists up', very close to me, (think Tueller drill), would definitely be a major threat of bodily harm. I would try to sidestep. Were he to insist and approach while staing in the stance, my hand would go to my holstered gun. Maybe the gun being drawn to a low-ready position. After that, any move in my direction would meet with an appropriate response.

But ONE MAJOR caveat. IF you do use your gun as a threat, holstered or drawn. Call the cops immediately AFTER the threat is gone, and report the fact that you were the victim of threatened.physical harm. This would make you the first person to report the situation. Which means you are the complainant/victim, and the other guy is nor the 'perp'. (And your voluntary call to them increases your chances of being the (relatively speaking) 'good guy' in their eyescompared to the other person.) Naturally you should limit yourself to declaring the facts of the incident AND ONLY the facts of the incident. Also strongly declare that per your lawyers advice, you need to talk to your lawyer before any other discussion of the situation can occur.

In SC, a CCW holder is required to retreat if possible. Only in your own home do you have the right to forgo retreat. Might be tough to swallow for some, but is prudent no matter what the laws are. Also, the threat must be such that a person of 'reasonable courage' would perceive imminent and grievous harm to self or death.

Yes, though I would strongly recommend that other than what you say on the phone, keep your mouth shut unless your attorney is there. Don't even tell them 'what happened' without a lawyer.

Well, you will have to tell them something. A minimum for them to respond to your call Beyond that, you are correct that it's better to say that you've just had an adrenaline dump and the brain isn't working as it should.

Yup, and that's it.

Well wasn't that the gist of my original post ?