freedomdwarf1 -> RE: Anyone agree that it is better to harm with any other weapon than to avoid violence with a firearm? (10/5/2014 12:15:06 PM)
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ORIGINAL: subrosaDom Excessive force to prevent you or your family from being killed, raped or tortured? Really? So in the middle of that, one should calmly step back, consider all the options and carefully shoot the animal in the knee. Right. This is especially effective when the animal is on PCP and insensate to pain. Now, you're right, in the UK, what you describe can happen. And that is an indictment of human rights, rights of the innocent, in and of itself. Any force that is deemed 'excessive' by the police (or a court of law), in that the amount of harm (or death) inflicted upon an assailant is disproportional to the perceived or actual threat, then yes, you would receive a jail sentence. And yes, you should consider your options prior to delivering any harm. And no, that doesn't necessarily mean to step back either. The point being, you are responsible for your actions regardless of the circumstances and most laws (outside of the US) would make sure you are fully accountable for whatever action you take. Unfortunately, many people in the US are using a very lax interpretation of the term "imminent" to make a defense and get away with what I consider to be murder, or manslaughter at the very least. To use Bama's example of his drug dealer episode, 4ft away is still way too far to be thinking of using a gun. Unless that person was armed and pointing at you or otherwise charging at you with a weapon of some description, should anything have happened, Bama would have been jailed. If he had done that over here, the assailant could (and probably would) have sued him for pulling a gun and using threatening behaviour which would almost certainly carry a fine and a small amount of time at Her Majesty's pleasure as well as compensation payments to the other person. Close proximity is not an excuse for irresponsible behaviour at all.
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