IMPORTANT NOTE: This post does not contain legal advice. It is a summary of the material presented in the book: The Gravest Extreme by Massad Ayoob. For specific legal questions / concerns consult the appropriate legal councel in your state.
Self-Defense & Lethal Force - Chapter 2
Learning gun law can be very challenging. The reality is that once you acquire a firearm, you are obligated to know the gun laws -- your state laws as well as the laws of whatever state you are planning on carrying concealed. Books such as Ayoob's provide explanations, keen insights and examples to help clarify legal terms and precedents.
Some Key Terms:
Lethal Force - Almost any form of physical attack is potentially deadly force. In most cases, lethal or deadly force entails the use of a lethal weapon -- gun, knife, budgeon, etc.
Disparity of Force - one of the vaguest concepts in self-defense. It is tied closely to the legal term "Equal Force". Equal force doctrines require the law-abiding citizen to respond to attack with little or no more force than what is being directed against him/her. Disparity of force is an interpretive concept difficult to break down into hard and fast rules. Shooting a person of similar size attaching you with a knife is more difficult to defend than shooting a person much larger and stronger who attacks you with a knife.
Reasonableness - The judgement of a reasonable man is a standard pervading our judical system. "It gives the court an avenue whereby extenuating considerations may be pursued beyond the letter of laws conceived by men who had never anticipated certain situations. It permits each case to be judges on its own particular circumstances, rather then being pigeon-holed into one cateofry or another of self-defense law." (p. 10)
When is Lethal force allowed? Only when life and limb are in jeopardy. But what constitutes jeopardy? Does the attacker need to have a lethal weapon? Does a punch or kick warrant armed defense? It is important to realize that the laws were formulated by legislators who spend their lives guarded by armed security in the comfort of their chambers and never witnessed what happens in the streets. Devastating damage to a body can be done with hands and feet. "A seasoned street-fighter, or even an amateur in the grip of a savage, murderous impulse, can puncture your eyeballs, crush your testicles, snap your windpipe, break your spine and cave in your skull in less time than it takes for the scream to choke in your throat." (p. 16)
If you never lived in or were exposed to "rough" neighborhoods, identifying with Ayoob's examples may be difficult. Recently I was reading an opinion in the NY Times titled "Unlearning Gun Violence". (http://nyti.ms/1bwOEYu) The gist of the article is that violence is a learned behavior and it can be unlearned. It identifies "violence interrupters" who try to mediate when something happens that could cause someone in the neighborhood to shoot someone else. It's an interesting concept and perhaps will work in some areas. What was more interesting were some of the comments to the article; I quote one from Maureen O'Brien: "I 'm here to tell you, after 35 years teaching in the inner city, that young guys who want guns will get guns, no matter what and they will use them impulsively to exhibit their power over each other and often over innocent victims from whom they wish to take something. Your humanity, empathy means nothing to them. Killing someone or letting them live (sans money, car, athletic shoes) is left to caprice in the moment. I had kids tell me that they could get a gun in twenty minutes off the street--no biggie. Guns were so common to them. Life and what it means to be a fellow human being mattered very little. What mattered was the show of wealth--possessions, high end labels, living the philosophy of whatever rappers lyrics resonated with their desires, girls willing to be with them despite infidelity and abuse. I can become the distant omniscient narrator here and speak about the lack of a cohesive family run by loving parents and say if only... but we all know this. Truth is this epidemic has been multi-generational so long that it has morphed into "cultural" expressions of who these kids are and when they finally wake up, in a hospital, prison, or court mandated drug treatment centers they are middle aged and responsible for new generations of their own kids replicating the same tragic behavior with the same consequences. I don't see a legislative cure; the answer lies in changing the behavior in each "family" and that is a daunting task." (underline added)
Bare Fear and Reasonable Fear
The few pages in the book that deal with these two types of fear, I thought, to be very interesting.
Bare Fear is paranoia -- you think someone is going to kill you based on words or past threats. Verbal threats are insufficient grounds for lethal force.
Lethal force is ONLY permissible when your life is in jeopardy in the present moment. Cursing you, spitting in your face, even pushing or punching you are not necessarily justifications for lethal force.
Reasonable fear is fear brought on by actions, words or both that put your life in jeapody. If you are reasonably fearful of your life, lethal force may be justified. Notice the words "may be". Ayoob provides examples that clarifiy these two fears. These few pages alone may save you from a prison sentence.
I do hope that these short summaries from a small part of the book interest you, the concealed carrier (or one thinking of becoming a concealed carrier), enough to purchase and study it. I also hope that you are concerned enough after reading and studying the book, to take defensive handguns classes on a regular basis.
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