We were recently blessed with a post regarding someone’s draw against a charging dog. I’m not going to repeat it entirely, but the essence was:1) a dog charged him and his kids, and he drew his Glock2) the dog reached them and was friendly. OP kept his gun out.3) neighbors took control of the dog and told OP to put the gun away or they’d call the cops. OP kept his gun out.4) dog owners arrived and told OP to put his gun away. OP argued with them about controlling their dog and kept his gun out.5) OP walked away about a block and finally put away his gun.Can anyone see the problem here? Lethal force is only authorized if all 3 of the following components are present, as taught by the expert Massad Ayoob:1) they have the physical ability to kill you or seriously injure you. This normally means they have a weapon, or there’s a big size discrepancy, it’s you versus a group, you’re a girl and the attackers are men, etc.2) have the opportunity to kill you. Someone a football field away saying they’re going to kill you with their fists is not an imminent threat when they’re that far away. If they had a rifle, then it would be.3) if there is jeopardy, as in they’re actively displaying intent they’re going to do you harm. Charging at you, raising the weapon, etc. You can’t use lethal force against someone who merely says “I’ll beat your ass” and then just stands there not doing anything.Additionally, it’s extremely important that you didn’t start the altercation. If it comes out you know you flipped someone off, cursed them out, threatened them, or generally instigated a fight, then you started the encounter and trying to plea that you had to shoot them as your last resort isn’t going to work too well when it was clear you were looking for a fight to begin with.That all being said, let’s go back to OP’s story and evaluate if it meets all three points:Ability: Yes, as it was a pit bull reasonably known to cause serious injury if it were to attack.Opportunity: Yes, as it was charging him and reached him.Jeopardy: YES, but mainly NO. While the dog was actively charging, I’d say yes if OP reasonably felt it was in a menacing matter. However, once it reached him OP admitted it was entirely docile and the threat was over at that exact moment.What should have been the course of action? OP should have done one of the following two things once he drew at the charging dog:1) shot to kill as it was charging him, if he reasonably believed a deadly attack was imminent, and then reholster once the dog was stopped.2) once the dog reached him and was friendly, he should have reholstered. Keeping the gun out once the perceived threat was no longer an actual one — while confronting the neighbors and the owner — was a horrendous decision that was in all likelihood brandishing or some count of disturbing the peace, negligent conduct, etc.You’d be surprised the number of people who thought OP did nothing wrong. “He just drew on a threat,” “pit bulls are dangerous I’d keep my gun out too,” etc. Just because something is uncomfortable to you does not justify the display or use of your firearm if there is no lethal threat, and certainly not so in a neighborhood while arguing with residents of said neighborhood.So please people, before you holster up your weapon, please be aware of the responsibilities that come along with doing so, and act in a manner that won’t make the CCW community seem like trigger ready jacka****. via /r/CCW https://ift.tt/2X6syz7
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