SniperStraz said:
Asking you for money is not a crime. Unless shenanigans put your life in danger there is really no reason to kill homeless people now is there?
I agree with SniperStraz. I think that you would do well to read Mas Ayoob's
In Gravest Extreme.
One of his points (I am sure it's very contraversial in this group) is that you may decide to give up some money to a bad guy, even while carrying. He does a pretty calm rational analysis of the legal costs of a clean shoot - as I recall, it's in the $10K - $20K range. That's your legal bills, assuming that you are found innocent, and the perp's family loses the wrongful death suit. You get to make your own choice, but in his view - as I recall - you want to keep in mind the option of giving someone $5 or $10 to avoid spending $20K. If you or someone else in danger of being killed, it's obviously a different story. You may not agree with his analysis, but it's something to think about.
Be very careful about what you say. If your words can be construed as "provocative", you may have more legal hassles in front of you. The perp's family's lawyer in the civil suit will almost certainly try to show that you provoked some part of the incident, and then shot.
[I am not a lawyer, this is from Ayoob.] "Get lost!" sounds like the wrong response.
He also suggests that you not walk or go places while carrying that you wouldn't walk/go before you were carrying.
Finally, despite what you see on TV and in movies, a gun is not a magic anti-crime wand. It is a tool, and there are many limtations on its use. I have read a lot of these confrontations on these boards, and it strikes me that in many of them, by the time you know that someone has the motive, means and opportunity to do harm, they may be so close that a handgun is very hard to use. And if you can't demonstrate one of those three, it's a very risky shoot. They jury may cut you a lot of slack (at least they seem to in NC), but that can be an expensive little venture.
If you shoot an unarmed bum - no matter how obnixous he is you will be in for legal tussle. To establish that you were in imminent danger, you have to show that the bad guy had motive, means and opportunity to do serious physical harm. If he's not armed, it may be hard to show means.
[Again, this is from Ayoob, but it was backed up in the state mandated CCW class some buddies at work just took. The example in the class was an angry ex-husband confronting and threatening to kill his former wife. She can't shoot because he's angry (motive) and and in her face (opportunity), unless she can show that he has means (disparity of size, a weapon, etc). The guys that took the course were pretty surprised by that example.]
Mike
Yet Another Jew with a Gun
(BTW SniperStraz, I and another shooter are about to have a conference with our rabbi, who's from NYC, and anti-gun. He's open to a discussion - more reflexively than thoughtfully anti-gun. Have you ever had that kind of discussion with your rabbi? Most of the RKBA materials I find on the net are so vehement that I think that they'll alienate him.)
