JimBowie1958
Old Fogey
- Sep 25, 2011
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Hypothetical case: a woman is leaving her 'boyfriend' and he wants her to stay and talk more. He does not know that she is armed with a gun, and he tries to manhandle her.
How bad does his 'manhandling' have to get before she is justified in shooting him dead?
I ask this because I have seen a wide range of attitudes toward what is considered threatening. For example I have seen people arrested for 'kidnapping' when they merely took a person gently by the arm and asked them to stay. Another case a guy was arrested for using harsh language under 'verbal assault' laws. Another time a man was arrested for assault when he pushed his exiting wife on the shoulder.
But I have read of some counter examples where a woman was charged with murder when the boyfriend slapped her hard and another where he woke the girl and was standing at the foot of her bed holding a bayonette and had broken into the house in the middle of the night and had told friends he would kill her.
Somehow, it seems as if the definition of what constitutes threatening violence depends on if the woman defends herself or not. If she doesnt then the guy can be arrested for brathing out the wrong side of his nose, but if she does defend herself then she basically has to prove her innosence in an inversion of the presumption of guilt.
But, nah, it cant possibly be that our justice system wants women to be weak and at the mercy of violent boyfriends, right? So I thought I would ask the folks here, many of whom seem fairly knowledgable about the law.
Personally, I feel that the attacker has to be doing something that might cause a loss of life. IF a guy about my size or less punches me in the face and then we have a fist fight, that is not lethal and deadly force not justifiable. But if he is much taller and more fit than I am or he is with a group of guys and he/they have threatened my life then I think deadly force is justified.
At any rate, that is when I am calm and sitting behind a computer keyboard. I dont know what I might actually do if I were to actually be in such a situation. If a dude sucker punched me so hard I could barely collect my thoughts and he persisted in hitting me and I had no practical chance to defend myself from his blows, then I would probably shoot him and take my chances with the justus system.
How bad does his 'manhandling' have to get before she is justified in shooting him dead?
I ask this because I have seen a wide range of attitudes toward what is considered threatening. For example I have seen people arrested for 'kidnapping' when they merely took a person gently by the arm and asked them to stay. Another case a guy was arrested for using harsh language under 'verbal assault' laws. Another time a man was arrested for assault when he pushed his exiting wife on the shoulder.
But I have read of some counter examples where a woman was charged with murder when the boyfriend slapped her hard and another where he woke the girl and was standing at the foot of her bed holding a bayonette and had broken into the house in the middle of the night and had told friends he would kill her.
Somehow, it seems as if the definition of what constitutes threatening violence depends on if the woman defends herself or not. If she doesnt then the guy can be arrested for brathing out the wrong side of his nose, but if she does defend herself then she basically has to prove her innosence in an inversion of the presumption of guilt.
But, nah, it cant possibly be that our justice system wants women to be weak and at the mercy of violent boyfriends, right? So I thought I would ask the folks here, many of whom seem fairly knowledgable about the law.
Personally, I feel that the attacker has to be doing something that might cause a loss of life. IF a guy about my size or less punches me in the face and then we have a fist fight, that is not lethal and deadly force not justifiable. But if he is much taller and more fit than I am or he is with a group of guys and he/they have threatened my life then I think deadly force is justified.
At any rate, that is when I am calm and sitting behind a computer keyboard. I dont know what I might actually do if I were to actually be in such a situation. If a dude sucker punched me so hard I could barely collect my thoughts and he persisted in hitting me and I had no practical chance to defend myself from his blows, then I would probably shoot him and take my chances with the justus system.
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