imported post
notintoguns wrote:
If I'm a bad , bad, bad criminal, but I am unarmed, would you shoot me? I just want your wallet.
1) Guns are not, and were never, meant to solve most problems (i.e. conflicts). State laws reflect this logic in use of deadly force statutes. If a gun owner does not comply with such statutes, they are going to jail.
2) If you were a bad, bad criminal, unarmed, first let's mention that you would be the rare criminal. They always have weapons, or occur in groups. You would only be able to attack someone smaller or weaker than you are, in most cases. In most states, if you threaten someone with serious bodily injury, and a person believes his or her attacker can back up the promise, I would have the right to defend myself with as much force as necessary to repel the other person, up to and including death, if necessary. If you were not able to deliver on your promise to harm me, I would probably just repel by other means. Good people that own guns DO NOT want to kill anyone, but they do want to defend themselves and their families, with as much force as is necessary to do so.
If, on the other hand, you're holding me up with a gun or a knife pointed at me, you have already shown your intent to kill another person. One does not point a gun, loaded or unloaded, at anyone, and expect to live through the experience.
It's called self defense, and you were the initiator of force.