I was exiting walmart today when I hard a comotion and I turned to the right just in time to see a man strike another (the story I found out was the asltee was honked at when he was about to back into another car)
He (being the man who was doing the assaulting started to leave when the AM of walmart came out and the victim pointed him out he alsulter began to return threating to woop the AM's ass and the victims ass I steped in and told the man that He has allready been asked to leave and he needed to go now. He cont to walk towards the group of us when I put my hand on my firearm and depressed the lock so it would be ready to draw He had allready threated to kill me. when he saw the fire arm he turned around and went the other direction...
OK, first of all, I've been watching this "goat rope" of a thread for a while, and it seems like a lot of the respondents are from VA.
In VA, you have the benefit of having a statutory definition of "brandishing". It makes the situation of whether or not someone is "brandishing" in self-defense a LOT more easy to figure out, because in VA, you guys have the rules VERY clearly defined. And if the OP's situation had happened in VA, he would, indeed, have been guilty of brandishing.
But as we all know, it would have been dependent on his attitude, the attitude of the attending LEOs, the location of the incident, local politics with regards to OC and self-defense rights, and unfortunately, the races of the OP and the "assailant". Because even in VA, "Brandishing" isn't an automatic charge, and in many "righteous" self-defense situations it gets tossed aside under the auspices of "officer discretion"...
But down here in the Tarheel State, we have NO statutory definition for "brandishing". In fact, there is NO statutory definition about ANYTHING involving showing, grabbing, or otherwise making threatening displays of a firearm, as long as the firearm is otherwise being carried in a lawful manner.
What this has resulted in is a situation where the ENTIRE body of NC law regarding "brandishing" or "threatening display" rests on dubious case law, wildly variant judicial activism, and spurious (and often personally-biased) officer discretion.
In other words, situations involving potential "brandishing" charges in NC are a Mongolian Cluster Foxtrot of epic proportions waiting to happen.
The most common way that LEOs and the courts deal with situations that involve brandishing (or threatening display) is to evoke an archaic Common Law precedent based on Pre-Colonial British Common Law (which, is, under the US and NC Constitutions, NULL AND VOID, with regards to applicability to US Jurisprudence, BTW) and conjour up a charge they call "Going Armed to the Terror of the People".
To my knowledge, nobody has EVER been charged with "Brandishing" in NC. They charge us with GAttTotP down here. It's awkward, it's unconstitutional, it's un-statutory, and a good argument can be made that the Common Law it is based on (pre-colonial British Common Law) is not even recognized in our Courts as legitimate source for Case Law precedent.
In other words, the Law is a colossal goat-rope in NC on this issue...
...the poice upon thier arrival did ask me if I was a LEO to which I answerd of course not and he shruged it off and mentioned it nothing furhter I filled out a stament of what I was and that was it. Sorry there was no news on this one.
Scott, I have three VERY important things to tell you, and I HIGHLY recommend that you commit these to memory.
1) you had NO WAY of knowing how this altercation started, or what caused the one guy to punch the other guy. For all you know, the guy who threw the punch may have been being harassed, stalked, and badgered by the "victim" for days, and this was the final straw, and he felt backed into a corner and so he lashed out. If you EVERY come to the defense of a 3rd party with lethal force (or even the THREAT of lethal force) under NC law, you had better be DAMN certain that the person you are defending is 100% in the right, and did NOTHING to start, instigate, escalate, or promote the ensuing violent event.
Because under NC law, if the person you are defending is even 1% in the wrong, you CAN be charged with a BOATLOAD of assault-related and firearms-related violations even if you never pulled the trigger...
You have OBVIOUSLY never taken a NC Concealed Handgun Permit class--which would have educated you as to the appropriate situations where you can and cannot pull a gun in self-defense (or defense of others). Even if you don't get the permit, the class is full of good legal information, and will educate you as to when it is and isn't appropriate to come to someone's aid.
You sound like you have good intentions, but you're TOTALLY clueless as to what the law in NC is in these situations, and if you continue to carry under your current state of ignorance, you will eventually find yourself in a situation where you will be facing a VERY big fine, the loss of your 2A rights, or even an extended visit to prison.
Get a clue. Get some training. Take a CHP class, bro...
2) No matter what state you are in, you NEVER put your hand on your gun in public unless you are in the process of pulling it out to fire it. NEVER. Period. End of Discussion. This isn't the streets of Kandahar. We have laws here in the "civilian" world. And f you are going to move about in our world, you need to learn, respect, and follow those rules.
Get a clue. Get some training. Take a self-defense class from a qualified instructor, bro...
3) Despite what all these other people are telling you (from NC and VA) there is NO violation called "brandishing" in NC. Down here it's called something ENTIRELY different, and has a COMPLETELY different set of rules, and they are very loosely-defined and leave a LOT of freedom for interpretation by LEOs and the Courts. Don't listen to ANYONE who hasn't studied NC Law about this issue--because in NC, its screwed up, convoluted, has a patchy history, and has no basis on any sort of discernible reality, statute, or even legitimate US case law. Essentially our entire case-law precedent on this issue hinged on one case from the 1800's, which cited as it's precedent a pre-Colonial BRITISH case.
Down here, we call this violation "Going Armed to the Terror of the People".
And being charged (and even found guilty) of GAttTotP does NOT require you to be waving a gun around in your hand. You can have in it a holster. You can have it slung across your shoulder on a sling. You can have it in your pocket. Do don't ever have to even touch it with your hands. Because under NC Case Law precedent, this violation is purely "intent-based". It has NOTHING to do with the kind of weapon you're carrying, the mode of carry, or even the way you were acting as you were walking down the street.
GAttTotP hinges ENTIRELY on the INTENT of the person carrying or displaying the firearm. So in NC, it's the content's of your heart, NOT the content of your hands that determines whether you are guilty of this violation.
At least that's how it works in theory.
In PRACTICE, it's an entirely different story.
Many police will use threats of this charge to discourage OC. We are slowly getting the LEAs and judges in this state as to the fact that OC is legal, and GAttTotP--even under their won convoluted, racist, classist, discretionary system--DOES NOT APPLY to lawful Open Carry...
They often use GAttTotP as a "piling on" charge in criminal cases like robbery or assault, because it helps the DA's build a more convincing case. There is no Statute in NC that defines brandishing, or improper open display, or whatever, and MOST people who are going to end up on jury are so uneducated and clueless as to how screwed up NC firearms laws are that they don't see through this ridiculous ploy, and will go along with it.
So what it boils down to is that you WERE carrying a gun--LEGALLY.
You DID display it with the specific intent of intimidating, frightening, or bringing fear into someone (admittedly, a bad guy, but that's inconsequential in this case).
You did not (for some BIZARRE reason) get charged with GAttTotP after admitting to the LEO what you had done, and having this corroborated by several witnesses.
You, sir, should consider yourself LUCKY.
Now, while you are on a lucky streak, I'd suggest getting to a qualified self-defense instructor and getting some training as to the LEGAL obligations and limitations you have as someone who carries for self-defense.
Because if you continue down this path in your current state, you will, at the very least, get charged with GAttTotP or assault. And at the very worst, you may end up shooting someone you shouldn't have shot, which means a VERY guilty conscience and a potentially VERY long stay in a rather unpleasant state-owned facility...
PLEASE, for your own safety, the safety of those around you, and the good name of the Open Carry movement, get some freaking training, dude.
I'm begging you...
Just because you're EOD, and they tell you that you are an Immortal God in the Army, doesn't mean squat in the civilian world. You are flesh and blood, just like the rest of us, and the SAME rules that apply to us all apply to you when you're not active duty. You are NOT a god. I know that may be hard for you to understand, because you've had it pounded into your head for years as part of your training, but out here, in the "real world" the rules are different, and you are NOT--contrary to the VERY effective brainwashing that Uncle Sam as subjected you to--a God...
You need to learn the rules if you want to play the "civilian sandbox".
If you can't handle the subtle, convoluted, and confusing legal restrictions of the "civilian world" and you want to run around playing "savior of the innocent" then I'd suggest that you re-enlist and stay on base, or get deployed somewhere where you don't have to worry about silly things like case law, Statutes, or Common Law Precedent.