crazy day

mullinax95 said
Completed and passed the CWP class last week and mailed off all the info for the CWP today. SC is a "right to stand" state. What I have found is there is a thousand situations that one can have himself involved in so you really, really got to use your head. For example a person with a CWP walks into a convenience store and there is a guy with a gun pointing it at the clerk... what should that person do?

My instructor never answered that question!! The classmates and I had all different answers. He said "See how all of you became the jury?"

Now if that person pulls his gun and has it pointed at the subject with the gun pointed at the clerk and the law pulls up what is the person to do then?

This is where I like the "designated shooter" policy because they are going to see the guy at the door with the gun first. At least there will be some sort of control going instead of a bunch of officers ready to shoot the good guy. Actually the threat isn't standing in the door way.... it's inside fixing to kill the clerk.

This could be right or could be wrong but my answer was this. I pull my weapon and kill the suspect as soon as I can. The reason I say that is because as soon as he sees me pull my weapon he is going to aim for me and therefore I have the right to shoot him. Now in SC " a bystander, friend, relative that has not caused the difficulty and his or hers life is in danger or personal injury will result " gives me the right to shoot the guy anyways. So it still has a lot of questions left unanswered still but just to have the peace of mind that I do have some sort of protection in this cruel world in my pocket is all I need.

the dilemma I see in this scenario & the Fla. inciident is that in both situations the private citizen is putting himself in a position where he has to shoot the suspect. Unlike a sworn police officer who has an obligation to to stop crime the citizen is taking it upon himself to remain in the situation & "fight" it out with the suspect which may or may not be judged a good shooting. That's why your instructor didn't answer your question. If he said you'd be right in shooting the suspect, he's authorizing you to put yourself in that position. If you're injured he may be liable( "My instructor told me it's okay to do this.") or he may be sued by the suspect if it comes to light he told you it was okay to intervene in what is essentially a police matter.
Understand, I'm not telling anyone to simply be a victim. I'm simply warning the posters here that without proper training, which includes role-playing, the decision to deploy a firearm is one far too serious & has long lasting effects to be taken lightly. The simple excuse "I was protecting my property" or " I was in fear for my life." simply doesn't hold up in Court anymore. The armed citizen (and there should be more of them, IMO) need to know the FULL scope of his actions, be able to articulate how,why and where he shot and be able to live with the consequences. Whether you live in the liberal Northeast or redneck Texas the shooting will be scrutinized, assessed for REASONABLENESS and the outcome based on that. Short of a direct , immediate deadly assault on oneself or another with no way to avoid it, I'd advise any CWP/CCW holder to keep it holstered despite the sense of obligation.