[Vision2020] Concealed Hand Gun Laws

[Robert Dickow]

I am being serious now.

 

This question has no doubt been addressed by various experts, but I just
thought up a situation that poses a question in my mind about ethics and
legal practicalities:

 

Let's say, for the sake of this thought experiment, that I own a handgun
that I carry, concealed, for my personal self defense.  I find myself alone
on a dark city street and I am surprise attacked by a lone individual (whom
I perceive a mugger), who ignores my shouts and warnings. My shouts are not
noticed by anyone in the neighborhood. I shoot and kill the person, who I
feel is threatening my life. There are no witnesses or recorded phone calls
(unlike the Trayvon Martin shooting). I have not suffered any visible
injuries. How do I prove that I shot in self-defense? 

 

Offhand I don't see how I can 'prove' self-defense.  I can only claim self
defense. Why couldn't the county prosecutor say 'BS' and have me put me away
for life? Is my thought experiment a situation in which I really can't, or
should not, use the gun? Or, from another line of thinking, if I can simply
declare self-defense in a case like this, I could 'legally' go out and shoot
an innocent pedestrian on a whim, and I could get away with murder. 

 

Thoughts?

 

Bob Dickow, troublemaker

 

 

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