<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div>Love the example! Following Tom I'd say the police would look for wounds or a weapon. But you could change the example to meet those concerns: suppose he pretends to have a gun, threatens you, you decide to act fast, shoot him, but he has no gun.</div><div><br></div><div>I'd be interested to know what the lawyers would say about this case, whether police would be likely to believe you or not. If so, then your point would hold: someone could just fake it.</div><div><br></div><div>Of course, people get away with murder all the time.<br><br>On Dec 12, 2012, at 7:12 PM, "Robert Dickow" <<a href="mailto:dickow@turbonet.com">dickow@turbonet.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal">I am being serious now…<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">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:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">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? <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">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. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Thoughts?<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Bob Dickow, troublemaker<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div><span>=======================================================</span><br><span> List services made available by First Step Internet,</span><br><span> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.</span><br><span> <a href="http://www.fsr.net">http://www.fsr.net</a></span><br><span> <a href="mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com">mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com</a></span><br><span>=======================================================</span></div></blockquote></body></html>