What Would You Do? My Comments In Bold
By Gregory Kielma
If you have a gun and a crazy person charges at you with a knife, how close do they must be before you shoot them to legally justify it as self-defense?
If you have a gun and a crazy person charges at you with a knife, how close do they must be before you shoot them to legally justify it as self-defense?
Unknown Author/Questioner
Kielma Response in BOLD and Italicized.
Says Gregg Kielma, Firearms Instructor, “You must be the reasonable person”. Could you have avoided or escaped the knife wielding person before defending? Did you know this person? Were there conflicts between the two of you before the assault? What’s a prosecutor going to do with the facts presented to him good or bad? Are you prepared to live with the consequences? When planning your next move, if you brandish or use a firearm and or use it plan on going to jail. Be ready for the huge legal fees that are part of this scenario.
He could be on the opposite end of an Olympic swimming pool and it wouldn't matter. The moment he draws a weapon and makes clear his intent to kill you, self-defense is permitted.
Says Kielma, not necessarily so. Your duty is to avoid, escape then defend. If you have time to you must remove yourself from this situation right away. Whomever is giving this advice is wrong. If you have an “Olympic” size pool your duty is to escape this bad situation right away. Avoid then escape, you have plenty of time to get away. It's your duty as a law-abiding firearm concealed carry person. ALWAYS deescalate, never put yourself in these bad predicaments. THINK!
The law does not attempt to put arbitrary restrictions on self-defense like you suggest, and it wouldn't work well if it did. If you had to let a knife wielding maniac get within ten feet before you could defend yourself a lot of people would get knifed to death.
Time and distance. You need time to mentally think through something like this. Please remember a perpetrator has 1.5 seconds to get to you from 15’-20’ You need time and distance to stay safe. You must always be in CODE YELLOW. Know your surroundings. Stay out of code WHITE. Don’t be so engrossed in your phone you’re not paying attention. If you feel something isn’t right, be ready to address the surroundings and what could happen next. Always remember time and distance. Stay situationally aware and have a plan.