TheGreatGatsby
Gold Member
- Thread starter
- #21
True.No, not exactly. He has right to defend himself, his family, and probably his students but not from what he thinks is a would be attacker, but rather an actual attacker.
This could be a big problem in a school environment. A teacher or principal may see a student carrying a gun. Does the teacher have the right to shoot the student? There are a lot if's attached to that answer. Teacher and sometimes even law enforcement officers could well make the wrong decision. And it you do, God help you.
He has the right to defend himself against a perceived lethal attacker. If someone is firing a gun at you, you shoot and the law is on your side.
However, the specific rules pertaining to self-defense vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. In general, self-defense only justifies the use of force when it is used in response to an immediate threat. If the person pointed the gun at you, you should be ok, but if the person carrying the gun is just running down the hall and you shot him, you could be in trouble. If the person carrying gun is just running away from you, and you shoot them, self defense will not apply.
If you shoot a person that you perceive is a threat to someone else and not yourself, then the situation can be really murky. Laws vary by state. The circumstances are paramount. If you shoot a terrorist who just killed 10 kids, you will probably get a metal regardless of the law. However, for a laymen who has never been any closer to killing someone than an occasional trip to the gun range, correctly grasping the situation and immediately taking the appropriation action is questionable.
As any law enforcement officers knows, when you pull the trigger you better be right. If you're wrong, you might not be prosecuted but you will still pay a heavy price.
The Zimmerman case is proof of what you're saying. Nonetheless, in this case, it would have been quite likely that deadly self defense would have been justified had it been used. This was an egregious decision by the school administration.