On Tue, 04 Nov 2014 22:15:16 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

Harry recently described an incident where he ended up being injured
in the course of protecting someone else from violence. Momentarily
suspending any possible disbelief in the facts as stated, a number of
troubling questions are raised in my mind.

Could the situation have been better handled without resorting to
physical violence? Let's assume that Harry was armed with a legal
concealed carry hand gun. Could he have legally pulled the gun and
ordered the alleged perpatrator to cease and desist? In the Florida
concealed carry course that I attended we were taught to never pull
your weapon unless you intend to use it. Otherwise you could possibly
be charged with brandishing and threatening. You are also
specifically taught to never fire a warning shot, and to never try and
effect an arrest. A person who fired a warning shot in Florida is
still in jail for that crime even though he had been threatened and
had no priors.

Another possible strategy is to order the person to stop, relying on
your physical presence and force of personality to carry the day.
Harry apparently tried to do that and was assaulted in return. What
to do next? Assault them back and risk escalation and/or injury?
Invoke self defense and shoot? Both are problematic.

So what's a person to do in Harry's situation? Tough call I think.
For discussion purposes let's leave personalities and political
leanings out of this. And yes, I know that will be difficult.


I think he did exactly the right thing. Certainly didn't warrant
pulling a gun on the guy.

What Harry did is what most guys would do, I think. Someone takes a
swing at you, your immediate and instinctive reaction is to swing back.
Someone gives you a shove, you shove back. I don't see anything
controversial or even unusual. He should feel good that he stopped the
physical abuse of the woman and kid.