How Gun Policies Affect Defensive Gun Use

According to the Second Amendment Act, every citizen of the USA has the right to acquire a gun. The gun lovers and manufacturers want to pitch this idea and want to blow it out of proportion that having a firearm is a great way to defend yourself, your loved ones and others around you from any kind of danger, assault or homicide.

But the statistics tell a completely contrasting story where this scenario is very rare and far between. There is a much bigger number of guns that are used for mass shootings or stolen or have been in accidents than being used as a self-defense weapon. There are a number of guns that can be great for self-defense like California shotguns for home defense or property defense, handguns for self defense and rifles for car defense or similar purposes.

The gun lobby wants to make firearms a common tool for self defense like a concealed weapon or a loaded handgun in your clothing or car compartments. But at the same time they want to curb the usage of semi-auto assault weapons with added enhancements and high-capacity magazines.

When looking at the data collected from FBI, UCR, SHR and NCVS we can clearly see that in 2017 only 298 justifiable homicides involved a private weapon used as self-defense whereas in the very same year there were 10380 criminal homicides in which only 35 were justifiable criminal homicides. The data collected from these very reliable sources clearly tells us how rarely handguns San Diego are used in a self defense situation by a citizen.

Gun Policies, Civilian Rights and other Details

Buying a gun for self-defense is one thing but actually shooting someone with it is a different thing altogether. For women who live alone or live in a not-so-secure-neighborhood may need to buy a gun.

People who just like to be in control of their circumstances might also want to be a gun owner and some people just like to be safe than sorry want to purchase a gun. The best guns for personal protection are California shotguns, as they are powerful and look super intimidating.

So the “who” part is done but what about the when and where part, well this is where things start to get complicated as situations are very subjective and can’t be articulated so easily. Even the strict states like California allow you to protect yourself and the people around you in a responsible manner.

But the difficult part is will you be able to convince a 12 jury members of your actions? Will they think that pulling the trigger was irrefutable? That is hard to say, as these are 12 different people with different approaches towards firearms. The better way to broach the when and where part is to see whether the shooting was inevitable or not. There are several circumstances when shooting someone for self-defense is totally justified but you’ll have to make sure all these things were present at the right time, together!

Elements That Are Needed to be Present in Order to Make Your Shooting Justified

The first and foremost thing is that the person who has pulled the trigger must be innocent. He or she should be involved in making the situation volatile. The next thing to keep in mind is that the person who has shot the firearm must be under imminent danger of life.

When both these elements are present you further need to prove 4 other major elements which are as follows-

1. Ability

Your firing the gun will be justifiable only when the attacked or assaulter has the ability to inflict serious injury to you, your loved one or any other innocent person. If the oppressor has no weapons but is a martial arts expert or has the ability to overpower you physically does mean your life is in danger.

2. Opportunity

Not only should the attacker have the ability but also the opportunity to harm you. In case of a firearm there are no restrictions of range but if the attacker has a pocket knife or any other weapon like a baseball bat within 25 yards then that will count as opportunity to kill.

3. Manifestation of Intent Verbally

When all this is present then there should also be the fact that the attacker manifested that they want to harm you or kill you or attack you in a dangerous manner. Sometimes the attacker is volatile and sometimes they are calm.

4. Preclusion

This simply means that you have to prove that there was no other option for you other than pulling that damn trigger. Your reasoning should be eloquent and articulated in such a way that leaves no doubt in the mind of our 12 jury members that there was any other way to escape the situation.

Summary

When talking about gun policies and their effects on self -defense we need to pay heed to a lot of things which can make the buying of a self-defense gun a moot point. So before jumping the gun (pun intended), you need to pay heed to a lot of things.