The legally correct answer is you shoot to stop however, intentionally shooting to wound can lead to legal problems as it will likely be seen as an indication that "lethal" force wasn't necessary. In other words, you bullets into their chest or in some circumstances head in order to stop them. You then state that you shot until the threat stopped. Of course, if you do an effective job of stopping them quickly, we all know the likely outcome.
:hmm: I thought avoiding a shot to the head was a courtesy to the family of the perp so he could have an open casket. :shrug:
Yep, I'd agree though. Unless it's a very black and white issue with no gray area, I'd expect even if you shoot to protect yourself, you're going to have some answering to do and the possibility of a legal issue both criminal and civil.
Remember, there have been civil cases where a would be burglar jumps a fence to break into a house, their Rott chews and mauls the guy's leg off and the family got sued for thousands and thousands and lost. Why did the homeowner lose? Because the would be burglar stated, If they would have had a Beware of Dog sign on their gate, I'd have chose another house instead of this one and still have my leg.
Also in civil legal litigation, you can pretty much be sued for being at the wrong place at the wrong time and have to defend yourself. I'd sure like to hope laws have changed but with precedent setting cases to interpret laws, any time you inflict harm on someone you can be held civilly liable. If you find yourself in the middle of an armed robbery at a convenience store, perp turns and points the gun at you, you feel threatened, he turns his attention back to the store clerk and the second you see a chance to take a shot, you shoot and kill the bastard. Criminally, you're off the hook, it's justified. The family sues for $2 million. You didn't try to go hide in the bathroom and lock yourself in, you didn't go lay behind a display out of the line of fire, you decided to shoot back when the opportunity arose. Yes, it's true, the perp was in the wrong and if he didn't have a gun pointed at you, he'd still be here, but you could have gotten out of there without being shot. So it's 90% the perps fault, 10% your fault. 10% of $2 million is $200,000. So now you have to pay up $200,000. Have your wages garnished, liens put on any property you own etc. It's sad, but that's real life trial lawyers for you in uMerca.
There is such an insurance policy one can get. It's an umbrella liability policy. It covers you for no matter what kind of liability you might get yourself into and will also usually cover you an attorney, that will work for you and the insurance company so they don't have to pay out any liability on you. This covers anything you might do. You may be in a bar and knock a guys teeth out, or your dog might bite a kid or you may have slandered someone and being sued and liable for any damage to caused to someone. I hear those are pretty cheap policies and have thought about getting one at times, but hell, I'm so damn broke now, I don't have anything anyone can get. Just about to the point of nothing to lose.
