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originally posted by: JIMC5499
originally posted by: chr0naut
a reply to: JBurns
Perhaps someone should publish plans for a demolition shaped charge, suicide vest, nuclear dirty bomb or bio bomb and a convenient rocket delivery system. You could build them at home.
I mean they are armaments, so every American has a 1st Amendment 'right' to carry them. It clearly says the "right to bear arms", not "the right to bear guns".
Only for personal protection, of course.
You got your Amendments screwed up. It is the Second Amendment. The one that reads.
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
Technically the way the Second Amendment is worded, I should be able to own anything that the US Military has, that I can afford. You know the whole Militia, security of a free State thing.
Because, in practice, if someone (such as a police officer) believes you are carrying such a weapon, then it is acceptable for them to assume that you intend to use it against them and they can argue that any armed response on their part, was self defense.
originally posted by: Wayfarer
I thought these things blew up in your hand like 1/3 times?
Has something changed to make these more viable as actual firearms now?
originally posted by: JBurns
a reply to: chr0naut
Because, in practice, if someone (such as a police officer) believes you are carrying such a weapon, then it is acceptable for them to assume that you intend to use it against them and they can argue that any armed response on their part, was self defense.
No, that isn't true. What you described is murder. The barrier for an LEO using deadly force is (generally) no different than a Citizen. A few exceptions exist, State by State, such as an LEO/correction officer using deadly force to prevent felonious escape (Citizens don't normally face that situation)
In fact, there are three elements required to deploy deadly force:
1) Ability - The attacker must have a deadly weapon/be capable of inflicting deadly force
2) Opportunity - The attacker must be capable of imminently & immediately using that deadly weapon to inflict deadly force (ie: not standing 500ft away with a knife making credible threats)
3) Intent - The attacker must be actively attempting to employ unlawful deadly force against you (ie: you can't shoot someone just because they're standing near you with a firearm) or communicating that intent in such a way that a reasonable person would believe it is credible/imminent (verbal threats, aiming the weapon at you without speaking, etc)
They must have the Ability, Opportunity and Intent to inflict severe harm/death on you or another person. All three must exist simultaneously to qualify as a true credible and imminent objectively-reasonable deadly threat (thus warranting and justifying a lethal force response). In the situation I gave above, where a person is standing near you with a firearm in hand, deadly force would *not* be justifiable because only 2/3 of those conditions have been met. In that same scenario, both Ability & Opportunity have been established, while Intent has not been demonstrated. If the person in the scenario posed were to make credible threats of violence while simultaneously standing near you with a firearm in hand, then you'd most likely be justified in DGU
In the other situation posed above, where an attacker is standing 500ft away armed with a knife and making credible threats, you also do not have legal justification to use deadly force. Just as you cannot shoot a person standing 10ft away from you for simply holding a firearm (without any intent to reasonably believe they were trying to cause severe harm/death) you cannot shoot a person armed with a close-range weapon such as a knife but standing outside the effective range of its use because they have no opportunity to carry out their otherwise credible threat. It is credible, but not imminent. They have the ability and intent, but no opportunity.
In all cases, the "reasonable belief" standard will be applied. To be considered lawful, the average person in your situation would have to believe they (or another person) were in imminent danger of life-threatening wounding or death. It is implied and codified that employing deadly force is a "reasonable" response to that danger.
*I'm not a lawyer, just my understanding of the law which varies (sometimes significantly) from State to State, Free America vs wannabe-communist America etc.