I'm having a hard time seeing how someone can be defending themselves when they were the ones that ignited the situation. Self defense would seem to be the other party initiated it. I don't see how that is true here. And also, we have no clue if Jr. pulled the gun on him in the scene we can't see either.
Really? Pulling over, asking two questions, exiting a vehicle while openly carrying the firearm that you legally possess - and which you are then attacked for - constitutes your chasing him down? I carry my pistol all of the time. I also ask strangers questions all of the time. If one of those strangers that I’m questioning sees my gun, attacks and tries to wrest control of it away from me, I’m going to shoot them. I will hope that I shoot them with sufficient skill and precision as to prevent their continued efforts. 1,000 times out of 1,000 times, I’m going to shoot, and I won’t care one whit if it’s a man, woman, The Gays, poly sexual transgender, short, tall, fat, thin, black, white, liberal, conservative, etc. And I won’t be in the wrong, by any legal standard.
Even if this is exactly what happened (again, I have no idea), should you: A) Contact the police, and try to escape B) Charge the person “chasing” you in an effort to take away the weapon they’re obviously carrying
There are laws pertaining as to how you are allowed to brandish your weapon. Also, the fact that you have done these things so many time and have never been attacked seems to attest as to the likelihood that this guy just randomly attacked, rather than being provoked.
Do you chase said people down on the road to ask them a question in a truck with someone in the back yelling at them to? And how does that change if you point the gun at someone who isn't attacking/threatening?
Now, there’s something substantive here...whether they instigated the situation that then unraveled and which lead to them shooting him. Sort of like challenging someone to a duel and then claiming innocence for shooting them dead.
Georgia has reciprocity with Tennessee. I have a holster for ease and convenience. I could just as easily walk around carrying my pistol or AR-15 in my hands. There’s nothing that says I can’t. In fact, if you don’t have a CCP, that’s how you have to carry them.
I’d say A is the most level-headed approach before and after the fact. But in the heat of the moment, if you’re aggressive toward me, it’s fight or flight, and a lot of us aren’t the flight type.
Right, but you can't display it in a threatening manner. I don't know that it would be hard to convince anyone that this guy was doing that.
I don't think they set out to kill him. I do think they were looking for trouble and found it. Under the circumstances we know, it doesn't really matter what the victim did or did not do prior to his jog.
Were I to guess....I’d say this is most likely to be most accurate and correct. I believe - and that’s all it is, a belief - that they thought this kid was burglarizing places and thought they’d put a stop to it, and it turned sour. If they’re found guilty - and I think that’s a more precarious proposition than many of y’all want or are capable to admit - it’ll be because they instigated the situation that made him attack.
go ahead and try to roll up on some cops with your guns out and ask them some questions, let me know how that one goes legally, illegally, whatever just go try that one and come back with your experience
Another quick point: I don’t care what they intended, insofar as overall criminal culpability. The difference between murder and manslaughter, but not overall culpability.
You aren't wrong, but surely you see the difference in asking a stranger questions with a holster weapon versus having the gun in your hand.
I’ve held a gun while talking to police more than I haven’t been. They usually want to see it when they pull you over. And, of course, hunters talking to game wardens (i.e. “cops”) while being armed happens thousands of times a day. I think some of y’all - maybe you CPJ, maybe not - don’t realize how many people regularly carry guns. Daily. Every day.
Of course I do, and I’ve tried to say that throughout. I’ve even repeatedly said that if they so much as pointed a gun at him, they were asking to be attacked. Could it be argued that someone simply holding a firearm is menacing? Maybe, but probably not very successfully. And I think I’m doing a very poor job of perfectly separating the difference between “what Tenny thinks likely happened or should now happen” vs “what Tenny thinks is possible / probable to have happened” vs “what Tenny thinks can be proven, and then should happen as a result”.
