There and back again.
Walt Miller
The Warrior Stance
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The Warrior Stance
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Q: What’s the one thing to always remember in a firefight?
A: "There’s all kinds of things to know. But the first thing would be: Be aware of your target. Confirm your target and be aware of its background. Absolutely positively ID your targets and be aware of the background." -- Sgt Rudy Reyes USMC
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Sergeant Reyes
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"There are no dangerous weapons. Only dangerous men."
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1. ​Situational Awareness
1a. If it looks wrong it is wrong until you clear it. Something look out of place? Don't assume it is nothing. Be alert. If you have really good situational awareness, the rest of this may not matter.
1b. Make plans based on what CAN happen, not what is likely to happen. Good example, from 2012: George Zimmerman shot and killed Travon Martin. Best evidence tells me that George Zimmerman was confronted by Travon Martin as GZ was looking for him in the dark. They conversed over some distance - maybe 20-30 feet; Martin suddenly rushed Zimmerman, knocked him down and assaulted him. Zimmerman (I think anyway) never dreamed that Martin would offer him violence and he was not ready to receive it. But it was POSSIBLE that Martin could rush him, so GZ should have been -ready- to defend himself with deadly force. He wasn't. There shouldn't have been a fight at all. GZ went looking for trouble and it found him.
1c. Anything that looks funny, withdraw from it. Don't go looking for trouble. Also referring to the above situation - Zimmerman should have told Martin - "I have a hand gun." Martin might not have been so quick to throw some hands if he knew that. Martin being shot and killed is on Zimmerman ultimately. As you may recall, GZ was charged with second degree murder but he was acquitted. He was able to raise $2,000,000 for his legal expenses. That is another reason to stay strictly within what is lawful and reasonable.
1d. Be ready. Practice pulling out your fire arm and chambering a round. Get familiar; develop the muscle memory you want if you suddenly are confronted with a bad situation. If you do things in the wrong order or fumble around, you might not have a chance to correct.
1e. Carry a secondary weapon, like a buck knife, in case something suddenly goes south before you can draw a hand gun, or you don't feel drawing one is warranted. Pulling a knife will likely upset the assailant's plans, which you definitely want to do. If someone attempts to assault you, they picked the time and place. To use the military parlance, you are in a kill zone. Kill zones happen in a physical place and also over a period of time. He wants to act fast, you want to stretch it out. If you can stretch the encounter out (if just by running away) the assailant may think better of the whole thing. If HE runs away do not shoot him. He is not an imminent threat to you if he is running away. It is not your job to get perps off the street. Let the cops do it.
1f. Stand your ground. SYG is sorta kinda the opposite of "duty to retreat." SYG says that if you are somewhere you have a right to be, be that in your home or at the Wal-Mart, you don't have to run away. The media went nuts over SYG. I like SYG because it means or hopefully will mean that some lawyers won't sit around drinking coffee thinking over what I had to decide in a split second. That said, you still want to run away from a problem if you can. You really need to show that you tried to avoid or defuse any bad situation before resorting to deadly force. If it even looks weird, remember: you may be in court repeating whatever you said in the encounter to the judge.
1g. Open carry is stupid. If someone is there to do harm, they will just shoot you first and go about their business.
1h. Whoever calls the police first, the other guy goes to jail. If you had a thing where you pulled your hand gun and the other guys fled, you need to call the police and report it. I know, what fun. That is because they can call the police and say, "That crazy guy pulled a gun on us!" And so you did.
2. Deadly Force
​There are 3 code sections in Georgia law that govern when lethal or deadly force may lawfully be used.
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Defense from a forcible felony; A person is justified in using threats or force to the degree they reasonably believe it is necessary to stop another person's imminent use of unlawful force. A person is justified in using deadly force which may harm or kill only if he or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent death or great bodily injury to himself or herself or a third person or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony (unless it is regarding defense of habitation, which has its own requirements below). You are not justified if you were the aggressor or you are/were/on-the-way-to committing a felony. (The state has pre-empted local cities and counties from further restricting this defense.)(16-3-21)
Defense of habitation; (here habitation means dwelling, motor vehicle, or place of business) A person is justified in the use of force which is intended or likely to cause death or great bodily harm only if any one of the following is met:
A person is breaking\has broken into your home in a violent and tumultuous manner, and you think that the intruder is going to assault you or someone else living there.
A person who is not a member of the family or household and who unlawfully and forcibly enters the residence and you know it is an unlawful entry.
The person using such force reasonably believes that the entry is made or attempted for the purpose of committing a felony therein and that such force is necessary to prevent the commission of the felony.
(16-3-23)
Defense of property other than habitation; Lethal force cannot be used to protect real property unless the person using such force reasonably believes that it is necessary to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.(16-3-24)
Notes about Deadly force:
Much of the below taken from Georgiapacking.org.
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No duty to retreat: If you have determined you need to use lethal force (as stated in one of the underlined "Defense" sections immediately above) you do not have to try to retreat before using that force. This is a part of a set of laws known as "Stand Your Ground," "Shoot First", or "License To Murder". In Georgia, there has never been a duty to retreat as per common law, however this was officially codified into law and went into effect July 1st, 2006 (basically, courts in GA have never required retreat unless the person was the aggressor, this common law creation of the courts was written into the official law in 2006). Other Legal Defenses: Use of deadly force as described above is also a defense against certain carry/possession laws (carry laws found from 16-11-125.1 thru 16-11-138) you may inadvertantly break while you were using deadly force. (16-11-13Criminal and Civil Immunity: If your defense is valid as described above, you are immune from criminal prosecution (unless you were using a weapon in which the carry of it is unlawful as found in 16-11-120 thru 16-11-125, which is about the carry of sawed off rifles/shotguns, machine guns, silencers, and other dangerous weapons) and civil liability actions.(16-3-23.1, 16-3-24.2, 51-11-9)
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AK-47 AR-15/M-16
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The good news is that if you see someone with an automatic rifle (AK or AR) you don't have to wonder about their intent. They want to kill people and lots of them.
2c. You could shoot the worst P.O.S. bad guy there ever was, and it might haunt you. So avoid that. Use Deadly force only as a last resort ONLY AFTER ALL OTHER MEANS HAVE FAILED.
3. Know the Laws of your state
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Don't talk to the police:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE
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If you didn't watch that video, go back and watch it.
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3a. Don't fire warning shots. If you can fire warning shots you are not in imminent fear of your life.
3b. Aim center mass. You are a lousy shot. Everyone is a lousy shot. Don't try to wound anyone. Aim center mass. If you drift off center mass you will still get a hit. If you are firing it is because that target is willing and is in fact attempting to take your life. The outcome is on him.
3c. See Marissa Alexander case. She didn't know the law and was confronted with the possibility of 20 years in prison for firing a warning shot. That was in Florida. The laws in GA are similar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marissa_Alexander_case
3d. Run away if you can. Do all you can to improve your self defense 'defense'. You want to be able to tell the judge that you attempted to defuse the situation. Don't ever admit some other outcome was possible. You are POSITIVE you were acting as a last resort to save yourself or another from death or serious bodily harm.
3e. DO make a call. "Stop!" "HALT!", "You move, you die!" Down in Riverdale a couple of years ago a lady left for work and for some reason she came back home at 6AM. Her husband shot and killed her through the front door. You have to say something before you apply deadly force.
4. Safety of weapons and also bystanders
4a. Be sure of your target and the background. If your target is standing in front of a marching band, shift around until the background is clear.
4b. Don't point a weapon at someone until you are sure to fire. Pointing a weapon at someone without cause is by itself illegal in Georgia.
4c. Don't pull your weapon until you are ready to fire. Don't fire warning shots. But don't fire 6 or 8 rounds at someone. After a couple of hits, they were no longer a threat to you. Fire two rounds, judge the effect and re-evaluate.
4d. Make sure you are applying safe techniques in handling firearms. Always check a weapon yourself to see if it is loaded. Never point a weapon at someone accidentally. I don't carry a round in the chamber. I am counting on my situational awareness to give me the time to load. No point shooting off my own foot.
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So, geez! No matter what I do there is a law waiting to trip me up! That is exactly right. Know and be ready for when you WOULD pull a firearm and know that has GOT to be legal -- when your life (or another's) is in IMMINENT danger. If that condition applies you can draw quickly and confidently and you will also know - THIS IS THE REAL SHIT!!
The police want to put you in jail. The DA wants convictions and if he feels like he can get one on you, he will try. They will interrogate you. Keep your story simple, truthful and consistent. Don't say too much and don't volunteer anything. Stick to your story even if you doubt it yourself -- I used deadly force after all other means had failed. I had no other course of action. They will say, "Oh you don't need an attorney for this." They will leave you in a room for hours with lots of times to think. They will try and wear you out. Stick with your story. Don't sign anything.
Many firearms don't shoot true. They can be way off target even over a few dozen feet. I bought a used pistol that fires about a foot low and half a foot to the right at 10 yards. So that one is just for use in the home as a last resort. No point taking it out in the world.
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Make sure you have fired your weapon enough to make sure it actually shoots true. Fire 5 or 10 rounds very slowly and carefully. Try and get a group.
So if you fire a round and it goes a foot low at 7 yards, you might be a crappy shot who doesn't apply good fundamentals, but if a second, third and fourth rounds go to the same general area, your sights might be whacked.​
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The center of the tip of your finger is the best place to apply pressure to the trigger. Make sure to pull straight back obviously. The target should be close. Most hand gun engagements are at a range of 12 feet or less.
Obviously make sure you have good sight picture and target alignment. We had a guy in the Marine Corps - Crabtree was his name. He fired 40 bullets and didn't hit a man sized target one time at 15 and 25 yards. The more they helped him, the worse he got. You are not a good shot. Really. If you don't practice don't expect a good outcome. Don't think you will have a situation you can predict. You can't.
You can't allow yourself the luxury of taking time to think: - "Is this what I think it is? " Yes. Someone wants to end your life and maybe other people's. You have to act and you have to be right. If you practice your warrior stance - ingrain all the information above into your mind so it is second nature, then when the shit hits the fan - you will act like a warrior acts. You will have made yourself a warrior.
"There are hunters and there are victims. By your discipline, cunning, obedience and alertness, you will decide if you are a hunter or a victim.” -- James Mattis
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Brandishing - Georgia's self-defense laws are not clear on the issue of threatening to use deadly force when trouble is clearly headed your way, but things have not escalated to the point that you can legally use self defense because it is necessary to save your life or that of some innocent person, or to prevent a forcible felony (which means a felony involving using force or threats of force against a person, not "forcing" a door open or defeating a lock. The force must be against a person, not a thing.)
In common practice, everybody knows and expects that you can, when reasonably in fear of your safety, pull a gun and have it ready. But where exactly is that line between "reasonable fear for my safety" and "brandished a deadly weapon to show people what they're gonna get if they mess with me"? The law isn't clear, because the law seems to have been written without contemplation of any scenario where the victim sees an attack being planned and staged, but no deadly attack has been launched against the victim yet. The law only considers two scenarios-- you're not being attacked, or you are. Black and white. The gun is either approved to come out, or you better not touch it. In that respect, the law is flawed and out of touch with reality. I think most cops and prosecutors know that, and DA's (who are trial attorneys first and foremost) know that jurors will find fault in any law that doesn't allow for pulling a gun when reasonably provoked to it, even if the victim hasn't been provoked or threatened enough to actually SHOOT IT in self-defense.
So because those authorities know that the law is flawed and inapplicable to your situation, they could give you a break and just choose not to charge you.But if you "brandish" a gun under circumstances where the police don't think you were justified and acting out of reasonable fear (rather than anger at the other guy), you are likely to be charged with "aggravated assault." That's a big-time felony. To "assault" just means to do something that puts the victim, or a reasonable person in the victim's situation, in fear he or she is about to be hurt. And doing that assaulting with a gun so that he or she feels in danger of getting shot is "aggravated" assault.
https://www.georgiapacking.org/
