Cosmoline
Member
This issue has cropped up again so maybe we need to reexamine it. I think a lot of folks have misunderstood the familiar mantra of "shoot to stop, not to kill." It's a way of reminding ourselves that the INSTANT the threat is no longer sufficient to justify deadly force, deadly force MUST cease. You cannot shoot the unconscious burglar in the head to finish him off---as happened in a case last year IIRC.
Therefore, shoot to stop, not to kill.
This does not mean you must shoot with a clean heart or without any subjective intent to kill. Your subjective intent is not relevant. Objective circumstances control here. You can be a pure hearted nun and be barred from SD or be an evil hearted scumbag and use the defense successfully. Of course, subjective intent can come into the case in other ways. For example if you really hated this dude from way back, the police may be skeptical and accuse you of setting him up. But at the moment of shooting, there's no law saying you must avert your inner thoughts from killing. I have no idea where people got that idea. Your inner thoughts are your own.
Saying "I didn't intend to kill him" afterwards is really stupid. It sounds like you accidentally shot him. Don't do it. Talk to your lawyer.
Nor is there a rule that you must only use deadly force if there's a small chance of survival. For example if there is a man lunging at me with a knife unlawfully and screaming for my death, and I have a choice of either shooting in his direction with a handgun or a 30mm cannon, I will choose the cannon (other considerations aside). Even though there is a 100% chance of the cannon killing him, and only a 75% chance of the handgun killing him. Deadly force is, as the name suggests, deadly. Never use it unless you ASSUME death will result. If it doesn't, and the attack ceases, great. But never pull the trigger assuming you won't kill. Or to cite one of the rules--assume you will indeed DESTROY the target. These are not stopping weapons. There are such things, but firearms are not among them.
Therefore, shoot to stop, not to kill.
This does not mean you must shoot with a clean heart or without any subjective intent to kill. Your subjective intent is not relevant. Objective circumstances control here. You can be a pure hearted nun and be barred from SD or be an evil hearted scumbag and use the defense successfully. Of course, subjective intent can come into the case in other ways. For example if you really hated this dude from way back, the police may be skeptical and accuse you of setting him up. But at the moment of shooting, there's no law saying you must avert your inner thoughts from killing. I have no idea where people got that idea. Your inner thoughts are your own.
Saying "I didn't intend to kill him" afterwards is really stupid. It sounds like you accidentally shot him. Don't do it. Talk to your lawyer.
Nor is there a rule that you must only use deadly force if there's a small chance of survival. For example if there is a man lunging at me with a knife unlawfully and screaming for my death, and I have a choice of either shooting in his direction with a handgun or a 30mm cannon, I will choose the cannon (other considerations aside). Even though there is a 100% chance of the cannon killing him, and only a 75% chance of the handgun killing him. Deadly force is, as the name suggests, deadly. Never use it unless you ASSUME death will result. If it doesn't, and the attack ceases, great. But never pull the trigger assuming you won't kill. Or to cite one of the rules--assume you will indeed DESTROY the target. These are not stopping weapons. There are such things, but firearms are not among them.
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