Just Finished with mine CHL License - Still few questions

[jareknyc]

Hey guys i am newbie here and to texas law as well...i got married moved to texas but i am tired of hearing police force is getting smaller and crime is getting worse...

So i learned lot in my class but not everything was rally clear...

#1If somebody break in to my house and i kill him, and later we find out it was underage kid, who will get in trouble, i know its crazy but my instructor said we can't use gun against kids under 18, but when i see a guy holding gun, i fear for my life and my family, i pull the trigger kill him, police comes we find out he was 15...whats going to happen??

#2If someone breaks in to my car, lets say i am in walmart, i see guy breaking in to my car, can i use my gun to protect my self? and he sees that i have it and starts running towards me, and i clearly told him don't come close cuz i will shoot, and he is still running, i fear for my life and shoot him in his leg??? whose side are we going to be on ?? law is crazy but i definitely want to know everything bf anything will happen...

#3 i am walking my dog and i see either lady or who ever calling for help and i see someone fighting that person trying to steal purse or wallet, even though he is not harming me, but the person is getting hurt, and personal belongings stolen, can i use my gun to protect that person,


For now i think thats it i am sure i will have more questions so i will just write here and hopefully i will get answers

Thank you guys

[Teamless]

#1If somebody break in to my house and i kill him, and later we find out it was underage kid, who will get in trouble, i know its crazy but my instructor said we can't use gun against kids under 18, but when i see a guy holding gun, i fear for my life and my family, i pull the trigger kill him, police comes we find out he was 15...whats going to happen??

Was it day time or night time?
Night time, the assumption is that an intruder is up to no good, and you cannot tell what weapons they have, shoot them.
if they are minors, thats no difference than someone 'of age'.

can i use my gun to protect my self?

he is breaking into your car, how are you protecting yourself by "using" your gun?

i fear for my life and shoot him in his leg???

If you fear for your life, shoot, them but NEVER "try to shoot them in the leg, arm, shoulder, etc".
If you ever use your weapon for defense your ONLY thing you try to do is STOP THEM. period. Dont ever say you tried to do this or that, other than "stop them".

trying to steal purse or wallet,

there is no deadly force being used, therefore you cannot use deadly force against it.
remember, even DRAWING your weapon is "using" deadly force.

but the person is getting hurt,

If you feel they are in a deadly force situation, you can use your weapon to protect them, however, what if you were wrong?
If you were wrong, they werent in a deadly force situation, then you are going to jail.

remember, with few exceptions, the weapon is only to be used in deadly force situations

[Thomas]

Remember, I'm no lawyer, so if you want to read the law for your own interpretation, you can find Concealed Handgun Statutes & Related Weapons Laws at http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/InternetFo ... CHL-16.pdf

#1 - No one will get in legal trouble. The kid won't get in legal trouble because unfortunately he/she is dead. It's sad, but you are justified. If the kid lives, only the kid will be in legal trouble. Other ignorant people might give you trouble though for shooting/killing a kid.

#2 - You can use a gun to protect yourself or your belongings. If the bad guy is running away with empty hands/pockets, as far as I know you would NOT be justified in shooting. If the bad guy has a handful/pocket of your stuff and you reasonably believe you won't be able to get it back (you won't), then you can shoot. Also, aim for center mass. If you try to just shoot his leg, you'll probably miss.

#3 - If the person is getting hurt, then yes, you can shoot. I don't remember about stuff though, I personally would probably not shoot. Not worth the hassle to me for someone else's stuff... someone else's safety - yes.

Edit: sounds like me and Teamless are giving slightly different opinions/interpretations. You should wait for more people to chime in and tell one or both of us that we are wrong

[speedsix]

...this part:

" jareknyc wrote:
trying to steal purse or wallet,
there is no deadly force being used, therefore you cannot use deadly force against it.
remember, even DRAWING your weapon is "using" deadly force. "


...is a wrong answer...as the OP described it...a robbery is in progress..NOT a theft...and deadly force can be necessary if it meets PC 9:41 AND 9:42...or, if you prefer, both PC 9:31 and 9:32 either set would justify deadly force...

...that being said...the warnings against being mistaken about what's going on and being sure to think it out are well taken...







:

[jareknyc]

thanks guys for all this great responses,you guys really know that chl book...

two more questions

#1 can i shoot in the air so hopefully they will get scared and stay on the ground till police arrives ??

#2 can i point a gun at someone and wait till police comes, i think as far as i know i am not using deadly force simple by holding someone at gun point, is that correct ??

[speedsix]

thanks guys for all this great responses, two more questions

#1 can i shoot in the air so hopefully they will get scared and stay on the ground till police arrives ??

#2 can i point a gun at someone and wait till police comes, i think as far as i know i am not using deadly force simple by holding someone at gun point, is that correct ??

...you should NEVER fire a "warning shot" and NEVER shoot in the air...

...the law says that if you were justified in USING deadly force, you were justified in SHOWING or THREATENING deadly force

...if you were not justified in USING deadly force, you could get in a lot of trouble trying to show why you THREATENED using deadly force...


How'd we do on our litle test???

[snatchel]

Who was your instructor and what city to ensure I avoid his class...? Some of these questions are black & white, if the instructor did not cover them, he/she does not deserve students in his class.

Also, I reccomend you spend some time reading through the forum and threads... Use the search feature. Most of these questions are covered several times.. I can guarantee you will learn loads from them.

[Thomas]

I concur with speedsix.

Never fire a "warning shot". Never fire in the air (doing so violates the rule of know your target and what is beyond it, because you don't know where the bullet is going to land).

Only pull your handgun out if you would be legally justified in shooting the bad guy.

I also concur with snatchel. Please stick around and read some of the other discussions, they can be very enlightening and entertaining. However, the search feature sucks. Use Google and search the site with this in the search field:
site:texaschlforum.com keyword1 keyword2 etc

[speedsix]

...now I've learned my somethin' for today...thanks, Thomas...I often google and get referred to a thread, but didn't know how to do what you just taught...this place is a LIBRARY of do's AND DON'Ts!!!

[snatchel]

...now I've learned my somethin' for today...thanks, Thomas...I often google and get referred to a thread, but didn't know how to do what you just taught...this place is a LIBRARY of do's AND DON'Ts!!!

Ditto. This is great!

[jareknyc]

Thanks guys for all your responses, some of this things were covered just wanted to make sure, and hear from you guys, since this is a very large forum, we will have mixed answers, but since i am writing this right now, there is one more think i wanted to ask, something to verify of what my instructor said

if someone is driving very close to you, and it almost looks like he will try to hit your car for what ever reason, drunk or not, don't care, but you can clearly say that he is doing it intentionally, you don't know if he want to hurt you or not, i guess he is using his car as a weapon, can you use your gun for that..

[speedsix]

...I am truly amazed at the difference between the first post and this one, in grammar, sentence structure, and articulation...it's almost as if........naw, couldn't be...time for my meds and off to bed...

[jareknyc]

...I am truly amazed at the difference between the first post and this one, in grammar, sentence structure, and articulation...it's almost as if........naw, couldn't be...time for my meds and off to bed...

sorry i speak few languages i might sometimes write weird, sorry about that

[apostate]

How about using your brakes? Or your steering wheel?

[speedsix]

...I understand, I hurt my head once falling off a cabbage truck, but it wasn't yesterday...