It seems, then, that it wouldn't matter whether or not you have a gun pointed at the bad guy? If your gun is drawn, it might as well be pointed at him? My thinking has always been to loudly use the most forceful and threatening language I could come up with to get them to lay down and be still, all while keeping my 9mm trained on the bad guy. As someone said, leave no doubt in the criminal's mind that you will shoot him immediately if he doesn't comply. I would much rather walk away from a situation where I restrained, then had the cops arrest, an intruder, as opposed to killing him outright. Even if there was a resultant civil suit against this "restraint," it would be much less costly than a civil suit against homicide, and AKAIK the castle doctrine would cause both to be thrown out.seamusTX wrote:Restraint has a broad definition in Texas law:shootthesheet wrote:After he/she is disarmed then go to low ready then loudly and with authority ask him/her "Do not move! Stay where you are! I have called the cops, stay where you are!" Do not point the gun at him/her and don't say a word about shooting them if they move.Telling someone not to move, with an implied threat of using a weapon, is restraint. It is lawful in this case.PC 20.01(1) "Restrain" means to restrict a person's movements without consent, so as to interfere substantially with the person's liberty, by moving the person from one place to another or by confining the person. Restraint is "without consent" if it is accomplished by:
(A) force, intimidation, or deception; or...
Tactically, this would work best only if the criminal isn't armed (with a gun) -- or if he is, only if you can surprise him from behind. But IMO I think it is the best course of action, legally, to try and restrain first, shoot second. Because if I do end up shooting someone, I think the DA/jury will be much more on my side if they see that I first gave the criminal a chance to end things peacefully. You gotta think about the long-term consequences like this, because even if you live, you might go to jail. Or even if you get off the hook, you might get sued. And jail, or a long-drawn out lawsuit, would also take me away from my family...not as much as death, sure, but still.