JayCee wrote:LJM wrote:This is the part that hangs me up.
pulling a gun for .500 of a second and defusing the whole situation
What are the odds of defusing versus escallating the situation. If the OP has done nothing Wrong and the aggresive drivers are intent on harm or the "Gangbanger has just been Challenged!
RETREAT is the safest option.
Statments like this make me think many of you haven't even been in so much as a schoolyard brawl much less an actual self defense scenario. I have, on both counts, several times. Gang members are like cockroaches, they scatter when th24reatened and are not in greater numbers. Besides that isn't there the chance for escalation in any 'threat of force' scenario?
Also FWIW the word should be defuse, not diffuse. You're removing the fuse fro ma bomb, not misting a plant.
1.
Your interpretation of the law is irrelevant. The law is established through precedent as determined by the courts. You've got law enforcement officers here telling you how the law works: you ignore their advice at your own, and your family's, peril.
2. You asked about the law in a public forum and created a public record where you describe your intention to ignore what knowledgeable and sympathetic CHLers, some of whom are law enforcement officers, are telling you about the law. If you do get charged with any of the many things you can be charged with for doing what you clearly intend to do contrary to all warnings, and especially if your actions result in death or serious injury to someone, a competent prosecutor will hang you with your own words.
3. Flashing a gun may escalate the situation, and the person you flash may have a gun himself. Assuming he doesn't call the police and get you arrested, he may simply get behind you like you described in the one incident, follow you, and empty his gun into your car when you pull into your driveway, or wherever you stop first --that's hardly going to help your family. If you flash a gun at someone you "know" is a gangbanger, he may call in a few of his buddies to help out.
4. Some guy cutting you off in traffic or following too close behind you with his brights on isn't a "threat of force scenario."