“I’m in fear for my life!”
I’ve heard this phrase pop up a couple of times in the last
month.
The first time was during a close quarters shooting class I was
teaching. The students were working a weapon retention drill and I had
instructed them to use loud, repetitive verbal commands when defending their
firearm from a takeaway attempt.
One of my students got his gun back from his attacker in a
scenario, cleared his malfunction and then trained his gun on his simulated
attacker. The verbal command he yelled was “Stay away
from me! I’m in fear for my life and I will shoot you!”
The command sounded forced and unnatural. I asked the student
why he chose to use those particular words. He told me “When I say that, the
criminal will know that I’ve met the legal standard for use of force and if he
continues his attack, I’ll be justified in shooting him.”
I’m not so sure about that…
More recently, I read an article (from an author I respect) that
advocated barricading into a safe room in the event someone breaks into your
house. The author instructed his readers to yell something like: “I have a gun
and am in fear for my life. Leave now!”
How is that phrase tangibly better than merely saying: “I have a
gun. Leave now?”
“I’m in fear for my life” is a curious phrase. I don’t think that
using it will improve the outcome of your defensive encounter. Telling
someone that you are in fear for your life is simply not the same as BEING in
fear for your life. It’s not a shortcut to provide some sort of instant
justification for shooting someone.
Being in fear for your life is generally grounds for using
lethal force only when such fear is objectively reasonable given the
circumstances. Your statements have very little bearing on this standard
of objective reasonableness. The attacker still must have the ability and
opportunity to cause you serious injury in order to justify your shooting.
Furthermore, you must reasonably believe that you are in jeopardy of
being seriously injured by your attacker.
Let me give you an example…
If I’m physically attacked by an unarmed eight year old girl, do
you think I would be justified in shooting her so long as I’ve screamed “I’m in fear
for my life?” I hope not.
The law doesn’t work that way. Likewise, you won’t be justified in
shooting a criminal attacker unless the ability- opportunity-jeopardy standards
are met no matter how many times you tell him that you are scared.
Let’s take a look at another issue…
Have you ever been truly scared that you might die? At the
moment of impending death did you think or say “I’m in fear for my
life?” I’m betting you
probably didn’t. And neither has anyone else who has been in true danger.
We simply don’t vocalize very well when we’re truly scared. All of
our brain’s resources are being put toward working on a solution to ensure our
survival. You won’t be waxing eloquently about your perceived fear.
In fact, if I was the attorney prosecuting you for attempted
murder, I might use your casual statement against you in court:
“If the defendant was truly as scared as he said he was, why
didn’t he try to run away? He didn’t make any effort to escape.
Instead he calmly talked to the victim about his fears. That isn’t
the action of a person who is really scared to death. The mere fact that
the defendant could calmly utter those words is evidence enough to show that he
WASN’T scared.”
Can you see how that statement might cause things to go
sideways?
Beyond the legal considerations, consider the impact that such a
statement will have on the criminal. We know that criminals choose
victims who are scared and unable or unwilling to fight back. What
message are you sending when you tell your attacker “I’m in fear
for my life?” Do you think it
will scare him away or do you think it will embolden him to more violent
action? My bet is on the latter…
And if you think that those magic words will make the criminal
understand that you have somehow met the legal grounds for using deadly force,
think again. The dudes attacking you are not legal scholars. If
they were, they would likely have a job that doesn’t involve hitting people like
you over the head with a steel pipe. The criminal doesn’t know when it’s
legal for a citizen to shoot him. More importantly, HE DOESN’T
CARE! He’s a criminal. By definition he couldn’t care less about
the laws that govern most of the people in this country. He isn’t going
to understand the message that you are attempting to communicate.
Words have meaning. It’s important to choose them
carefully. Don’t say anything in a defensive encounter that might come
back to bite you in the ass.
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