The Unarmed Attacker vs. The Armed Concealed Carry Citizen

If I am armed and I am attacked by an unarmed attacker, can I use deadly force to stop his attack?  There are several factors that must be considered before this question can be answered, but in short the answer is "Yes" in some instances.  Here is an example of a situation.  After you read this description, you make the call.
You are at the mall and a young man bumps into you and it is obvious that he is just looking for trouble.  You say, 'Excuse me," but he replies, "Fuck you!"  This angers you because your wife is with you and you say, "Hey man watch your language, I said excuse me."  This young man is about 20 years younger than you and he pushes you and your immediate reaction is to push him back.  He then squares off with you and puts his fists up and says, "I am going to kick your ass old man!"  You decide this is just not worth it and you say, "I am sorry, I should not have pushed you, and I am sorry I was not paying attention and I bumped into you.", but no matter, this young man's dander is up and he is a trouble maker and he hits you in the eye with his fist.  It smarts like hell and you see stars, but you do not go down and you are still standing, holding your eye.

What is your response to this attack?

This attack is probably not up to the standard of one that demands a deadly force response.  Generally, this would not be considered a deadly force attack by the assailant.  When I say this, I have pictured in my mind that the victim is a healthy male that has a sore eye, and bruised ego, but does not fear for his life at this point in time.  With the information I have just added above, this would not be a response where you would pull a gun out.

Let's carry this scenario out a little more.  You take your wife's arm and you turn around and walk away from the young man, signaling you intention to end the hostilities.  You have withdrawn from this encounter and you are posing no threat whatsoever to the young man.  This action just enrages this psycho that much more and he runs up behind you and knocks you to the ground.  Your wife screams out because when you fall you nearly take her down with you.  The young man pushes her to the ground and he shouts out, "Shut up bitch!", and he turns his attention on you and starts to kick you while you are on the ground defenseless.  He has kicked you in the side, in the thigh, and in the head and the head shot really scares the hell out of you.


What is your response to this part of the ongoing attack?

I don't know about you, but I would now fear for my life.  I am stopping this attack any way I can, up to and including deadly force.  You are in the mall so you have to be very mindful of innocent bystanders.  If you pull your gun while on the ground at least when you fire, the shots will be traveling at a sharp angle upward and will be less likely to hit anyone else.  Since this guy has attacked you twice and knocked your wife to the floor, and is kicking you hard while you are on the ground, I think that most anyone would consider that this is a deadly force attack on you and you have a right to defend yourself and stop the attack before it is too late.

As a side note, the mall has a rule that no firearms are allowed in the mall, but that is not the law and the only thing a mall security guard can do (if he knows you are carrying) is ask you to put your gun in your car or if you refuse to do that he can ask you to leave.  If that happens, leave because he is within his rights to ask you to leave.  But know this, you have not violated any law by carrying a concealed weapon inside the mall.  My advice is carry concealed anywhere you legally can, because the mall is a place that you may need a gun.

Okay, here is another scenario for you to consider.  

This one is not quite so clear cut so read it carefully.  You are driving down Green River Road and the traffic light changes and you stop abruptly and the car behind you rear ends your car.  The accident is not too bad, but you are upset and you decide to get out of your car to see how much damage there is and to see if the other driver is okay.  As you get out of your car this huge young man comes at you from the other car in a rage.  He is calling you every name under the sun and he goes back to his car and hits his driver's side window with his fists and breaks the window and cuts his knuckles.  He then rips his shirt off and still enraged screams out, "I am going to rip your head off and shit down your neck!"


At the time he is standing about 20 feet away from you and you keep trying to explain that you were trying to not run the red light and you had to stop suddenly, but he is not listening to a word you are saying.  This young man is much larger than you, appears to be very muscular, and is much younger than you.  This scenario calls for you to not be the type to engage in physical fights, or if you are somewhat skilled, you have recently had surgery and are in no shape to fight.

What is your response?

Since the crazed young man is still some distance away, I think it would be a good idea to create some more distance and try to put your car between him and you so the car, as an obstacle, will buy you additional time should he decide to attack.  I would not want to try to get into my car and lock the door, because he could close the gap before I could close the door and lock it and then I would be trapped in a confined area with this gorilla on top of me.

So, having said that, let's say you decide to take my action and cautiously back away and put the car between the two of you.  This just makes him madder and he charges at you.  He has nothing in his hands, but he is climbing over the top of your car and coming after you.

Now what is your response?

Now it is entirely dependent on what you are feeling at this moment.  I believe in this situation I would definitely fear for my life.  I would draw my weapon, point it directly at him and if he continues to come toward me, I would draw a line in the sand and when he reached the point of no return, I would fire to save myself from serious bodily injury.


How would I articulate my reasons for using deadly force against this unarmed attacker?

First, I did nothing to encourage this attack.  I merely stopped my car abruptly to keep from running a red light, and because he was tailgating me, he ran into my car.  Also, I would explain that I was not in any kind of road rage situation prior to the accident, in other words, I had know idea this guy was behind me and I have never seen him before and I do not know him.  I would then explain that I was angry about the accident, but I was more concerned for the well being of the driver behind me and that is why I got out of my car, not to attack the driver, but to give aid if he needed it.

I would then describe his behavior in the greatest detail possible.  It would go something like this.

He charged at me and was enraged and was screaming out loud that I was a "mother fucker, cock sucker, fucking idiot" and a whole host of other unflattering names (use the language he used).  He stormed back to his car and violently hit the driver's side window with his fist and knocked the window out and cut himself.  He then took a couple of steps toward me and bellowed, "I am going to rip your head off and shit down your neck!"  I took this man seriously because he was so huge, much, much larger than me, and he was so violently angry.  The veins on his neck jumped out, his face turned blood red, and his eyes bulged out of his head during this tirade.  He screamed at me uncontrollably and I started fearing for my life so I backed away from him to show that I was not a threat to him and I intentionally put my car between me and him.


He only became more enraged and he jumped on top of my car and stomped across the hood with his fists clinched and glared at me with venom in his eyes.  I knew without any doubt in my mind, that I could not stop this crazed man from doing serious bodily harm to me and I felt compelled to defend my life.  When I drew my gun and pointed it at him, I had every intention of not shooting if he stopped in his tracks, but he did not stop and he left me no other recourse, but to fire my weapon in self defense.

I have told my students that when you articulate the facts that you want to paint a portrait.  Do not just gloss over the facts with a finger-painting.  Your story should be so vivid, so real, so engrossing, that it makes the hair on the back of the neck of the person listening stand up.  Do not exaggerate, do not make up anything, just tell it like it is, but tell the story with as much detail as possible.  I think that if the Prosecutor's Office read my response and witnesses in the area backed my story up, I would not be charged with a crime, but would be exonerated by ruling this as a justifiable self defense shooting.


Here are some of the factors that may influence someone to use deadly force against an unarmed attacker - The attacker's size, age disparity, physical fitness disparity, more than one attacker, you may have knowledge that the attacker is a mixed martial arts expert or skilled boxer, and the fact that the attacker is a male and you are a female may be a factor.  These are just a few examples I can think of.

I hope these examples are helpful.  Taking a human life is never anything that any of us want to do, but it may be a necessary action to save a life . . . your life.