Knife Vs Gun: When Are You Justified To Shoot?

Knife vs. Gun — When is an armed citizen legally permitted to use lethal force against an attacker using a blade weapon? On October 26, 2020, Philadelphia Police shot Walter Wallace, 27, with a knife. YouTube videos show the shooting. According to an observer, the two officers who fired 10 shots were likely justified in the shooting. Dennis Tueller, a firearms instructor in his police department, measured how quickly his officers could draw and hit a target of a man-sized size with two shots from their service revolvers. The distance was 7 meters and the times were 1.5 seconds. He then measured how fast the officers could run the same 7 miles and found that it averaged 1.5 seconds. An officer should draw their gun when confronted by a knife-wielding person if the suspect is within 21 feet. Otherwise, the officer would not have any chance to draw or get shots off before being stabbed. However, this does not automatically mean that the legal system will allow you to shoot someone who is threatening with a knife within 7 yards of you. What would a reasonable and prudent person do in similar circumstances? Did they threaten to use the knife against your face? Did the suspect have a history of violence? Did the suspect engage in any other criminal activity? The suspect may have been involved in other criminal activity. Caribou Media Group might earn a commission on qualifying purchases. Thank you! I worked on a case in which an individual threatened to use a K-bar knife against the defendant. He then threatened him again moments later and began moving toward the defendant. The defendant shot and killed an attacker, but the attacker did not draw the knife. He just had it in his sheath on the hip. Other extenuating circumstances led to the jury convicting the defendant (such as the drunkenness of his attacker and the fact that he fled from the scene) and worked against him credibility. Although my analysis of the scene and the testimony in court were not sufficient to overcome these facts, I believe the jury was justified in convicting the suspect. The old saying that a gun is less lethal than a knife is wrong. A well-executed knife cut can kill or disable as quickly as a similar wound with a gun. When you are trying to convince jurors that you had a reasonable belief that your life was in danger, the reasonable person doctrine phrase “knowing what I knew at the time” will be crucial. Documented knowledge and training are your best tools. I remember when I was a rookie officer that my tactical and legal training regarding lethal threats didn’t adequately cover knife lethality. It was widely accepted that an officer should use a baton to disarm the person with a knife if they had one. The current knife lethality training was made popular by the publication of the 1988 officer survival video Surviving Edged Weapons, produced and distributed by Calibre Press. This was after Tueller’s earlier work. This video is essential for anyone who carries a gun. Training as a Legal Aid. If you have to defend your actions in court, having documented, hands-on training from a respected school or instructor could prove invaluable. In most cases, your instructor can be presented to support the concepts and training that he taught you. This allows police officers who use deadly force against knife-wielding criminal suspects to avoid civil or criminal liability. Your attorney could use the same documented training to convince the prosecutor not to press charges against your, even if the suspect had “only a knife.” Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in Gun Digest the Magazine, March 2021. More Legal Topics: