TexasCHLforum.com

Hi everybody I m new to this forum and new to Texas.I have a question about the law over here in TX .
Hope I ll get an answer to this.
Is it legal to draw a gun and not shoot the person??for example:if some some break in to my house and I just point the gun at him not shoot him and wait till the police to come.is it legal like that? Or once u draw u ll have to shoot no matter what?thanks guys

Is this what you need to know?

§ 9.04. THREATS AS JUSTIFIABLE FORCE. The threat of
force is justified when the use of force is justified by this
chapter. For purposes of this section, a threat to cause death or
serious bodily injury by the production of a weapon or otherwise, as
long as the actor's purpose is limited to creating an apprehension
that he will use deadly force if necessary, does not constitute the
use of deadly force.

Thanks for your post.but could u please explain it?sorry my English is not good there r so much to learn. Thank you hope to hear it back

Without examining every single scenario, if you have already preconditioned yourself and developed the mindset that you "will" draw but that you "will not" shoot...you might be setting yourself up along with those you are responsible for protecting in a more dangerous and un-necessarily delayed situation.

Again, without examining every single scenario.

ed7232004:

No, it is not a requirement that if you draw your weapon, that you must follow
through by shooting the person.

However, if you feel the person is definitely a threat to you, AND you draw
your gun from concealment, you must realize that the bad guy will not necessarily
stop his evil intentions just because he sees your gun.

So if you draw, you must be ready to engage (start shooting) the threat immediately.

If you have to shoot the person, keep in mind that you should be ready to fire multiple
shots at this person before he goes down, or stops his threatening actions.

Remember - you shoot to STOP THE THREAT, not necessarily to KILL the person.

By using lethal force (your weapon) you MAY kill the person, but your intention is to
STOP THE THREAT.

SIA

Concealing a weapon is not required within your home. If I understand your proprosed scenario correctly...someone unlawfully enters your home...there are many variables to consider, and these are my understandings only, as IANAL (I am not a lawyer).

If it's daylight, it is presumed that you can see the BG before shooting, and therefore are able to size-up the threat before shooting. You're only allowed to legally shoot to "stop" an eminent threat to you or others that you are protecting. If it's night, you are allowed more flexibility, as it is presumed you may not be able to completely determine the degree of threat. However, in either case, if the BG is retreating, it is deemed unlawful to shoot.

You should always have the mindset that when you point your weapon at a threat, you will be ready to use deadly force. Otherwise, don't pull and point it.

There are several very good threads on this forum that talk about these scenarios. I suggest you take some time to read through many of them. But you also need to know what the TX law says. Read the penal codes that apply to deadly force vs. non deadly force.

Welcome to the forum, and welcome to Texas!

Thanks a lot guys:). I just need to set my mind to draw will have to shoot .otherwise it s thread to everybody .

It you are going to carry or keep a gun for self defense, the first thing you need to do is convince yourself that you can shoot someone to stop a deadly threat. If you can not bring yourself to shoot someone, you should not carry.

Having said that, that does not mean anytime you draw your gun, you have to shoot. If you are threatened, you draw your gun and the person turns and runs, you do not need to shoot and probably should not shoot. You shoot to stop a threat. If the threat stops when you draw the gun, that is all you need to do.

thanks for helping me out! these are very good info!!

Welcome to the forum Ed! I want to choose my words carefully here. Every situation is different. I have read here on the forum (and elsewere) that often the presence of a weapon has been enough to stop a threat - without the weapon ever being fired. I'm sure some one has the statistics on this very subject and I hope they will post them or provide a link.
Ed, just be sure your ready to defend yourself - do what it takes. But just for example say a bad guy is walking up to you with a knife and when you draw your gun he runs away. By law, he is not a threat to you anymore and it would not be right to shoot him.
Of course IANAL (I Am Not A Lawyer) thats just my opinion.
There are a lot of helpfull people here, I have learned a lot from them. You should feel free to ask any question.

You are never comitted to firing your weapon until you pull the trigger but never expose your weapon much less draw unless you are willing to go all the way because in some cases the sight of the gun can make things worse but as was mentioned in an earlier post in most cases the sight of a weapon is enough to make a BG change his mind. A couple of years ago I had a guy pull a knife on me in an attempted robbery (long story) and just the sight of my gun on my hip was enough to change his mind which was fine with me.

Ed,

This should have been taught when getting your CHL. However, many instructors either fail to do so or you miss it when they cover it because they are going so fast over the material.

Drawing a gun and pointing it at someone is using force, shooting at them constitutes deadly force. Dragonfighter's post above is the law on what constitutes use of force from a firearm.