DocGlock86
Expert
IANAL therefore I don’t know if it would be justified or what the legal ramifications would be.
However this is my thinking if I was put in your shoes…
Whether I’m an athletic runner or a person in a wheel chair or whether I have a loved one in the path of the oncoming car that is an athletic runner or in a wheelchair, my primary concern is safety for myself or loved one. If you decide that just drawing or drawing and shooting is the course of action you take, will that remove the safety issue of getting you or your loved one run over? More than likely not… (Unless you buy into the Hollywood scenes where the person stands in front of a moving vehicle, pulls out a gun, and the driver always slams their brakes stopping the car a few inches from them) there’s a chance the person in the van is going to try and now remove the threat in front of him (person with a gun) by running them over. Or say if you were able to pull that perfect shot off and actually nail the driver dead on, is that going magically stop the van? Again more than likely not… His foot is already on the accelerator meaning when he goes down he probably won’t take his foot off of it. This will cause him to continue to accelerate towards you or your loved one.
I’m also not a scientist but let’s dive into some deep thinking. The OP said he was approx 20ft in front of the van. Disregarding acceleration because that is mathematics beyond me, let’s say the van was able to get to just 5mph that equals to 7.33333 feet per second (Google.com). The van would travel 20ft in 2.73 seconds. (Hopefully my math is correct LOL)
So in 3ish seconds I have to either decide to draw and HOPE that stops the van or just do my level best to get myself or my loved one the heck out of dangers way. I’m going to go with option 2 and then if I understand my laws right at that point you can’t really do much in regards to pulling my gun because life is no longer in immediate danger.
All in all is it justified? I’ll leave that to the INGO lawyers to answer. Is it the smart choice? I’m going with no.
However this is my thinking if I was put in your shoes…
Whether I’m an athletic runner or a person in a wheel chair or whether I have a loved one in the path of the oncoming car that is an athletic runner or in a wheelchair, my primary concern is safety for myself or loved one. If you decide that just drawing or drawing and shooting is the course of action you take, will that remove the safety issue of getting you or your loved one run over? More than likely not… (Unless you buy into the Hollywood scenes where the person stands in front of a moving vehicle, pulls out a gun, and the driver always slams their brakes stopping the car a few inches from them) there’s a chance the person in the van is going to try and now remove the threat in front of him (person with a gun) by running them over. Or say if you were able to pull that perfect shot off and actually nail the driver dead on, is that going magically stop the van? Again more than likely not… His foot is already on the accelerator meaning when he goes down he probably won’t take his foot off of it. This will cause him to continue to accelerate towards you or your loved one.
I’m also not a scientist but let’s dive into some deep thinking. The OP said he was approx 20ft in front of the van. Disregarding acceleration because that is mathematics beyond me, let’s say the van was able to get to just 5mph that equals to 7.33333 feet per second (Google.com). The van would travel 20ft in 2.73 seconds. (Hopefully my math is correct LOL)
So in 3ish seconds I have to either decide to draw and HOPE that stops the van or just do my level best to get myself or my loved one the heck out of dangers way. I’m going to go with option 2 and then if I understand my laws right at that point you can’t really do much in regards to pulling my gun because life is no longer in immediate danger.
All in all is it justified? I’ll leave that to the INGO lawyers to answer. Is it the smart choice? I’m going with no.