I would almost always make some kind of effort to retreat, Castle Doctrine or not. But as I have mentioned, I have some medical issues that greatly limit my ability to retreat very fast or very far. So if the BG presses forward, I will soon find myself facing a serious threat to life and limb.Russell wrote:
Next, I would like to play devil's advocate here and see what other people think,
Would you shoot somebody who is advancing, you aren't sure if they have a weapon, and has not yet used force against you?
Someone in better health than I would have more options.
It's hard to say, because every scenario can have subtle differences that can, in the end, make all the difference. So all I can say is the somewhat lame and uninformative observation that I would try to act as a reasonable person, and protect myself as best as I could, while using as little force as necessary.Russell wrote: But... would it be considered reasonable to fire if the person continued to advance, had an unknown instrument in his hand, and was using verbal provocation alone?