TexasCHLforum.com

striker55 wrote:Working 3rd shift behind the desk at a hotel. Masked man comes in to rob me. Do I have to see a gun before I can draw on him? I'm thinking if he's masked he's up to no good and I'm not waiting to find out if he has a gun. If he makes a move like he's going for a gun do I shoot? Tough questions.

Sec. 9.31. SELF-DEFENSE. (a) Except as provided in Subsection (b), a person is justified in using force against another when and to the degree the actor REASONABLY believes the force is immediately necessary to protect the actor against the other's use or attempted use of unlawful force. The actor's belief that the force was immediately necessary as described by this subsection is presumed to be reasonable if the actor:

(1) knew or had reason to believe that the person against whom the force was used:

(A) unlawfully and with force entered, or was attempting to enter unlawfully and with force, the actor's occupied habitation, vehicle, or place of business or employment;

(B) unlawfully and with force removed, or was attempting to remove unlawfully and with force, the actor from the actor's habitation, vehicle, or place of business or employment; or

(C) was committing or attempting to commit aggravated kidnapping, murder, sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, robbery, or aggravated robbery;

(2) did not provoke the person against whom the force was used; and

(3) was not otherwise engaged in criminal activity, other than a Class C misdemeanor that is a violation of a law or ordinance regulating traffic at the time the force was used.

I do not see anything that says you have to see a gun or other weapon. Seeing a masked man come into my premises or business, especially late at night would be a reasonable cause to assume the worst.

wgoforth wrote:You have to be able to say you were fearful for your life. Only you can determine at what point you were.

Purplehood wrote:I don't foresee any difficulty with the above scenario.

Dragonfighter wrote:

wgoforth wrote:You have to be able to say you were fearful for your life. Only you can determine at what point you were.

If I may, a small semantic nit to pick. To be justified you have to BE in fear of an imminent threat to your life and health, robbery, rape, etc. The whys, whens and to what extent you were reasonable is determined after the fact.

There are plenty of examples where people were exonerated even after shooting an "innocent" person due to the circumstances meeting the criteria of "reasonableness", guilty conscience not withstanding.

surprise_i'm_armed wrote:There's a video out there somewhere (I can't find it or
I'd link to it) where a hotel is being robbed.

There are 2 employees working behind the front desk, a man who is
sitting at a PC typing, and a woman who is standing.

On the customer side of the counter there is a woman standing,
holding a baby.

When the bad guy starts the robbery, the seated employee
draws a semi-auto pistol, stands up, and begins shooting right in front
of the baby's face. The mother backs up as the GG shoots
multiple rounds at the perp.

The bad guy runs out, but I believe that he was hit.

If anyone can find this and post this, it's an awesome video.
It's scary that the GG is firing so close to the baby, but he
sends the BG running. The video might be on http://www.trutv.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;,
but I don't have time to search it.

SIA