The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - If a person shoots and kills a person in self defense....

Gary L. Griffiths · December 30, 2009, 12:50 AM

OK, guys. Homicide isn'ta crime. Homicide is the killing of one human being by another. It may be accidental or on purpose, and may be criminal in either case (negligent homicide, involuntary manslaughter, manslaughter, murder). If a homicide is justifiable or excusable (the difference is really moot) then the slayer has committed no crime. However, in all but the most blatent cases of self-defense, it is likely that the slayer will be arrested and possibly charged with murder, manslaughter, or some similar crime.

Getting back to the original question, there is nothing in the law that requires you to notify police or anyone else if you shoot someone in self-defense. However it is almost always in your best interests to do so. Failure to report the incident, and leaving the scene can be construed as flight to avoid prosecution, and may well convince a jury that the shooting was not really in self-defense. Moreover, if, by failing to report the shooting, the "victim" dies when (s)he otherwise might have been saved by timely medical treatment, you may, indeed, be guilty of negligent homicide or involuntary manslaughter, depending on statutes.

December 30, 2009, 12:50 AM	#15
Gary L. Griffiths Senior Member Join Date: April 8, 2000 Location: On The Road, somewhere in the good ol' US of A. Posts: 1,109	OK, guys. Homicide isn'ta crime. Homicide is the killing of one human being by another. It may be accidental or on purpose, and may be criminal in either case (negligent homicide, involuntary manslaughter, manslaughter, murder). If a homicide is justifiable or excusable (the difference is really moot) then the slayer has committed no crime. However, in all but the most blatent cases of self-defense, it is likely that the slayer will be arrested and possibly charged with murder, manslaughter, or some similar crime. Getting back to the original question, there is nothing in the law that requires you to notify police or anyone else if you shoot someone in self-defense. However it is almost always in your best interests to do so. Failure to report the incident, and leaving the scene can be construed as flight to avoid prosecution, and may well convince a jury that the shooting was not really in self-defense. Moreover, if, by failing to report the shooting, the "victim" dies when (s)he otherwise might have been saved by timely medical treatment, you may, indeed, be guilty of negligent homicide or involuntary manslaughter, depending on statutes. __________________ Violence is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and valorous feeling which believes that nothing is worth violence is much worse. Those who have nothing for which they are willing to fight; nothing they care about more than their own personal safety; are miserable creatures who have no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of those better than themselves. Gary L. Griffiths, Chief Instructor, Advanced Force Tactics, Inc. (Paraphrasing John Stuart Mill)