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Old April 25, 2010, 08:08 AM   #32
WhyteP38
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Join Date: September 22, 2005
Location: Behind a keyboard.
Posts: 1,565
Quote:
You are responsible for where any bullet ends up.
Based on my reading of state laws on the subject, in a legitimate SD situation, you are LEGALLY responsible for injuries to bystanders only if you fire recklessly. For example, if you are attacked and just start shooting wildly, you'll be legally responsible for anyone you injure. However, if you fire at your attacker and the bullet overpenetrates the BG, you are not legally responsible.

In fact, if I recall correctly, the BG is the "but for" cause of the injury, in that "but for the BG's attack on you, you would not have fired." I don't know how many states this applies to, but that's what I recall to be the law.

If you are taking about MORAL responsibility, that's its own topic.

Like I wrote before, "Anything you say [or do] can and will be used against you." Your ammo/platform choices are factors to be used against you. Whether they will be decisive factors depends on how obvious it is that you were legitimately defending yourself or others. The more room for doubt on that point, the more likely your choices will go against you.

Go prowling around outside your home in the dark in search of a BG, the more you could end up looking like a vigilante. Barricade yourself and your loved ones in a bedroom and call the police, the more you look like you were forced into a desperate last stand, and the less likely your choices will be used against you. And probably the less likely you'll accidentally injure any innocent parties.
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