Actually, it depends on what state you're in regarding an assault charge. In Ohio, pointing a firearm is only aggravated menacing, a misdemeanor 1st. Where a firearm's concerned, it becomes a felony 2nd if a person did "cause or attempt to cause serious physical harm by means of a deadly weapon or dangerous ordinance" (Ohio Revised Code Sec. 2903.11 - Felonious assault). I lost a case some years ago in which hubby shot a 12 gauge over his wife's head. The shot was close. I charged him with felonious assault, but the defense successfully argued that he only intended to scare her and did not try to inflict "serious physical harm".
Situations like the one's described here (including mine) are fluid, dynamic from split second to split second. One small factor in that split second can change the "proper response" from flight to fight. You can only make your decisions based on the information you have at the time. Remember that a key ingredient in the "self defense" defense, is that you have to have a reasonable "fear for your life". I'm sure juries have spend countless thousands of hours debating that one. The other thing that I'm surprised nobody has mentioned is that a motor vehicle can be a very lethal, 2-ton weapon. To say that a subject is unarmed when he has that 2-ton weapon inches from your bumper at 90 mph, and it's obvious that he means you ill in some form, is ludricrous. It most definitely was a factor in my decision to switch from flight to fight mode, especially given that I had kids on board. In my situation, I'm sure that road rage was not a factor. There were no other cars on the highway and these creeps came out of nowhere. I had to assume their intent was criminal, and since I had a brand new pickup, possibly car jacking. I also took into consideration that playing bumper tag, even at moderate speeds, is dangerous, and the longer it continues, the more dangerous it becomes. My stance with a weapon was defensive, but had they gone for the kids in the trees, I most definitely would have dropped them.
To those that think that the point/aim of a firearm is a use of force, I quote (then) US Atty General Janet Reno when a SWAT team member put the muzzle of an MP-5 in 8-yr. old Emelio Gonzoles' face some years ago: "That was not a use of force; that was a show of force".
