Module 3 - Laws and Legal Liability

MICHIGAN FIREARMS LAW AND LEGAL LIABILITY

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS PAGE 3 OF 3

What about Roommates? When both the attacker and attacked have an equal right to be in the home, there is also no duty to retreat if you are the non-aggressor. The right to self-defense without retreat extends to the any place you have a legal right to be . (See the self defense act of October, 2006) Can I use deadly force in defense of someone else? Answer: Yes , a person has the right to use force or even take a life to defend someone else under certain circumstances. You may use deadly force in defense of another when you honestly and reasonably believed that the other person was in danger of being killed, seriously injured, or forcibly sexually penetrated. What happens if I am wrong? Say, I witnessed an assault being filmed for a movie and I shoot the attacker? Answer: If your belief was honest and reasonable , you could act to defend another, even if it turns out later that you were wrong about how much danger that person was in. Although it may turn out that the appearances were false and that you were mistaken as to the extent of the real danger; you are judged by the circumstances as they appeared to you at the time of the act as long as it was reasonable, Lesson, don’t be a butinski . Does an aggressor have the right to use deadly force? Answer: Generally, one who is the aggressor in an encounter with another (i.e. one who brings about the difficulty with the other) may not avail himself of the defense of self-defense. Deadly force can only be used by an innocent victim of an attack. But, you cannot have caused or incited your assailant’s attack. (i.e. baiting is not allowed.) You can bait deer and bear in Michigan but not humans. “ Hey I bet you can’t bash my head in” You cannot provoke a person into attacking you and then shoot him in self defense. Don’t say “do you feel lucky” or “make my day”. Ordinarily , this is certainly a correct statement, since the aggressor’s victim, defending himself against the aggressor, is using lawful, not unlawful, force; and the force defended against must be unlawful force, for self-defense to be justifiable. Nevertheless, there are two situations in which an aggressor may justifiably defend himself. 1. An aggressor who in good faith, effectively withdraws from any further encounter with his victim (and to make an effective withdrawal he must notify the victim, or at least take reasonable steps to notify him) is restored to his right of self-defense. 2. A person who assaults someone else with fists or a weapon that is not deadly, insults someone with words, trespasses on someone else’s property, or tries to take someone else’s property in a nonvio-lent way , does not lose all right to self-defense by doing so. If someone else assaults him with deadly force, that person may lawfully act in his own self-defense.

Handgun Training Specialists

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