ccw legal advice (lawyers and LEOs please)

[tombogan03884]

Do any states honor military training as experience or do you have to take a 8 or 16 hour class for CCW??? Just curious.

Believe it or not Ca honors DD214, or they did in 1999.

[LawStudent]

I would bet that most judges and juries would consider use of a firearm to be "deadly force" in a self-defense situation.  That said, the common law approach to use of deadly force in self-defense requires a, honest and reasonable imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm.  The "honest" prong is simple - did YOU believe there was such a threat.  The harder part is the "reasonable" aspect - will a judge/jury see your believe to be reasonable?  If you can use your training to show a responsibility towards gun ownership and defense, and to show that you have developed some skill in assessing dangerous situations and threats, this ::should:: help your case.  Remember, though, that we are talking about judges and juries - people who will be influenced by their own cultural/societal values and beliefs (and possibly not within the gun culture, depending on your location).  That said, if your training instead comes off as some kind of tactical/kill on sight/learn to be rambo course, it could harm your cause.  It may all come down to presentation.  At least, that's my .02.

[blackwolfe]

I would bet that most judges and juries would consider use of a firearm to be "deadly force" in a self-defense situation.  That said, the common law approach to use of deadly force in self-defense requires a, honest and reasonable imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm.  The "honest" prong is simple - did YOU believe there was such a threat.  The harder part is the "reasonable" aspect - will a judge/jury see your believe to be reasonable?  If you can use your training to show a responsibility towards gun ownership and defense, and to show that you have developed some skill in assessing dangerous situations and threats, this ::should:: help your case.  Remember, though, that we are talking about judges and juries - people who will be influenced by their own cultural/societal values and beliefs (and possibly not within the gun culture, depending on your location).  That said, if your training instead comes off as some kind of tactical/kill on sight/learn to be rambo course, it could harm your cause.  It may all come down to presentation.  At least, that's my .02.

I'm not a lawyer or LEO so my opinions are from a laymen's view point.   LawStudents post makes a lot of "common" sense to me, especially about the type of training could harm your case.  In Michigan part of the CPL (concealed pistol license) course is a legal section.  I ended up taking the training twice, because the gunboard said that the first course did't qualify because of one of the instructor's qualifications.  In both courses the legal section happened to be taught by a judge.