bigbulls

I think you mean the prosecution.

A prosecuting attorney could argue the same because you bought what you think is the best and most damaging factory loaded defense ammo so you could kill someone with it.

I use Hornady critical defense ammo in my carry gun because I think they are the best and will do the most damage to the bad guy thus ending the threat to my life. I'd much rather be judged by 12 than carried by six. I'm using the best stuff I can get.

homers brother

I just have to wonder about the competence of a prosecutor who hangs their case on an argument like this, or a defense attorney for that matter, who can't effectively defend their client against such an argument? Imagine what one gun owner/juror familiar with reloading their own ammunition might have wreaked inside the jury room? It's sad that people in this country can be so easily misled by faulty information.

If any of you wish to put the "lessons" of this case into practice, I suggest you not reload anything at all. I also suggest you buy nothing but FMJ, factory-loaded COMMERCIAL ammunition. After all, we KNOW that anything with a hollow or soft point is intended to cause death rather than wounding, and that military ammunition is armor piercing and/or incendiary and cars blow up when shot with it. You might also be wise not to use anything larger than a .22 CB Cap. Otherwise, it "might" be proven that you selected a more powerful round because you intended to kill the perpetrator.

Once again though, this case alleged a suicide on one side, a murder on the other - not a defensive situation. I see a lot of conclusions here which are founded in the wrong situation. And again, if someone in your home is exhibiting suicidal symptoms, remove their access to firearms and the medicine cabinet and get them some help immediately.

homers brother

Guess the moral of that story could be, "Don't live in West Virginia." On duty LEO, returns fire after being hit himself, and the court sides with the guy who shot him? I have to wonder if the perpetrator was charged with anything? Something doesn't smell right, and google isn't bringing up anything that looks remotely similar.

Was he using reloads? Or was he using factory-loaded duty ammunition?

Really, if stories like this become urban legends, creating even a semblance of hesitation or doubt in a gunowner's mind as to whether to defend themselves with a legal firearm, then the left has already won. Next, we'll be getting sued for "cruelty to animals" when hunting. Who needs the Second Amendment?

RobertSubnet

Sounds like that LEO had the worst lawyer ever to graduate from law school.

Gatofeo

I have never believed this.
For one thing, this gets bandied about without a single court case to back it up. I've asked others for the case: no one seems to know.

Difficulty in establishing residue patterns? This insults the crime-lab folks, who know their craft and science very well. Besides, factories change powder and amounts in the same loading all the time. The box of .38 Special jacketed hollowpoints you bought yesterday very likely is not loaded with the same powder loaded 10 years ago.

Providing you reloaded with a bullet typically commercially available (no homemade mercury-tipped, exploding, fragmenting, etc. bullets), you will be judged on the legality of shooting, not what you fired.
Of course, any prosecutor will try to distract the jury by mentioning you used hollow points, a "Magnum" (even if you had it loaded with .38 Specials), etc. But these issues will be addressed even if you used factory ammo.

Whether you had the legal right to shoot another person will be the crux of the issue.
You MUST prove that you had reason to believe that you were in fear of:
1. Death to yourself or others.
2. Permanent, debilitating injury to yourself or others. Note, the injury must be permanent and extremely grievous. If someone comes at you with a baseball bat, you would have reason to believe that the bat could cause you death or permanent, debilitating injury. But if that same person came at you with a shoe in his or her hand, you likely shouldn't shoot.

There are other factors that play into shooting in self defense:
Your physical condition An 80-year-old man in a wheelchair could probably shoot someone armed with a shoe, or even bare fists, if they threatened to beat him.
But ...
A 20-year-old man in good physical condition facing another 20-year-old armed with a shoe? He'd be in trouble for shooting.

It all comes down to -- Did you have a reasonable belief that your life, or the lives of others, were in danger, or that you or them would suffer serious, debilitating, permanent injury?

Don't use reloads or you'll be in serious trouble with the prosecutor? Show me the court cases.