Deadly Force Checklist

By Click-Click-Boom Firearm Safety, Self Defense

Your 7 Rules for the Justified Use of Force

Deadly force may be used only when there is an immediate and unavoidable danger of death or great/grave bodily harm to an innocent person, where no other option exists other than the use of deadly force.

You must be reasonably in immediate fear of death or great/grave bodily harm to yourself or another person.
You must be an innocent party.
There must be no lesser force that is sufficient or available to stop the threat.
You must have no reasonable means of retreat or escape.
The attacker must have indicated his or her intent to cause great bodily harm or death to you or someone else.
The aggressor must have a conventional or unconventional weapon capable of inflicting great bodily harm or death.
The subject must have a delivery system – a means of using the weapon to inflict harm.

Attacker Intent

Some ways an attacker might show intent would include deliberately pointing a weapon at you or stating his or her plan to kill you.

Conventional or Unconventional Weapons

Guns and knives are not the only weapons that meet the criteria of a “weapon capable of inflicting great bodily harm or death”; many other common objects can be used as weapons. Additionally, an attacker may be able to inflict death or serious injury using only his or her hands or feet. If the physical differences between an attacker and his or her intended victim are so great as to make it clear that the unarmed attacker could cause death or great bodily harm, the potential victim can use deadly force to stop the attack.

Delivery System

A person armed with a baseball bat, having stated his or her intent to kill you, does not meet the criteria for an imminent threat if he or she is standing 50 yards away from you or on the other side of a fence. This is your opportunity to instead retreat and escape.

Deadly Force Checklist