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Originally Posted by JWsleep
If I go looking to gun down some criminals, of course it's not self defense. But if I go to talk to someone and feel treatened by them, I am entitled to defend myself. And if I'm going into a situation that I think might be dangerous, can't I have a gun ready? That's what guns are for (on this line of reasoning)--self defense. As I said, I really doubt that anything like nthis is what happened, but it might be a reasonable line of defense, given the new Florida statute.
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Actually, in your scenario, you would be wrong in pulling a gun unless you had a legitimate fear of serious and imminent bodily harm or death. If ST had a gun or some other deadly weapon pulled on him, then that's one thing. If he got into an argument, started to feel "threatened" and then pulled a gun, that's an entirely different situation. The situation you are trying to condone would make it legal for any person to pull a gun on anyone they are arguing with as soon as they feel that person might take a swing at them. I can assure you, that is not the definition of self-defense.
Self-defense has to bear some relationship to the initial attack/threat. If someone punches you, you can punch them back to defend yourself, but you can't resort to deadly force and kill them. Likewise, if someone threatens to punch you, you can't threaten to kill them. I'm not sure exactly what that "new Florida law" says about self-defense, but until I see the actual wording of the statute, I have my doubts that it's as liberal as you've stated in allowing citizens to claim self defense in pulling out a lethal weapon every time they feel "threatened".