Texas-Book-Gun Law Armed And Educated - Flipbook - Page 148
force in the same situation. Likewise, if you are justified in using
deadly force in a particular situation, you may legally threaten the
use of deadly force in the same situation.
Section 9.04 of the Texas Penal Code states that if a person
threatens deadly force by the production of a weapon, it is not a use
of deadly force so long as the person’s only purpose is to create an
apprehension that they will use deadly force, if necessary.
EXAMPLE:
Barry is walking to his car after work when he sees his nemesis,
Carl, keying his car. Barry confronts Carl in the middle of his act of
criminal mischief. Barry draws his gun and clearly demands that
Carl stop destroying his car’s paint. Carl stops his criminal act
and flees from the scene.
Has Barry used deadly force by showing his gun? Probably not
under the plain language of Section 9.04. Barry’s threat was to
create apprehension that he would use deadly force if necessary
if Carl attacked him. Thus, the legal argument would say Barry’s
production of a weapon was a use of force and not the use of
deadly force.
By defining the action of the production of a weapon to create
apprehension as not “the use of deadly force,” the legislature (by
its express language and the legislative history) wanted to make
the action only a use of force. Therefore, a person could be legally
justified to produce a weapon to create apprehension when the use
of force was legally justified—not just when the use of deadly force
was justified! This is what the text of the law says.
When Can I Legally Use My Gun: Part I | 137
