Texas-Book-Gun Law Armed And Educated - Flipbook - Page 205
This list is very important because these are the only animals for
which a specific justification of self-defense of a person is statutorily
authorized. Further, the legislature also addresses using a firearm
for self-defense against these specific animals in the disorderly
conduct statute. Texas Penal Code Section 42.01(e) makes it a
defense to the crime of disorderly conduct by discharging a firearm
in a public place or across a public road if the person who discharged
the firearm had a reasonable fear of bodily injury to the person or to
another by one of these dangerous wild animals.
You may be asking yourself, “why cougars, bears, and gorillas?” The
answer lies in the purpose of Chapter 822 of the Health and Safety
Code, which governs the owning of wild animals for entertainment,
exhibition, or profit. This list is comprised of animals that are not
traditionally domesticated animals but are in some cases allowed to
be kept in captivity. So, if you are out and about and are confronted
by one of the animals listed in Section 822.101 which has escaped
from confinement, and you have a reasonable fear of bodily injury,
you may shoot without fear of prosecution for disorderly conduct
or cruelty to animals. This list is conspicuously short and does not
cover every non-native wild animal which may be held in a zoo,
circus, or safari park. Many animals not included on the list can kill
or maim at will, such as the hippopotamus, elephant, or ferocious
cape buffalo. What if our favorite peanut-eating pachyderm charges
in a rage? You are left with the defense of necessity as the elephant
is not a “dangerous wild animal.”
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