Texas-Book-Gun Law Armed And Educated - Flipbook - Page 222
PRACTICAL
LEGAL TIP
Notice the difference between
Texas Penal Code Sections
9.42(a) and (b) is that a person is
not provided with a justification to
use force or deadly force against
a person who has completed
arson or criminal mischief and
shows no intent on committing
another one! —Kirk
3. Step three: no other means of recovery available
The third step to legal justification under Texas Penal Code Section
9.42 is the person who used deadly force to protect property must
have reasonably believed that the property could not have been
protected or recovered by other means or using something less than
deadly force would expose the person to a substantial risk of death
or serious bodily injury to themselves or another.
If the jury finds that a person acted reasonably under all three of
these steps, only then will the person be legally justified in using
deadly force. Again, there are no legal presumptions available for
justified uses of force or deadly force to protect property.
EXAMPLE:
After a long day at work, Gary finally pulls into his driveway just in
time to see two masked men running out of his front door with his
favorite television and his grandfather’s expensive watch on one
of the men’s wrists. Gary gets out of his car and demands that
the men stop where they are, but they ignore him and run away.
Gary pulls his Glock 17 and fires at the fleeing men, killing one
and injuring the other.
When Can I Legally Use My Gun: Part IV | 211
