Page 53 - Florida Concealed Carry Law

The situation gets heated quickly and when the man refuses to provide you with his insurance, you lose your mind and get on the phone with the police. The man gets in your face and continues to scream at you.
Should you:
A. Pull out your gun and scream, “Break yourself, fool!”
B. Tell the man that you have a gun and if he doesn’t give you the insurance, you’re going to use it.
C. Bite the man's ear off like Mike Tyson.
D. Take a picture of his license plate. Then walk back into the store and stay away from the man until the police arrive.
A. If you pull out your firearm in this situation, you would be brandishing. It is not reasonable to believe that you are in fear of death, great bodily harm or a forcible felony. Yes, this man is crazy and he may be threatening you, but the situation does not justify deadly force.
B. Making a simple comment like “I have a gun” in a rude, aggressive, angry or threatening manner, not in justified self-defense, is also considered brandishing. If you don’t have a legal right to use your firearm, then you don’t have a right to show or talk about your firearm.
C. If you remember when we discussed the two types of force justified under the FS 776, there are situations when we are legally allowed to use physical force against an attacker.
F.S. 776.012 (1) Use or threatened use of force in defense of a person. A person is justified in using or threatening to use force, except deadly force, against another when and to the extent that the person reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to defend himself or herself or another against the other’s imminent use of unlawful force. A person who uses or threatens to use force in accordance with this subsection does not have a duty to retreat before using or threatening to use such force.
However, physical force can only be used to defend yourself from the unlawful use of force or threatened use of force. If you truly believe this man was about to physically hurt you, you may be justified in using non-deadly force. An example of this may include using mace, a taser or a good kick in the crotch. Whenever a situation is rapidly escalating, the best thing to do is to get as far away as possible.