I am not a lawyer and am not dispensing legal advice in any way, shape or form in this article. To clarify any legal aspects of self defense with a gun or without a gun please consult a qualified attorney.
Guns can be an important part of a complete self defense arsenal. However, when it comes to utilizing a gun in a self defense situation the window of opportunity is very small and narrow. If you are caught by surprise by a physically determined attacker at less than 21 feet you can choose to spend your crucial couple of seconds between awareness and fighting contact drawing your weapon or you can get moving and have your hands and body ready to receive and dispatch the incoming attacker. It is possible but very difficult to do both at 21 feet or greater but at a distance of less than 12 feet the attacker will definitely make it to you before your weapon is engaged even against the fastest gun draws which means it is useless to draw your weapon and be virtually physically undefended from the attackers assault. Once the physical fight has begun if you manage to draw your weapon and the attacker is busy pounding you then you may never get the chance to fire or worse yet the attacker may actually knock the gun out of your hand or take the gun away from you because your hands are busy drawing the weapon instead of physically defending you.
If an armed attacker who is 25 feet away from you has a gun pointed right at you and is threatening and demanding do you have time to draw your weapon, point it at the attacker and shoot? If the attacker has any kind of bead on you the answer is no. While you are trying to draw the weapon they are pulling the trigger. So, even if you have a better, bigger gun with hotter ammunition and you have a lot of training in how to shoot (by itself without a lot of other physical training) it will not do you any good in this situation. In this kind of situation you need to know where, when and how to tactically move your body and how to draw and shoot while moving and by the way if they are running at you when you start moving the fight could become one where you are better off to move with your hands free and unencumbered as opposed to trying to draw your firearm when you should be running like hell.
Now, unfortunately there is another problem. If you can disengage from the attacker and get distance and they don't charge at you can you draw your weapon and / or shoot. The answer is no. If you so much as show your weapon and you had any ability to retreat, run away, disengage etc you are now in violation of the law that in many states will get you a minimum 5 year sentence. If you shoot at the unarmed WOULD BE assailant then you could go to jail on murder or attempted murder charges.
