You know, this really pisses me off. The fact that you're even thinking about this problem could very well cost you your life. A friend of mine was being mauled by a Grizzly bear in Wyoming once. He pulled his .44 mag and stuck it in the bear's ear and then hesitated thinking "wait, is this legal or not?? I might get in trouble for this...errr, uugghhh, what should I do???.....". After all this thinking he finally shot the bear and saved his life. Damnit, that hesitation could very well have cost him his life. Thinking about those sorts of things in the middle of a gun battle could very well cost you your life. A recent study of gun battles showed that the difference between killer and killeeyy, was two tenths of a second. i.e. two guys are standing there with guns pointing at each other. This study showed that the living guy pulled his trigger two tenths of a second faster then the dead guy would have (not sure how they calculated this as the guy is dead and how would you know if/when he would have pulled the trigger - but the point remains). If someone is threatening you with a weapon and you fear for your life or the life of your loved ones, SHOOT, worry about the f-ing legal system later. AT LEAST YOU'LL BE ALIVE AND THEY'LL BE DEAD.