You have a right to bear arms.

[Lizzie Poppet]

10. Exactly.

One has the right to use lethal force against someone who is legitimately threatening to kill or gravely injure you. One has the right to use lethal force against someone similarly attacking another person. Outside of such situations (like opening fire on someone you;re just arguing with, for example), they you're the attacker, not the defender.

Now that doesn't mean you necessarily have to wait until the other person actually attacks you before defending yourself. But as I see it, if you're going to use preemptive force, you'd damn well better be able demonstrate to the satisfaction of a very critical court that your use of force was genuinely reasonable.