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Situation definitely dictates.
I can say from experience (thank God only once). I had to draw on my own property. Fortunately the individual (after my 3rd verbal warning and after me drawing down on him) decided that he did not want to loose his life that night. One more step forward and he would have died.
Long story short, just because you draw doesn't mean you have to shoot. Guy was severely beating this girl in the middle of the street in front of my house (I live in the country). I walked out with my gun to side yelling at him as I approached the street. After my 3rd yell he finally heard me in his rage. He stepped onto my property. I raised the weapon (pistol) told him in a commanding voice "You don't want to think about it". He kept coming. I threw a round in the chamber (warning #2) and said one more time "I said you don't want to think about it". He kept coming and I drew down on him in a solid Weaver stance and yelled "One more step and you die where the (blank) you fall (3rd warning). The wife meanwhile was yelling on the front porch "Son, don't step forward, he WILL shoot you" at the top of her lungs. Well he knew right then that I meant business and backed off. He was still in a rage but he knew that in one more step he would no longer be of this world.
Thank God I didn't have to shoot but this is a prime example that just because you have to draw doesn't mean you have to shoot. Come to find out he had just gotten out of prison for shooting into a house and paralyzing a young woman. He spend 2 years in prison for his crime. I went down the next day and file a report as he was in violation of his parole (he was out after dark). Not sure what happened to him after that.
AL
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