Using a modified firearm in a self defense situation...

[Texas1911]

First you have to be alive to be sued or convicted of anything. Once a person is competent in handling a firearm, then they should consider what, if any, modifications may help improve their performance. This could mean accessories or it could mean internal modification. My defensive guns have always been modified to some degree as it improves my performance and efficiency and makes me that much more likely to be able to save my life. While it's important not to do unnecessarily stupid stuff, living in fear of "what the court might do" could get people killed too. Just do what you have to do to run your gun as effectively as possible, and get a good lawyer if you ever have to.

Werd, think of what it takes to get to that point ... you gotta first survive, then you get tried by DA / Grand Jury, then you go to court. A legitimate shoot is so very unlikely to get to that point, and even more unlikely is that they'll use a trigger mod as the basis for their argument against you. Which brings us back to #1 ... you gotta survive first, and if that means you gotta take 8#s of trigger pull out of your DAO J-Frame to get good hits, then so be it.

In California, it's a different story. We have Castle Doctrine, lax weapons laws, common sense self-defense laws, etc. supported by as much as a hundred years of case law.

 

[Charley]

It's the "what ifs" that are the problem.
Senor El Guapo is correct about Mr. Ayoob's writings. I've been reading his stuff for years now! He's actually the first writer I read that talked about only using factory ammo for self defense, and advocated carrying the same types of loads as your local police, etc. etc.
Also, as Senor El Guapo pointed out, he's writing for a broad audience, with an emphasis on Krazifornia, where he is actually a police officer. So he's likely writing from a severely restrained perspective.
According to his own writings, he's been called as an expert witness in a number of self defense shootings.My best advice: Find yourself a reputable lawyer who knows the laws in the area you live in and see what he says.

No, he isn't "actually a police officer" in California, he's from New Hampshire, where he is a sworn LEO. Much of his writing involves the NE, where gun laws and attitudes are much like California's. Legal mods are unlikely to be a problem in Texas. Doubtful that handloads for defense would ever be an issue in Texas, either, except perhaps Harris, Dallas, and Travis counties.

 

[lalonguecarabine]

But don't laugh too hard, lalonguecarabine; as the reason JHPs are not allowed in combat is because they are determined to cause "more suffering" than a normal FMJ round! That was the logic behind Declaration III of the Hague Convention of 1899...

Cheers! M2

Oh yes. I remember my Drill Instructors teaching us about that, and me thinking: "well - an aircraft bullet is about 20mm. I don't see a 5.56 or 9mm expanding much bigger than that."
I, of course, kept my thoughts to myself since I - like the rest of the platoon - was convinced that my Drill Instructor was Satan incarnate!

 

[lalonguecarabine]

No, he isn't "actually a police officer" in California, he's from New Hampshire, where he is a sworn LEO.

Oh. I typed that from memory. New Hampshire, not California. My bad.
Thanks.

 

[majormadmax]

Oh yes. I remember my Drill Instructors teaching us about that, and me thinking: "well - an aircraft bullet is about 20mm. I don't see a 5.56 or 9mm expanding much bigger than that."

20mm? Only if it's a LGPOS! Real planes carry 30mm!

Cheers! M2

 

[lalonguecarabine]

Even better.

 

[ROGER4314]

My personal rules for carry pistols are simple:

I buy a brand new gun from a dealer and make no modifications to it.
I use only factory loaded ammo.

I way I do it, there are fewer things to trip over.

Flash

 

[M. Sage]

My personal rules for carry pistols are simple:

I buy a brand new gun from a dealer and make no modifications to it.
I use only factory reloaded ammo.

I way I do it, there are fewer things to trip over.

Flash

Less chance of reliability issues getting you killed, that's for sure.

 

[SIG_Fiend]

People over-think these things to the point of choosing, IMO, less effective firearms and making things significantly harder on themselves. If I have to defend my life, hell I'd want a gun like a 1911 with 1mm of trigger travel, a 2# trigger that takes no effort, with the durability, reliability, and capacity of a Glock so I can place rounds as quickly and effectively into the attacker, stopping them as quickly as possible. I've actually had customers tell me before that they "liked" the 10-12# pull on a Sigma for "safety. I've heard the same thing about the ridiculously heavy 12-15# pull on S&W airweights. Those people have never seen someone yank the trigger so bad that they put ALL 17 rounds from a G17 OFF the paper at 3 YARDS. If you can't even be proficient at close range on a square range, with a stationary target, you are going to be 100% worse in a gunfight.

My G17 is my current defensive/carry gun. I'll tell you what mods I've done to give some of you an idea on how I look at it:

-Aftermarket sights. These are solid steel sights that are all black. They have a wider rear notch and thinner front sight. They are fast up close, but I can take a precision shot at distance on the rare chance I'd ever have to. They're more durable than the stock plastic sights, so if I have to do one-handed manipulation of the slide, I have something solid to do that with.

-Factory extended mag release. I beveled the edges on this so it's a bit more comfortable. For me, I've found the stock mag release is unacceptable and a PITA to try and depress. Factory extended, shortened slightly and beveled is near perfect and no longer requires any thought for me to operate. If I have to reload or clear a malfunction, the last thing I want to be thinking about is fumbling around with a stupid little button, so why make it harder than it has to be?

-3.5# connector and trigger return spring, giving the gun a measured 4.5# trigger pull. I noticed a measurable improvement in performance from this, and it allows me to exercise the fundamentals that much more easily, so it's a good thing all around. In point and fact, one could argue this actually makes me safer, because I'm less likely to yank the trigger with an easier pull, so I'm less likely to throw errant shots. Lets just assume for example that the attacker you shot ended up dying. What are they going to argue? You killed him TOO much because of your "modified trigger"! You should have only killed him "a little bit". LOL What a F'in joke. If you are shooting someone to stop them, who gives a sh*t about how you accomplish that. What they are really saying is, "Why did you have to resist? Why didn't you just be a victim and let that guy take what he wants from you and possibly injure or kill you? At least you wouldn't have killed another person." The answer is, because I'm a goddamn American, that's why! We stand up for ourselves in this country. Go back to communist China.

These are all performance enhancements. Yeah, you can find a million lawyers that can find a million ways to turn these mods into some sort of evil super weapon built on destroying the universe. That is the legal system, and you'll find that nonsense regardless of whether your gun was modified or not. Do what you have to do to make your chosen weapon platform work for you, and if you find some improvements that will make it even more effective, then by all means do so.

 

[M. Sage]

For what little it's worth, a friend of mine was involved in a self-defense (and defense of others) shooting years ago. The attacker survived (barely - he coded twice on the ambulance ride) and has something like 18 years left before he's even eligible for parole. Yeah, they kind of threw the whole library at the guy...

Anyway, this guy sues my friend for negligence. The defense? A sworn statement to the effect of "I didn't accidentally shoot the SOB. I did it 100% on purpose." The insurance company wound up settling for $5,000 (peanuts, really) just to save money on lawyer fees.

As long as you can honestly say that you shot the scumbag on purpose, there shouldn't be an issue.

 

[TexasShooter]

One cannot accidentally or recklessly act in self-defense.
Johnson v. State, 915 S.W.2d 653, 659 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1996, pet. ref'd.);
Mock v. State, 848 S.W.2d 215, 219 (Tex.App.-El Paso 1992, pet. ref'd.)

If the shooting was justified on self defense grounds, then there is no civil liability.