I’ve read the current reporting regarding Jason Walker and Lt. (Jeffrey) Hash and as much detail as has been released in The Fayetteville Observer. As a gun enthusiast and a CCW permit holder who has voluntarily undergone almost 200 hours of self-paid training, I have one question. Walker was beating on a windshield with a wiper. Is this threat considered deadly?

In all of my training there is one underlying rule immediately following the four rules of gun safety. Do not shoot an unarmed person. In order to consider shooting anyone you must reasonably believe your own life or another’s is in immediate danger. In other words, someone attacking you with any sort of weapon, including in some cases their hands, may be considered a threat to your life.

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Granted there will always be gray areas that hopefully are fairly investigated after a shooting event that reveal the assailant could have caused death. That may be a discussion for another time. My immediate question involves Lt. Hash and Jason Walker.

As has been reported, Walker was on Lt. Hash’s hood, and was beating on Hash’s windshield with a wiper blade. In my world that’s pretty violent, scary at some point, even-out-of-control on Walker’s part. But not deadly, not yet. Crazy, yes, but not deadly.

If I’m to understand correctly, Hash was still inside his vehicle and had many less lethal options to regain control of the event. As reported, Hash left his vehicle and shot Walker.

At this point Walker was not a deadly threat. Angry, acting out, verbally and/or physically abusive possibly. But not deadly. If those are the circumstances there is yet one more important question.

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Why would Lt. Hash not be as responsible for the outcome as I would be? Put me in that driver's seat, and I know I’m going to jail simply because I’m not a Law Enforcement Officer.

I would be charged, have to spend thousands on defense, and probably convicted. Because at that point my life was not threatened. I would have had a lot of other options to mitigate the problem that do not involve my gun.

Even if I’m not found guilty, my life will be ruined in every conceivable way. Hopefully this horrible event will be sorted out in a transparent manner. I’ll be watching closely.