I am a CWP holder and I carry basically where ever/when ever I’m legally allowed to do so. I do not want this to jump off the rails and become a gun owner v gun opponent issue so please let’s not go there.
I went for a run earlier and I have a CW carrier designed for joggers. I carry on a run mainly because I live in the country and might encounter a venomous mr. noshoulders that I don’t need near my home/kids or a vicious wild dog for the same reason. Today I encountered two large aggressive rott/mastif looking dogs (100ish lbs and not friendly). I was at my halfway point along a stretch of woods to my left (no homes within 300 yrds or more) and I heard growling/barking coming at me. The two aggressively approached from the woods (not a full charge but dang sure not a friendly we want to be petted trot either) and get close enough that I felt one more step and they would be in lunging range so I would be in danger. My question is if I had determined they posed enough a threat to me and I had to shoot one or both I am legally bound to attempt to find the owner or report to authorities? In the 1-2 sec I had to look at them, try to back them down enough that I could back away slowly I did not note a collar. That wasn’t really a primary concern at that moment so it could have been missed. If I was able to find an owner after the fact, and contact them can they bring some soft of legal charges against me? I don’t mean a lawsuit as we all know you can be sued for basically anything. I mean an actual criminal charge. This was not in a incorporated area or town, it was not on private property (side of county rd), and I have a valid CWP and yes I had my permit with me. I’m glad I didn’t have to take it any further, but I can see where someone who has a fear of dogs would’ve have taken the next step. Thanks in advance.
Does your county have a leash law?
“Apathy is the Glove into Which Evil Slips It’s Hand”, but really, who cares?
From the SC Code of laws;
SECTION 47-3-530
Penalties for stealing or killing identifiable dog.
Any person stealing any positively identifiable dog is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction must be fined not less than five hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars or imprisoned for not less than thirty days nor more than six months, or both.
Any person killing any dog when owner may be identified by means of a collar bearing sufficient information or some other form of positive identification is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction must be fined not less than five hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars or imprisoned for not less than thirty days nor more than six months, or both. This paragraph does not apply to the killing of a dog threatening to cause or causing personal injury or property damage.</font id=“red”>
I’ve never used a gun for “stray” dogs, kinda noisey. Had a piece of 1x1 steel square pipe about 3’ long…[:I]
Caught a dog in my back yard once going through the trash. It didn’t notice the brick pile behind the garage…[:0]
So in South Carolina??? No collar/tags acting aggressive???
I would not discharge a gun though, that alone could get you into trouble in most places. Get yourself a strong walking stick, it’ll do.
If both had no collar and approached you in an aggressive manner… “I feared for my life”. end of story. If both had a collar and approached you in an aggressive manner…I’d think about how sad the owner would be if they lost their dogs, but not too much if they got really aggressive… “I feared for my life”. I think I can read dogs nature pretty good and personally I don’t feel they needed to be put down, specially if I was alone. If my wife or kids were with me things may be different.
From your post you were in a remote location and out of city ordinances, but I would still make sure “you feared for your life”. Crazy thing is in some instances and with some people, you could be found as guilty killing a stray dog as a human.
As you also stated you were jogging. Crazy thing about a lot of dogs they tend to be more aggressive when someone is running away from them. I’d have quit jogging and backed away from them never loosing site of them.
Lastly, as for legally bound to find the owner if you shot them? don’t have a clue to the legality of that. If it came to it, I would not have worried about the owner, just the fact that I did not get mauled.
“If Bruce Jenner can keep his wiener and be called a woman, I can keep my firearms and be considered disarmed.”
I let my dog Grace out to pee when she was a pup. Next thing you know a big Rottweiler came barreling out of the woods with another dog straight at her. I could tell they were up to no good. I jumped in front of my dog and they kept coming straight for her. At this point I threw up my arms and made myself “look big” like they tell you to do with a black bear. I yelled " back, back" thankfully the aggressive dogs turned and rolled around our house. After that I was informed by a neighbor that the dogs went to the other neighbors house and killed their cat. Apparently the dogs opted for another target. They cornered the neighbors cat in the garage, and killed it while a husband and his wife sat in disbelief and watched. The dog then proceeded to strut around the yard with the cat in his mouth, and pissed everywhere marking his dominance for some time after. Later the dog was located, and put down. It wasn’t his first offense. If that dog had killed my dog, I would have had no problem shooting him and ending his life. I would gladly have taken whatever ticket the authorities would have giving me. People have a responsibility to control their animals, and if they don’t, it’s on them, not you. Grace is alive today, the cat, not so much. I wonder how much hell the husband caught that allowed the fat cat to be malled in front of his wife, it was her cat.
so my best advice is
a.) if you did not shoot the dogs, good for you.
b.) if you did shoot the dogs; you might want to contact legal counsel.
Lawsuit that you would win would be the outcome. You would hear, just like in so many other situations, they were good dogs, sang in church on Sunday and delivered meals to the elderly. They never even barked at people.
I would think a couple of shots into the ground would stop most dogs and send them running. If that didn’t work…goodbye dog.
Capt. Larry Teuton
Swamp Worshiper
If it came down to it and you had to shoot the dog, this may be unpopular, but you’re probably better off not trying to find the owner. Type of person that will let their aggressive dog run around freely with no collar probably would love to try and pin something on you.
quote:Not really sure. I cross into another county on that stretch. I think my county probably does, but I suspect O'burg probably does not.
Originally posted by DFreedomDoes your county have a leash law?
“Apathy is the Glove into Which Evil Slips It’s Hand”, but really, who cares?
You gonna talk or FISH!
quote:
Originally posted by Fred67If both had no collar and approached you in an aggressive manner… “I feared for my life”. end of story. If both had a collar and approached you in an aggressive manner…I’d think about how sad the owner would be if they lost their dogs, but not too much if they got really aggressive… “I feared for my life”. I think I can read dogs nature pretty good and personally I don’t feel they needed to be put down, specially if I was alone. If my wife or kids were with me things may be different. I agree if my wife and/or kids had been there I may have acted a bit more harshly. The last thing I want to do there is kill some poor kid’s pets, but I’m also not going to get attacked on my property or in this case public property without responding. </font id=“red”>
From your post you were in a remote location and out of city ordinances, but I would still make sure “you feared for your life”. Crazy thing is in some instances and with some people, you could be found as guilty killing a stray dog as a human.
As you also stated you were jogging. Crazy thing about a lot of dogs they tend to be more aggressive when someone is running away from them. I’d have quit jogging and backed away from them never loosing site of them. To be clear I did stop jogging for that exact reason and walked backwards from them until I could no longer see them</font id=“red”>
Lastly, as for legally bound to find the owner if you shot them? don’t have a clue to the legality of that. If it came to it, I would not have worried about the owner, just the fact that I did not get mauled.
Thanks for your post</font id=“red”>
“If Bruce Jenner can keep his wiener and be called a woman, I can keep my firearms and be considered disarmed.”
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