Also depends on what part of the country you're in for both civil and criminal actions. Here in FL (Praise be to the legislature and JEB) it just became law that if the shooting is justifiable according to grand jury standards, there can be no indictment or any action by deceased perps estate to recover damages. I hope this becomes a national standard. In other parts of the country where gun ownership is high these types of actions are less likely to succeed. One of the members of my IDPA club is an experienced circuit court judge. We were shooting the bull after a match and I brought up the fact that I've switched to Sigs or H&K's for their DA actions on the first shot since I'm certain that my 1911 with the overtravel stop is going to feel feather light to some ignorant jury member. He replied that there were many ways to overcome that perception. You could have your attorney bring in a four pound bag of sugar and ask each jury member to move it just with their forefinger. That's the amount of pressure that must be exerted on a four pound trigger pull to achieve the shot. I think the overriding concerns expressed here as to disabling safety mechanisms are what leads to civil actions especially. A misread of circumstances or a misapplication of law (acting when you thought you were IAW the law when actually under the circumstances, you were not) are often the reasons for criminal charges. Cops have different (usually more restrictive) rules than those that apply to civilians in self defense situations, so you can't use that as a standard of measure. I've carried a badge for a living and I've been to law school too, so I've seen both sides. I don't practice law...although in the past I have TAUGHT law studies and so I've had the opportunity to get a lot of input from judges and the rest of the local legal community.
