People in concealed carry and tactical firearms classes are full of questions, including asking whether they can use their weapons to shoot and kill vicious dogs, some instructors said.
The short answer is, yes — drawing a concealed firearm to shoot a dog that’s about to maul you or your child is essentially no different than any other self-defense scenario.
Past that, as with any situation involving use of a firearm, things can get complicated.
Be Prepared To Defend Your Case
Wyomingites who pull their guns and drop an attacking dog should be prepared to back up their claim of self-defense or defense of another. And be ready for possible legal blowback, the experts say.
“As long as you’re able to articulate an imminent threat of great bodily harm, then I think there’s a case for legitimate self-defense,” Jason Crotteau, who runs the Riverton-based Wyoming Tactical shooters’ training company, told Cowboy State Daily.
“You’ve got to be able to articulate why you took the action you did” to police officers responding to the scene, he added.
If the shooting happens within town or city limits, there’s the complicating factor of discharging a firearm in a populated area, Cody firearms instructor Bill Tallen told Cowboy State Daily.
“Can you articulate clearly (to police or a prosecutor) that you were aware of your location, and that you were aware of the safety of others and what was downrange?” he said.
“Were you heedlessly endangering other human beings?” he added.
Because if not, criminal charges ranging from negligent discharge of a firearm to assault with a deadly weapon could result, he said.
Terrible Wyoming Dog Attacks
In Wyoming, it’s legal for law-abiding adults over age 21 to carry a concealed firearm in most places without a permit. But many people still opt to take concealed carry classes, to obtain permits and get additional training.
The possible need to defend themselves, their children or others against vicious dogs is one reason people cite for deciding to carry concealed firearms
And violent dog attacks aren’t unheard of in Wyoming.
In July 2020, Bridger Walker, 6, put himself between a charging dog and his little sister in Cheyenne.
He suffered severe injuries that required 90 stitches from a plastic surgeon, but was hailed as a hero for protecting his sister.
There was a darker outcome to a dog attack on the Wind River Indian Reservation in April of 2022. Two dogs killed Shawna Jo Bell, 42.
‘People Have A Right To Defend Themselves’
Shooting a vicious or marauding dog out in the countryside can be a simple matter.
On rural properties, landowners are within their rights to shoot a loose dog that’s attacking their livestock or poultry, even if it isn’t going after people, Crotteau said.
Most Wyoming towns and cities have ordinances against shooting guns in town.
But in legitimate cases of self-defense against a dog, the need to prevent serious injury or possibly even death should, by rights, supersede such ordinances, said Mark Jones of Buffalo, national director for Gun Owners of America.
“People have a right to defend themselves, and no administrative ordinance should ever override that in a Wyoming court,” Jones told Cowboy State Daily.
Consider The Consequences
Crotteau emphasized the need for good training and situational awareness, for those considering carrying a firearm for self-defense.
And people should make sure all other options or possible means of avoiding a dog attack have been exhausted before they draw their weapons and fire, he added.
In many cases, if a dog corners a person to the point where the person feels they have no choice but to shoot it, police might have prior knowledge of that dog, he said.
And that can work in the person’s favor if the matter winds up on a prosecutor’s desk.
“There’s probably a good chance that there’s a record of that dog attacking or being threatening to other people,” Crotteau said.
Tallen said people might consider bear spray or mace as a better option than a firearm for warding off vicious dogs.
Self-defense shooting cases can get legally sticky, he said. Even if the shooter is cleared of criminal charges, they might be hit later with civil charges – including from the owner of the dog they killed.
Frequently in self-defense cases, “you act in haste and your actions are examined at leisure in a court,” Tallen said.
“Even if you do everything right, that one moment (of shooting in self-defense) is going to change the rest of your life,” he added.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
