I don't like the idea of killing. I'll do what I can to avoid it, save putting my own life at risk in the process. Accordingly, I make it a point of my daily comportment to adhere to the first rule of a gunfight: DON'T BE THERE. "Winging" someone is a construct of Hollywood movie culture. We all grew up with scenes of the Lone Ranger always shooting the gun out of someone's hand, Marshall Matt Dillon shooting the bad guy in the arm, or Roy Rogers choosing to duke it out with some desperado rather than shooting him. It's a holdover Westerns tailored to avoid offending viewers with excessive realism, and principally done as a morality tale for the youngsters. As a result, it's become part of our collective mindset. In real life, however, it's a stupendously bad idea, possibly leading to the least of your worries: being charged with malicious wounding. Novelist John Steinbeck once famously said "never pick a fight with an old man. If he's too old to fight, he'll just kill you." Nothing in law says that you must first endure a beating at the hands of your aggressor, before you're permitted to use lethal force in defending yourself. Likewise, nothing in law says that you're permitted to use lethal force as a tool of compliance, to "wing" or merely wound an aggressor. That's what Mace or pepper spray is for, and that's why I carry it along with a sidearm. I'm an old geezer with a bum ticker. I'm in no condition to get into a fist fight or wrestling match with any aggressor. Law enforcement has a name for guys like me: "sitting duck." If under attack by an unarmed aggressor, I'll give him one request at the top of my lungs: "PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" Failing that, "BACK OFF! I'M ARMED!" Failing that, a thorough hosing with the MACE. All if time and circumstance permit, of course. If not, then "never pick a fight with an old man."