KL,
In Texas, you are allowed to draw a gun on an unarmed person if they are threatening you or anyone else, and you can shoot if they make any agressive moves to attack you or others. The problem may be in proving that the person was threatining and agressice, so it helps if there were witnesses.
This does not apply to Road-Rage incidents or situations where both parties are threatening and agressive. But in situations where someone is threatening harm and you draw a gun telling them to stop, and they attempt to attack you or others, you can shoot them, and Texas will not shed a tear for them.
In Texas, if someone breaks into your home, you have the right to shoot them regardless if they are armed or not and you will not be charged with any offense. You only have to show that they actually broke in. If they walked in through an unlocked door, that might be a problem. Yes, you will be questioned to insure that the shooting was justified, as it should be, to insure that "Self-defense" was not just an excuse for murder.
If you have a licesens to carry a concealed weapon, you will be trained on when it is legal for you to draw a gun, and when it's legal to use deadly force. If you do not have a licesens to carry a concealed weapon, and you are not on your own property, you might be in some legal trouble for even carrying the gun. If you are on your property, then a concealed weapon is not an issue and is a matter of justifiable cause to draw the weapon and/or to use deadly force.
The problem with the courage theory is that once you engage in a fight or struggle with the assailant, you have already defined the limits of your self-defense. If you fight first, and later pull a gun or shoot him, you become the guy who brought a gun to a fist fight. You could not beat him so you shot him?
If you defend yourself by drawing the gun at the moment he becomes agressively out of control, and he continues to attack, that would be grounds for a self-defense shooting in most states. However this is a grey area in many states who look at a lot of other factors.
You point a gun at someone attempting to steal your car, but you cannot shoot hime if he runs away (no threat). In many states you can shoot him if he attacts you, but there is where the grey area is, especially if there were no witnesses.
All states allow the use of deadly force for self-defense, but it all depends on the circumstances and the frame of mind of the individual with the gun and how severly he felt he was being threatened.
I am a retired Vietnam veteran with a combat related disability. I can assure you that it takes a lot more courage to legally pull the trigger than you may think, even in a life or death situation. If you are dealing with some kind of street gang member, they don't have any conscience and would pull the trigger on their own mother.
...Rich
