Escalation (of force) is a thing. Police are trained on the "use of force". Generally the police are only supposed to present a level of force equal to the level of resistance to effect an arrest or stop a deadly threat. They need to be able to articulate why an otherwise excessive level of force was necessary. An ordinary citizen isn't typically held to that standard. If someone is presenting/using a firearm to potentially kill your or someone else, the use of force continuum is already escalated to the highest level. This gets muddy in a situation where a person who is very angry/upset quickly moves a hand to a pocket. Up until that point you've likely had no justification to present a deadly weapon, and you don't necessarily know what the person is fishing around for in there pocket.. maybe a gun, maybe just a phone. I am not providing legal advice here, just offering insight on the subject of "use of force"/escalation. OP's liberal friend is indeed retarded/talking about shit which he is clueless about.