So, this is a guy, still outside your house, who sees you with a gun, and rather than take off and try the next house, is going to try to have a shootout? Seriously?
Burglar Shot Dead
- Thread starter Surely
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So, this is a guy, still outside your house, who sees you with a gun, and rather than take off and try the next house, is going to try to have a shootout? Seriously?
C l u t c H 385
Banned
there's baggage with every decision...yet we all make decisions all the time.
Darkwing Duck
Well-Known Member
Try the next house? So he's assuming you wouldn't call the police?
If he's made the decision to shoot if spotted, won't matter if he has a gun.
Are you just going to hope that he ran off and wouldn't come back?
If he's made the decision to shoot if spotted, won't matter if he has a gun.
Are you just going to hope that he ran off and wouldn't come back?
Blah blah blah blah blah. Bottom line, if someone is threatening my family by breaking into my house, I would shoot them. Yes, I would hate to take a human life, but I would rather live with that then live without my wife and 3 young children.
It seems to me that there you and 1 other guy that don't see any validity to what we are trying to say... so maybe that makes you the dumbass.
chemdude1232
Active Member
Isn't this a case where it is best to assume the worst about the intruder? With the caveat, of course, that you can control yourself if/when the intruder isn't what he/she seems to be.
That is, I would initially approach the situation with the mindset that the intruder means serious harm to me/my family. But when I see he is an 18 year old punk armed only with a pocket knife, then I would try to revert to scare tactics to get him to run.
Then again, I would need to be prepared to engage him if he/she is stupid enough to try. Again, statistically speaking, if they are high on drugs, it is not a foregone conclusion that blasting them in the face with a flashlight will do the trick. "Cocaine," I have heard, "is a hell of a drug."
That is, I would initially approach the situation with the mindset that the intruder means serious harm to me/my family. But when I see he is an 18 year old punk armed only with a pocket knife, then I would try to revert to scare tactics to get him to run.
Then again, I would need to be prepared to engage him if he/she is stupid enough to try. Again, statistically speaking, if they are high on drugs, it is not a foregone conclusion that blasting them in the face with a flashlight will do the trick. "Cocaine," I have heard, "is a hell of a drug."
"Next house" did not mean next-door neighbor.
????
Why would he come back? Is he assuming you won't call the police?
Here's the problem with rubber bullets -- They can still kill. So in order to use them you must be justified to use leathal force. The problem is that many people thinking they are taking the high road will shoot in situation with rubber bullets when they would not have shot with real bullets. The potential for accidents and mistakes is greater. The other problem, if you are justified in using leathal force then that means your life is in danger. If your life is in danger your one and only goal must be to STOP THE THREAT. The best way to stop the threat is to shoot them with rugular ammo, preferably a type of ammo widely used by law enforcement.
The same goes for shooting in the leg or (haha) shooting the weapon out of the criminal's hands. You don't try to get fancy in a life or death situation. If you're life is in danger then shoot center mass until the threat has stoped. End of story.
The same goes for shooting in the leg or (haha) shooting the weapon out of the criminal's hands. You don't try to get fancy in a life or death situation. If you're life is in danger then shoot center mass until the threat has stoped. End of story.
Darkwing Duck
Well-Known Member
Why would he come back? To stop you from calling the police.
Or he quickly decides he doesn't care anymore.
Or he decides it's cowardly to flee.
Or he feels he has something to prove to himself.
Or he saw something in the window he's willing to die for trying to get.
Or he feels you're a punk *** bitch for pointing a gun at him and has to teach you a lesson.
Then you get into irrationality.
Or he quickly decides he doesn't care anymore.
Or he decides it's cowardly to flee.
Or he feels he has something to prove to himself.
Or he saw something in the window he's willing to die for trying to get.
Or he feels you're a punk *** bitch for pointing a gun at him and has to teach you a lesson.
Then you get into irrationality.
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chemdude1232
Active Member
That last point is especially salient. Rationality - on both sides - flies out of the window faster than the bullets that are launching out of your gun. That's not to say you couldn't have an informed, reasoned "plan of action" ahead of time, but it's hard to model irrationality and other variables of human action.
I've heard this so often. It simply isn't true. A .22LR round does not have enough energy to bounce around in your chest cavity and shred you up. It may change direction when it hits bone, but to bounce around would require going through a lot of resistence. The bullet isn't heavy enough and the speed it travels at is not fast enough to make that possible.
The hollow point bullets that are supposed to open up are just marketing hype. Handgun ammo isn't traveling fast enough to actually get much of an effect from hollow point rounds.
Another argument that has been put forth as to how the situation could have been diffused was to turn on the lights. This would be a very bad decision.
If you turned on the house lights inside you become blind to what is outside the window whereas you will be lit up like a Christmas tree for the intruder to easily see... and take aim if that's the intent.
Lighting the porch light would have likely meant crossing the floor in front of the glass window where the intruder was trying to gain entrance making yourself an easy target. Porch light switches are typically located right next to the door. Not only do you take the risk of being seen you put yourself that much closer to the danger.
If you turned on the house lights inside you become blind to what is outside the window whereas you will be lit up like a Christmas tree for the intruder to easily see... and take aim if that's the intent.
Lighting the porch light would have likely meant crossing the floor in front of the glass window where the intruder was trying to gain entrance making yourself an easy target. Porch light switches are typically located right next to the door. Not only do you take the risk of being seen you put yourself that much closer to the danger.
I think this particular home owner was in the wrong. I don't think it's okay to shoot through a screen door at a person you cannot identify. I think yelling "Stop or I'll shoot!" is the least you can do in that situation. Firing rounds blindly into the night is just plain old wrong.