Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Would or wouldn't you?

That's on him, and he escalated the situation by producing a gun. You're making an assumption that he wouldn't have fired the gun regardless of anything you did. If a bad guy produces a gun, I'm sure as hell not going to wait for him to fire first. With that said, It IS my responsibility to make sure that I have a clear line of sight to him and beyond him.

In the situation you describe, he's the one in "a crapload of trouble". We can play this game all day long. What if you didn't fire and someone startled him and he fires shooting an innocent and you didn't take him out before he did so? What if he just decides to start shooting? What if he trips and the gun goes off and hits an innocent?

Truth is, you can arm-chair QB it all you want with what if this and what if that. Yes, there are things that could happen as a result of you shooting first just as much as there could be for not shooting first. What can a reasonable person do in that situation to stop the threat? Have you been training? Do you have a clear line of sight? Are you in a position to do something? I train and prepare so that if I'm in that situation, I'm as prepared as possible to stop it. Once my family is safe, and I'm able to do something about it, I will. That's just me. There could just as easily be a situation where I can't do anything about it.

In Oklahoma we are only legal to defend ourselves and family outside of our homes and business, we are not cops.

And since we put a business owner in prison for life for coming back inside his pharmacy after shooting the armed robber, finding him moving and shooting him again, I'll keep my family safe and let the cops do their thing.

Now if I'm in a situation where I'm the only one who could prevent the loss of innocent life, I would have to respond the best I could but make no mistake, once my family and I were safe and I chose to go back into harms way, the DA is the one who will decide where I retire to...

The way the law is written in Kalifornia you'd have a right to defend. I wouldn't because it's not interpreted the way it's written. Besides, if some Johnny-come-lately gunslinger shows up, YOU could be mistaken for the bad guy. Money is just "things". No life endangered till the lead starts flying.

does coyotehunter live in Wisconsin?

Probably not, but I live there and I've seen it too many times where the good guy engages the bad guy and they get accolades on Facebook and Craigslist, but is fired if they work there. That guy in the video is taking a heck of a chance ramping up the situation not only for himself, but all the people behind him as well. I sure wish that we could get the rest of the story in these cases. We hear about the crime and maybe the court case if they are caught and the crime was heinous, but never what happens to the good guy. Wisconsin has the Castle Doctrine, but this shooter was not in his home and only defending the store's property. That is a real stretch for the CCW shooter in the video for discharging his handgun.

We had a case here in Florida last year where a guy was stealing a shopping cart full of diapers from a Walmart and the security guy was after him. A CCW holder shot the thief out in the parking lot and he is the one who turned into the bad guy. State laws sure vary from one another. A friend of mine from up state New York didn't bring any handgun down here for the winter just because he had to drive through some of those liberal loving unfriendly gun states on the way.

Admit it, you and CH are twins.

He wasn’t defending the stories property, he was defending everyone in that store that were being robbed at gun point. The prep could have shot someone at any time without provocation.

Probably would attempt to take him out....provided that my family is safe and the shot could be taken without unduly jeopardizing others.. If he is armed and threatening....he is a definite threat. Waiting “until” he starts firing....will likely be “too late” for someone. I would have difficulty dealing with the knowledge that, my inaction caused someone ( man, woman, or child) to be injured or killed! memtb

No sheepdog here either. Once my family is safe, I am a primarily porcupine.

"Would I do it?" depends on a lot of variables. The only true answer is "possibly".

The thing that stands out as ironic to me in this thread is the number of us who seem to assume that the worst that might happen to them is they might get themselves killed. I think the possibility of saddling your family with the care of a cripple or existing in poverty should also enter into the plan.

It could go either way. You could just as easily make him start shooting and kill someone,even if you hit him with the first shot. There's no way to know what to do and you would just have to use your best judgement at that time.

I guess for me it would depend a lot on how aggressive the guy seemed and how he handled his gun. You might not be able to tell anything at all about what the guy might or might not do,and you might be totally wrong. If I was really close and he turned his attention away,I would likely go for a head shot. You would also have to be conscious of what was on the other side of him in the direction you were shooting. Under some circumstances I would definitely shoot,and under some I might not be able to shoot without escalating the threat.

Thanks FreeMe for pointing out that getting killed isn’t necessarily the most heinous thing that could happen to you. Yeah, dying would suck but so would existing on machines to help you breath, or perhaps lose everything you’ve worked your whole life for by losing a civil suit.

I do have to admit if it was summertime and I had my 380 I wouldn't be as quick to engage the shooter if not completely necessary.

That should be the same attitude with any handgun. You could easily have the same outcome from a 9mm or 45acp as from a 380. Handguns just aren't 100 percent reliable as man stoppers no matter what caliber. Yea,I would always rather shoot the bad guy with the larger caliber,but even so it's not a 100% guarantee of putting him down before he can shoot back.

I ain't gonna die to save FredIII or Renegade50. I might help out after he flames them, maybe.

LMAO

That was funny!

At one time I felt about like your friend. Anymore, their law ain't worth my life if I'm just passing through with no intent of stopping over. Been through Maryland a couple times without locking the handgun into a compartment or what ever stupid requirements they have. Just make sure I had enough gas before entering and hoped that nothing happened to cause me to have to stop.

The wife had to go to Cleveland clinic back years ago before I even had a WV permit. Wasn't going to that sh ithole without. First day there, after her test she was feeling pretty good and wanted to take a little drive so we did. Beautiful warm day out so we had the windows down. Black guy drives by us and screams "Get the f u c k of the east side!" The .357 got moved from under the driver seat to under my leg. I think he meant it more as a warning than a threat but we took his advice.

Screw their anti-gun laws too.

As for the original video question, I'd try to be a good witness once my wife was safe and may shoot if I thought he was about to. Our local county sheriff doesn't want anyone but cops to have a gun.


I don't remember the movie or even the actor (Clint Eastwood maybe?)

"You just shot an unarmed man."

"Well, he should have armed himself."

Kind of the way I feel about the bystanders, they should have armed themselves.

Spot on as usual blue

I think that's just going too far.

Now I'll agree with you that most are better off choosing a pistol with no manual safety...But...

Seriously, if you can train yourself to not put your finger on the trigger before the gun is pointing down range during your draw, you can train yourself to take a safety off. If you're incapable of being trained how to operate a safety; then you ought not to be handling a firearm.

Now, if you're unwilling to truly put in the effort to learn how to properly operate a pistol equipped with a safety; then you have no business carrying it.

But to say it's foolish to choose a weapon that's equipped with a safety; that's just taking things to an unnecessary extreme.