“know the law” — In other words, put the gun away, because unless you’re a cop and you can explain how the unarmed 4 year old girl “made a threatening move to her diaper”, you will be arrested and tried for murder after dropping the thrice-convicted, machine-gun wielding man who just broke into your infant daughter’s bedroom at 3am. And if he’s a “person of color” you can forget the “trial” part — straight to conviction.
“You cannot save the planet but you may be able to save yourself and your family.
I wonder - seriously - about the correct response , including the use or non-use of deadly force if caught up in one of these events.
As I posted here previously, I was at the National Zoo on Easter Monday with two women and eight children, two in strollers, when the flash mob stabbing occurred. The 10-15 perpetrators were ten yards or less from us at their closest, for a period of about 30-45 seconds.
I have CCWs or reciprocity in 33 states, DC of course not included. I have reasonable training and had enough cool to get the two families into what defensive cover was available. If I had one of my weapons, I probably would at least had my hand on it.
The question for combat experienced FReepers is, would producing a weapon and shooting a rioter inside of 7 yards have been the correct play TO MAXIMIZE THE SURVIVAL OF THOSE I WAS PROTECTING?
Undoubtedly, had I shot one or two of the “youths”, it would have been a public service in the long run. The issue is, if it did not disperse the mob, the short run consequences for my protectees would likely have been much worse than it actually was.
Is a lone armed citizen up against, but not directly attacked by, one of these mobs better off with or without the threat of deadly force?
If your “know the law” comment is accurate where you live, there are two possibilities open to you.
1. The “long road” — get active and work to get your state on the road back to constitutional laws.
2. The “quick fix” — move to Texas.
It does not happen that way, at least in most states. I post a lot of articles about self defense shootings on freerepublic. You can find them all under the banglist keyword. It is very seldom that a person in a self defense shooting is prosecuted, and even rarer that they are convicted.
Of course, this does vary by locality. You are much less likely to be prosecuted in Texas than you are in New Jersey.