[T]eenage 'burglars' are charged after friend, 17, was killed by neighbors' warning shots

The Daily Mail Online ^ | November 30, 2012 | Louise Boyle

[SES1066]

Semi-portable if you are a semi-pro football lineman. Looks to me like a WW1 heavy MG (water cooled). Just imagine the squad you needed to carry this sucker into action then add the ammo boxes!

Not what I would choose for home defense. Now a Mossberg or Browning, that has defense authority!

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Warning shots are a bad idea, it may indicate that you aren't sufficiently threatened to shoot at all.

No bullet should ever leave the muzzle of your gun unless it is aimed at something specific.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Firing warning shots can get you into trouble if you’re claiming self defense, it proves there is doubt about the magnitude of the threat.

[count-your-change]

Very useful for warning shots. Standing over the bullet filled body the operator says, “I warned you!”.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

One of my (60's) HS school mates in Ala. kept something like one of these under his bed. (minus the stand):

Was his name Henry Bowman?

[fredhead]

Similar situation. When I was in high school, some of my classmates (I found out later) would drive by on Saturday nights and throw stuff at our mailbox. One Saturday it was stolen. We also had a dinner bell at the end of the 1/8 mile long driveway and they would ring it when they did their vandalism. The Saturday after the theft we heard the bell ringing. Dad grabbed his .32 (WWII souvenir) went out the back door, stepped out of the shadows and fired into the ground.

I swear the car was doing 35 and spraying gravel when the kid who was ringing the bell caught up with it. Never seen anyone run so fast in my life.

And they never messed with the bell or mailbox again.

[Slings and Arrows]

I’m going to buck the trend and say that the guy who fired the second shot was an idiot - one of the big four rules is to never fire a shot if you don’t know where the bullet is going to go. That he shot a perp and not an innocent (possibly hundreds of yards away) is pure luck.

This guy should be thanking G-d for sparing him from the consequences of his folly.

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

Miss Moody was with her 3 friends who were robbing fishing camps on a remote island during the wee hours. Miss Moody hid in the bushes while the boys robbed the cabins. One of the cabins was occupied and the occupants fired a warning shot out the door which hit Miss Moody in the head and killed her - he didn’t know she was there. This was a tragic occurrence but the bottom line is that if she were home in bed instead of where she was it wouldn’t have happened. Nobody with any sense faults the shooter, who was protecting himself at a remote location (it would take cops at least an hour to get there by boat) during a crime in progress, but it turned out he was a felon who shouldn’t have had a gun. Last I heard they were going to prosecute the 3 boys she was with for her murder, which makes no real sense either. She didn’t deserve what happened, and there is much sympathy for her family, but it was her choice to be there - don’t see how the law should compensate her for her poor choices.