Wrong. He should get a medal for fighting back.
According to your logic, the active passengers on Flight 93 should have their estates sued for "endangering" the passive passengers. After all, who is to say that the hijackers would not have had a change of heart and safely landed the plane? (I suppose the same folks who say that an armed felon really isn't planning to carjack a woman sitting in a van, after he opens the door to her van).
He took no care to avoid shooting the woman
I doubt that. Anyway, if the woman had been paying attention, she would have exited the scene before things hit the fan. She was operating a vehicle in public, on a public road. As such, she has an obligation to pay attention to her surroundings. No different if she gets hit by a police car that is running it's lights, because she is not paying attention.
His shooting skills suck
3 out of 17 puts him in "cop" territory. Also, he was wounded, so cut the guy some slack.
Pray and spray idiots shouldn't be allowed to operate and should be punished when they shoot people when they don't have to.
He wasn't an idiot, any more than the passengers on Flight 93 were "idiots". He was acting to prevent the commission of multiple forcible felonies.
The chances of a bystander getting hit in a gunfight are less than the chances of getting struck by lightning.
Whatever damages occur as a result of good guys fighting back are dwarfed by what would happen if the good guys were banned from fighting back.
The woman was directly in the line of fire. Beck already missed at least 6 times and he missed 7 out of 10 when the woman was directly in the line of fire. Are you supposing Beck thought a robot was in that driver seat, or like some people(Beck) that bullets take a path according to where their own mind wishes them to go? Beck had an obligation to avoid shooting when anyone else is within the line of fire. He must withhold fire until he has a clear shot.
" She was operating a vehicle in public, on a public road. As such, she has an obligation to pay attention to her surroundings."
Again, just to make it clear: Mr. Beck's obligation is to withhold fire until others are not in the line of fire.
" 3 out of 17 puts him in "cop" territory."
Same principle applies there, withhold fire until no others are within the line of fire. Firing at and injuring innocent people is reckless and jail time is appropriate for doing so regardless.
"Also, he was wounded, so cut the guy some slack."
He fired at an innocent person. There was no justification for that.
"the passengers on Flight 93"
Irrelevant, they did not attack and endanger each other.
" The chances of a bystander getting hit in a gunfight are less than the chances of getting struck by lightning. "
Irrelevant. If you shoot at people in the line of fire, it is likely you will kill them. If anyone shoots at me, I will not care why they are shooting at me. I will just kill them.
"Whatever damages occur as a result of good guys fighting back are dwarfed by what would happen if the good guys were banned from fighting back."
Mr. Beck gave them a valid concern regarding this form of effective self defense. He displayed a notable level of incompetence, that he should have been aware of, and had no justification for firing at the woman.