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A warning shot is something I don't think would realistically occur to me, but getting a positive ID is something I'd be scared not to get.

I had a young nephew who was away from his home, but closer to mine, figure he had too much and decided he'd be better off trying to crash at our house without warning. We hardly ever get unannounced visitors, especially late at night.

There was a weapon in my hand and I was circling around where he was trying to get in before I recognized him. Coulda, shoulda, woulda, wouldn't have made me feel a damn bit better if I had killed him. If you're going to ambush someone, be sure of what you're shooting is more identifiable than just a silhouette. If you shoot some clumsy neighbor on some sleep aid, or some drunk who may have confused your house, legality aside, now you have to wrestle with killing some innocent person who just made some stupid, BS mistake. Some folks could shrug that off, I don't count myself among them.

That's what I was talking about in the post above. If you are in a good defensible position with your loved ones accounted for, I do not think it is a bad idea to announce your presence and the fact the fact that they will die if they do not leave.

I agree with you, shooting someone that doesn't deserve it is something I cannot live with either. However, taking warning shots is a great way to hit something, or someone unintentionally.

However, the first rule of having a deadly weapon is that you must be willing to use it. If morally or emotionally, you cannot shoot someone to protect yourself, you should not have a gun for self protection. The best weapon for self protection is one that you will use if needed.