Never Give Warnings Or Fire Warning Shots: Just Shoot The Threat

usacarry.com ^ | July 12, 2017 | Sam Hoober

[South Dakota]

You are the assailant.
You are on a army base.
You break into a two story family unit.
You are going through the downstairs rooms.
You head for the steps
Suddenly, you hear the unmistakable sound of someone jacking a shell into a shotgun.
Do you proceed?

Grant’s mistake at Cold Harbor would be a good anology

[the OlLine Rebel]

And yours is probably the majority of “gun stories”, as opposed to “he killed him”.

And in your case, you got off completely scott free. Not even any police or court case at all.

Good on you.

[Salamander]

Yup.
Pretty much.

[DCBryan1]

Suddenly, you hear the unmistakable sound of someone jacking a shell into a shotgun. Do you proceed?

You assume the assailant is moral, rational, and unimpaired by substances.

You know what happens when you assume?

Don't assume. Like a previous poster said, the lock on the door/window was the first and LAST warning.

[TexasGator]

Yes. Warning shots should be considered in a very few limited conditions and not in place of neutralizing an immediate threat to your safety.

[South Dakota]

You assume the perp can just shoot the victim.
Not true.
The perp has to advance up some steps knowing there is a loaded shotgun waiting.

If they are on drugs they still are at a disadvantage.

Pickett’s Charge comes to mind

[sarge83]

Glad you made it through that ordeal okay. Stay armed and alert. I was prepared to kill but him seeing the weapon stopped him.

My Dad has a building his business is located in that has storage on the second and third floors, is posted on steps no trespassing and in the last two years he has had to pull his pistol on two homeless who tried to sneak in the back entrance. The security system alerted him and he caught them at gun point. One claimed he was visiting a friend’s apartment which didn’t exist and the other was like oh sh@t don’t kill me. He caught them before they stole anything and essentially told them as he escorted them out, I catch you again and you won’t walk out, do you understand, yes, yes and both took off. He caught another and took off up the steps and chased him out the front step entrance. He didn’t have time to steal anything and the cops watched the video and knew him and trespassed him and were like, defend yourself if you catch one. Dad has started locking the back entrance. I figure he will eventually end up killing one of them

[Oatka]

Put THESE in a room or two in your house.

No. 1) There's an "O Sh!T moment when the bad guy enters darkened house and trips one of them.
No. 2) As mentioned elsewhere, a backlighted bad guy is easier to hit.

[Svartalfiar]

This is entirely situationally dependent. A guy with a knife threatening the gas station clerk over the counter? He doesn;t have a good position to immediate cause lethal harm. No need to shoot unless he does something or has a buddy. Same with a bum moving towards you on the dark street. You don’t know his intentions, he may just want change. Show your pistol, and he’ll go away. No need to shoot him either.

Sure, if the perp has a firearm and you have a clear shot, or if he’s already harmed people, giving a warning is stupid. Blast the dude. But if the situation doesn’t warrant it, or you have sufficient advantage (cover/concealment, no easy immediate other people for him to attack), immediately shooting is probably not the best idea.

[archy]

What would you do?

I was trained as a tank gunner at Fort Knox in 1966. They spent about as much on a four-man tank crew in our two months as they did on a fighter pilot, which was considerable.

They never trained us to fire warning shots at enemy tanks, though I suppose it could come up in border disputes and the like. But I never got in the habit.

They did teach us, sometimes, to make a second *certainty* shot. But that was at an enemy tank or vehicle target, not at an individual.

We just ran over those. Still seems like an appropriate tactic to me. Still carry an Army M1911A1 .45 in a GI tanker's shoulder holster, too. Old habits.

[VanDeKoik]

If I know the threat, I dont warn. I will announce that I am armed, and they have one chance to ID themselves if I dont.

[mabarker1]

You really want to put lighting in Your favor, have Your Primary Firearm in Your domanant hand and a Portable Visitor Flashlight in the other hand and place the first light Center Mass.

[Lockbox]

1st photo, guy with shotgun shoots through the corner of sheet rock, end of discussion.

[Chode]

i read In the Gravest Extreme by Massad Ayoob over thirty years ago... if it comes out, it damn well better bite.