Posted on 02/01/2020 7:57:24 PM PST by PROCON
If youve never seen the Sergio Leone film The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, one of the characters admonishes a would-be assassin When you have to shoot, shoot; dont talk after having dispatched him. Something like that exact sentiment is why warning shots, verbal warnings and other attempts to dissuade a violent attacker are a bad idea.
If the threat is real, draw from your concealed carry holster and fire and stop the threat.
Warning Shots Will Only Land You In Jail
Warning shots sound great on paper. The gunshot will frighten the bad person enough so they give up or think better of what theyre doing and cheese it. Sounds good, right?
Its likely to send you to jail instead.
There are two primary factors that will put you in a prison uni because of a warning shot. First is that a prosecutor will argue that since you werent threatened enough to actually shoot the person in the first place, you werent really threatened sufficiently to merit pulling a gun in the first place.
The act of drawing a pistol in the first place is an act of deadly force before the eyes of the law. Use of deadly force without the requisite reasonable belief of imminent death or dismemberment is a felony.
Second is what the bullet does after it leaves the barrel, which is part and parcel to why police officers dont fire warning shots. If the threat is real, they tend to shoot to stop the threat and thats exactly what you should do if confronted by a violent criminal.
Granted, a bullet into dirt will likely stay there, but pavement and other materials can cause a ricochet. Firing up into the air is equally reckless; what goes up, after all.
It Might Just Get You Killed
A recent tragic reminder about why warnings and warning shots are often fruitless is the recent case of Pedro Pete Cain of Norfolk, Va. Cain was visiting with some neighbors when a young woman came up to the group and asked to use a cellular phone on in late May of this year, according to the Virginia Pilot. She was told there wasnt one available, but Cain was concerned that she was actually casing for a robbery and went back to his apartment to retrieve a handgun.
Cains suspicion was correct, and soon after returning with the gun, a man wearing a bandana appeared with a handgun. Cain aimed at the man and told him to drop it.
The man began to comply, but suddenly fired, hitting Cain in the abdomen. Cain was taken to the hospital but died of his wounds. Five people have been arrested for their roles in the robbery. The alleged shooter, one David Barrington, is facing a charge of 2nd degree murder as well as ancillary charges.
This isnt to say its Cains own fault he was killed; it was the murderous criminals fault. However, it may well have turned out different had Cain merely fired. The shooter may have wound up on a slab, Cains fiance wouldnt be mourning his loss and his son wont be growing up without remembering his father.
Shoot To Stop The Threat
If you are confronted with a real and honest threat to you or someone elses life or posed with a threat of serious bodily injury by a person bent on doing evil, shoot to stop the threat. Dont try trick shots to the kneecap, dont resort to warning shots. Verbal commands may work, but as can be gleaned from the Cain case, wont always.
It certainly isnt the case that you should shoot first and ask questions later. The threat has to be real and reasonable. But it is the case that if presented with a real clear and present danger, shoot until they stop.
If the danger is real, drawing and shooting will be justified. Since the best place for bullets is inside an attacker, theres no danger of ricochets or bullets landing somewhere they shouldnt after being fired in the air. Best of all, youll probably get home alive.
Shoot the gun out of their hand.....The Lone Ranger used to do that and it worked for him.
That said; a warning WAS issued AFTER Hirosima
“You have to convince the LEO it was justified, then get past civil suits maybe”
A lot of people I know are joining groups that provide legal representation and defend members involved in a deadly physical attack.
Here are my thoughts. First, a quote from the article:
If you’ve never seen the Sergio Leone film “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly,” one of the characters admonishes a would-be assassin “When you have to shoot, shoot; don’t talk” after having dispatched him. Something like that exact sentiment is why warning shots, verbal warnings and other attempts to dissuade a violent attacker are a bad idea.
This is far too simplistic a view of reality.
Sometimes situations such as this happen, often they don't.
I am not going to write an essay to explain it, but the world is much more complicated than the simplistic vision put forward.
Notice police almost always give verbal warnings, and seldom fire warning shots. Conflating verbal warnings and warning shots is a silly simplification.
Self defense situations are complex, and often have subtle differences that call for different actions.
You should act differently if your assailant has a knife, instead of a gun.
You should act differently in your house instead of outside.
There are simply too many variables to make the kind of sweeping generalizations made in the article.
I have used the Tuco quote while teaching, myself.
It is good advice.
The hard part is determining when it is time to shoot.
Statistically, warnings are far more useful than not warning.
The vast majority of defensive gun uses are where no shots are fired.
Shooting someone is not a win/lose situation. It is a lose/lose situation.
With luck,you survive, but most of the time, you still lose a lot.
“Ain’t everybody got it in ‘em to pop a cap on somebody.” (Some anonymous gang banger in a documentary.)
A lot of people seem to believe it’s better for a woman to be found in an alley, raped and strangled to death with her own pantyhose (do they still wear those?) than for her to explain how she scared off her attacker with a display or warning shot when she didn’t have it in her to “pop a cap on him”.
On “shoot to stop”: I know what most people mean by that, but the purpose of a warning shot is to get somebody to stop what they are doing.
On warning shots: 1. The four rules still apply. 2. Last I heard, the Navy still uses the “shot across the bow”, which is a warning shot.
On shooting to kill: In some jurisdictions one is not allowed to shoot to kill, one is only allowed to shoot to stop. If they can trace you to a post that said you intend to shot to kill, they may use that against you.
On not drawing till you are going to shoot: 1. Practice your quick draw till you’re as fast as the hero in a “B” Western, don’t be only as fast as the duffer who gets killed by the bad guy. 2. Be the third guy, as in that recent Texas church shooting.
“Glad it worked and youre still around. Just not how I choose to deal with a threat to my life.”
You weren’t there. So you cannot judge.
Agreed.
Id like to see a real study of what happens with those who kill, maim, fire warning, or just show it.
All this worry over liberal laws which shackle us good guys as much as possible so that we must be Quick-Draw McGraw. Instead of accepting that as firearm wisdom, they should fight for looser laws.
Sorry, Im not waiting to draw fast when I finally decide to kill.
Thank you. Well stated.
” No warning shots are not authorized.
‘
Are you saying there is never a situation where a warning shot can be used?
Dead men do not come into court and claim they had hands up and were begging not to be shot. And a wrongful death claim is worth about 15% of the vlaue of a total disability claim for the injured victim. Keep shooting until the story goes away and make it quick. No excuses for resuming fire.
The man began to comply, but suddenly fired, hitting Cain in the abdomen. Cain was taken to the hospital but died of his wounds.
Getting to the point of dropping someone when other options might be available is difficult, but it is sometimes needed. If a guy whos a threat is holding a gun...we all must learn to quickly take him out. Theres no reason to put yourself or your family at risk trying to talk him down, and even if you did, think about, hed simply hit another family...and they probably wont be so lucky.
yet our hindsight even here on FR is very clear on what should have been done.
True.
Better to be tried by twelve than carried by six
He said that, too.
:D
Perhaps you have a story to tell where the situation and lessons learned can be explained? Would be a little more insightful than you werent there.
Dad was a prison guard and saw the worst of the worst, every time he went to work.
He told me that if someone attacked me, I was to assume they meant to kill me and react accordingly.
Part of that, I’m sure, is because I’m a “runt” [his nickname for me] and I’d have absolutely *no* chance in a fight.
He also taught me how to fight dirty, because of my size.
Good advice 50 years ago when there were some morals left and the insane were locked up.
NOT TODAY. You're daughter's first warning should be BANG! as #4 buckshot heads down the stairs.
If they are in your house, they WILL kill you for what they THINK is in your pill drawer.
I have pulled my weapon once in 26 years of carrying concealed. It was 20 years ago at a bank ATM on a Sunday afternoon. It was June and hot and my 4 year old son was in the back of my truck in his car seat. I pulled up in line at the bank and was at the end of the line to the ATM. It was about to be my turn to use the machine and I am looking about the area for possible threats and seeing nothing until I pull into the machine area.
A young man in a long duster jacket is walking on sidewalk and turns straight towards my truck approaching from the rear with one hand clearl inside his coat. The coat on a hot humid day sets off red alerts, his hand in the coat and him not taking his eyes off me has my little voice doing the DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER, thing! The ATM is slow and has my card and is opening up my account and my son is still jabbering about Star Wars. At this point I reached into my glovebox and pulled out my Makarov 9X18 pistol and raised it up high enough to be seen by the goblin and dropped the safety off and turned towards the window to verbally tell the approaching bugger to stop where he stands. I look and hes about 15 feet from my rear bumper, stopped, head looking down to the ground froze. The ATM at that moment spits out my money and card and I snatch them both and roar out of the lane avoiding car stopped 2 car lengths in front of me. I figured had he not stopped I had about 2 seconds and I was going to engage him. Thankfully he saw me pull the pistol and stopped, but I had done decided after the verbal warning if he hadnt stopped his advance I was going to shoot. All this went down in probably 30-45 seconds,
Yep. Dead men tell no tales. Shoot someone in the knees? Then a 1st year 25 year old liberal prosecutor will have an EASY time convincing a <100 IQ jury that" Mr and Mrs Juror, my poor client made a honest mistake entering the house. There was no lethal threat because if there was, the first shot would have been lethal. Now pay me and my client for the rest of your miserable life"
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.