Real Life Shooting Scenarios Returns!

[Bartholomew Roberts]

You are out mowing your property when you see four 4-wheelers coming out of the river bottom brush towards you. The men are visibly armed and you recognize one of them as your neighbor. The two of you had a long and acrimonious boundary dispute that lasted nearly a year but have not talked to each other in six years. The neighbor has a nasty tendency of shooting at people and claiming self-defense and even shot his ex-wife in the leg without facing criminal or civil charges.

As you turn your tractor off, the neighbor drive up and informs you that they are lost. Being a little irate at the resumption of this again you give him a curt "BS!" interrupting his story. The conversation degenerates from there and ends with him calling you a stupid SOB. Firearms are visible but holstered or slung.

What now?

[psychophipps]

Well, I'd never shout, "BS!" at an armed person who is known for shooting people, but...
I would dismount my tractor in a manner that would keep a hefty part of itself between myself and my wayward neighbor if that's possible. If not, I wouldn't make threatening gestures as I advanced towards his vehicle and informed him that I would appreciate it if he would make all possible haste towards the direction I was indicating off my property and towards his.
If he still called me a "Stupid SOB", I would smile depreciatingly and nod my agreement. "Yeah, well...you're right there. If I was smarter, I'd have a decent fence up so you guys wouldn't have gotten lost. I'll get started on that right away."

Of course, any fingering of weapons or serious threats would give me reason to become...upset,
Mark(psycho)Phipps( HAHAHA! )

[Lupinus]

well if knowing he is an ahole with a history of violence that is quite possibly looking for trouble he gets simple stupid answers and basicly told to get off my property in as polite a way as you can tell someone to scoot. From there nothing other then nodding my head like a good boy and generaly not antagonizing him untill he leaves or makes a move on his gun in which case I hope I can draw faster then he can.

[Hypnogator]

Stay on the tractor. Turn off the engine. Politely inform him of the best way off your property.

If you get down, he can claim you were attacking him. If the tractor is running, he can claim you tried to run him over. If you deliberately antagonize an armed a**h*** your widow can probably collect big bucks in a wrongful death suit. :rolleyes:

[JMusic]

I would have not turned the tractor off. I would also have positioned it to use as an offensive weapon.

[The Freeholder]

Being on Condition Yellow is more than justified as soon as you see him coming, given the historical information.

Your big mistake is calling BS. You escalated, and I think that's a bad idea as a general rule, even if it may be true.

I assume that you're armed. With the historical situation you've outined, I would be. (Of course, if I had enough land to need a tractor, there'd be a long gun scabbard on it and I'd be carrying a pistol as well. Coyotes and other varmits, ya know. :) )

If you're lucky, the guy really did get turned around and will make his case to you. Point it out graciously and thank your guardian angel that fortune was on your side. Resolve to not jump to conclusions as quickly--there are safer ways to get excercise.

If he choses to escalate, you might want to start figuring options and angles if it comes to gunplay. Try to deescalate if possible, but I would get off the tractor and start using it for cover. Keep trying to descalate if at all possible--lose face if necessary. (I will note that this might come back to haunt you with this guy in the future.)

If it hits the fan, shoot to kill. Remember, you're outnumbered and probably outgunned as well.

[orangeninja]

V-E-R-B-A-L~ J-U-D-O

Talk your way out of a confrontation with an armed man. Not even a SWAT team will yell "BS" to an armed suspect. You should remove your ego from the situation, ego and guns don't ever make a nice mix. Barring that, appologize for the miscommunication, tell him you'd be willing to discuss it later and then sit there silently. If he continues repeat last...apologize for the miscommunication and that you'd be willing to discuss it later. If he keeps at it, repeat, it's really dang hard to hold a one-sided argument and shooting a guy who just apologized to you is prison time by any standard unless he's attacking you at the same time.

If you don't feel there was a miscommunication you're wrong. Yelling "BS" at an armed man known for violence even when you are right, is a miscommunication if for nothing else than a lapse in judgement, I'm sure if you thought about it objectively, you'd agree.

[Bartholomew Roberts]

In real life, our intrepid farmer apparently did not see the wisdom in verbal judo. As his neighbor turned away and began to leave after calling him a "Stupid SOB", he threw his cellphone at him, striking his neighbor squarely in the head.

At this point, stories begin to differ. The farmer claims that hearing the velcro of the holster flap he knew what was about to happen next and turned to seek cover behind the tractor. The neighbor claims that the throwing of the cellphone was followed by an assault and fight on the ground over the gun.

The end result is that the property owner was shot multiple times in the back and had his arm amputated. The neighbor, once again, claimed self-defense; but the evidence tended to support the proposition that he shot from some distance away and not rolling around on the ground during a fight as he claimed. The neighbor was convicted of manslaughter.

[orangeninja]

Manslaughter?

Sounds to me like 2nd degree murder.

Yet another reason why verbal judo beats gunplay anyday.

[gunsmith]

throw lead!