Would you feel good about killing in self defense?

I would not feel "good" about killing someone else in self defense. Although I do not know how I would actually feel until I've lived through it, I believe that I would not feel "bad" either. If someone else sets the course of events that cause me, or someone else, to be in danger and require the need to respond with deadly force then they are responsible for what they brought on to themselves.

I do not seek to harm anyone, but will do so if required to defend myself or others.

Luke

Not necessarily feel "good" about taking a life, but I'd feel pretty damned good of ridding the world of the POS. In other words, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

They succumbed to an occupational hazard of their "profession". I didn't make the decision to kill them. They did through their own actions. My mantra is if I find someone uninvited in my house at night, they ain't there for tea and crumpets or to play tiddlywinks. They WILL be facing the business end of a firearm and they have three options at that point. 1) crap their pants and run away, 2) comply with my instructions and hold them until the police arrive, or 3) continue their attack and I'll arrange the meeting with their maker. Should #3 occur, THEY made that choice...not me.

Admittedly an extreme example, but I could envision a participant in a Nazi extermination camp uprising who succeeds in killing a guard with an ax and taking his rifle feeling pretty good about it.

Another most excellent THR thread, methinks. Thank you Grandpa Shooter.

I am capable of defending myself with words or firearms, but will not act rashly with either as some seem inclined to do.

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Sage advice.

I've talked with 2 men who have BTDT. One as a soldier, the other a LEO. Both men are in their 50's now and both of their events took place 30ish years back. They still wake up in the middle of the night now and then, reliving old memories 3 decades later.

Food for thought.

I hope I never have to find out.

As many have said, I don't know what I would feel like. I am sure it wouldn't be fun to find out. I do know that I would do what I had to in order to protect myself or my family. I was just raised that way. You do what is necessary, and deal with the consequences afterwards.

Never having to defend my family i dont know how I would feel to do it.But i have had to defend myself and fellow Marines in Iraq and I didnt feel anything but recoil until an hour later then the feeling was neither good or bad more confused i guess.

Being a veteran that has had to pull a trigger on another person. I would have to say that I didn't enjoy it what so ever but that was different. It isn't something you ever forget.

I kinda feel bad about killing an animal that is in my livestock. They are just trying to survive. As far as the SOB's that rape a kill for nothing other then flat meanness. I would have no problem doing that deed. They deserve it. I would sleep just fine.

I've killed a few people in Iraq... I was the only guy shooting the guy that just died, who I was aiming at, that's been confirmed and been the situation more than a few times. There's something about combat that makes you enjoy it... it's a savage Spartan Warrior code or something.

As far as killing for justifiable reasons state side. I don't think I'd have a problem with it, I don't look towards it, I keep a pistol handy ($400 XD-40), I've had to call the police for vehicle break in & neighbors domestic disputes, and I've gone to intervean an attempted vehicle break in just to hear "put your gun on the ground" when the cops showed up (yes they want you to put your $1k Kimber on the gound and no they don't care that it cost $1k). The guy that was breaking into your truck, no body gives 2 craps about him because he isn't the one openly brandishing a gun and he can just run away... I so wished I lived in TX that night!

Back to the subject:

Haveing already been through mental health a few times, haveing PTSD & Survivor Syndrome... I'd probly deal better with killing bad guys better than the average Joe. But I don't pray that someone comes to break in my back door at night either.

it doesn't feel good to kill in self defense. doesn't necessarily feel bad either. if bg's don't wanna get shot, they shouldn't put themselves in that position.

it does feel good to survive, however.

Werewolf said:

Life's not all that sacred - except to each one who has it I suppose. It's easily replaced - there's 6 billion of us on the planet after all.

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I'm not a collectivist, nor do I believe that life is, "not all that sacred."

From a totally rational point of view - losing sleep over the death of an evil person makes no sense because the removal of that evil from the population makes that population just a little bit less evil and a little more good.

From an emotional point of view it's a totally different matter. Good guys will/should(?) feel bad at the erasure of any human life whereas the bad will not.

That's why any fight taken on where life and death are the only possible outcomes should be taken on from a rational point of view only less good hesitate due to emotion and be defeated by evil.

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What's the relevance of this? I'm not going to feel bad or good about killing someone. I might feel good because I'm alive, but it is something I will respect. I don't understand what you're trying to get at in relation to my post.

BigMike said:

Does anyone have knowledge of the number of military involved in shootings resulting in death, and their reactions?

I know first hand of a Special Forces member who is now retired from working counter insurgency in Afghanistan. On the surface, this guy is as normal as the rest of us. Inside, who knows.

Is it fact that he killed? Can't say, but the likelihood is there.

Our military is paid to shoot and kill. What are they taught about even the potential for taking a life?

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Ditto here. What's the relevance as far as it relates to my statement?

"Basically, the unspoken cultural attitude is that if you don't feel bad/have ptsd/wake up with nightmares/have deep crisis of remorse and regret, there's something deeply and clinically, and possibly criminally wrong with you, and failure to pay homage at this altar casts you under suspicion."

Exactly. I laugh at all the dire predictions of what will happen to one who dares to kill in self defense.


IMO: Very poor question.

In war one sometimes does feel good about killing the enemy but mostly it is a feeling that it is good to be alive. Very few folks feel good about killing someone in self defense in a civilian setting.

On the other end of the spectrum, no one I know who has killed some perp in a righteous self defense shooting has been plagued with "guilt" for an extended period of time. Usually one just sucks it up up and gets on with it.

When a scumbag breaks into my home or attacks me on the street, he has declared war on me personally. In the end I will feel good to be alive and feel little remorse. Yes, I have been there.

I hope I never find out. Having said that, to answer your question I am sure that it is something that I would think about everyday for the rest of my life. I would be thankful that I was able to protect my family and myself in a situation I deemed required the use of lethal force, however that would not make me regret the fact that I had to take a human life.

At the same time I was regretting and being thankful, I would probably remain angry at the bad guy for putting me in that situation for a long time.

It is easy to say you would have no problem pulling the trigger, but studies have shown that up to 85% of police and the military state they would have a problem pulling the trigger even to save a partner/squad member.

It is easy to talk a big game but unless you are a sociopath dealing with the reality of killing someone is not going to be easy, even if you are in the right.

TwitchALot said:

Werewolf said:

From a totally rational point of view - losing sleep over the death of an evil person makes no sense because the removal of that evil from the population makes that population just a little bit less evil and a little more good.

From an emotional point of view it's a totally different matter. Good guys will/should(?) feel bad at the erasure of any human life whereas the bad will not.

That's why any fight taken on where life and death are the only possible outcomes should be taken on from a rational point of view only less good hesitate due to emotion and be defeated by evil.

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What's the relevance of this? I'm not going to feel bad or good about killing someone. I might feel good because I'm alive, but it is something I will respect. I don't understand what you're trying to get at in relation to my post.

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The relevance is that feeling bad about having to kill an evil someone who tried to kill you is irrational and based on emotion not logic.

I believe that many people say they'll feel bad because that is what western culture expects them to say not because they will. I also believe that many will actually feel bad because that is what society expects them to feel. Our emotions derive from expectations created by societal demands that we were taught by our parents.

That said:

It is completely logical and rational that everytime an evil person is removed from society that society and its members rejoice. If one believes that Evil is bad then it follows that eliminating evil is good. So why shouldn't one feel good about eliminating evil?

What makes the life of a serial killer, rapist, or any other societal maddog all that freaking sacred that the good among us who kill in self defense should have to suffer the pangs of guilt from doing it?

Tell me! I want to know!

Why should we as individuals shed a single tear, or lose a single night's sleep and/or wrack our selves with guilt and be miserable for the rest of our lives because we killed a scumbag?

Werewolf said:

The relevance is that feeling bad about having to kill an evil someone who tried to kill you is irrational and based on emotion not logic.

I believe that many people say they'll feel bad because that is what western culture expects them to say not because they will. I also believe that many will actually feel bad because that is what society expects them to feel. Our emotions derive from expectations created by societal demands that we were taught by our parents.

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Let me rephrase- what's the relevance with respect to my posts? My position is that I'm not going to feel bad about having to do something like that, but on the other hand, I wouldn't be jumping up and down because he's dead (perhaps I might do that because I'm glad to be alive, but not because the other guy is dead, that is).

"Many people" might say they'll feel bad because it's what is expected, but I didn't say that, so why are you addressing me as if I did?

It is completely logical and rational that everytime an evil person is removed from society that society and its members rejoice. If one believes that Evil is bad then it follows that eliminating evil is good. So why shouldn't one feel good about eliminating evil?

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Because it's hard for me to imagine evil as an inherent part of a person that cannot be tamed. Is a man that robs a store to try to feed his kids evil? Who knows what the guy you just shot has been through.

Certainly, what he is doing is wrong, but evil? I wouldn't go that far. And even if I did, how could I judge a man and say, "he'll be evil forever, always was, always is, always will be, so taking him out was a great thing"? I don't think I can say that anymore than I can say someone has been, is, and always will be a "good person."

That, of course, sidesteps the fact that "evil" is a relatively subjective term. Hell, some people believe guns and gun owners are evil. Should they rejoice when a gun owner is shot by a criminal and killed?

What makes the life of a serial killer, rapist, or any other societal maddog all that freaking sacred that the good among us who kill in self defense should have to suffer the pangs of guilt from doing it?

Tell me! I want to know!

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I didn't say, once again, that I would feel guilty or bad about it. I just said that I wouldn't feel good about it either. And I'm not quite sure why anyone should feel good about taking another life, whether you think someone is "evil" or not." Evil, of course, being something that you decide for yourself, and something I decide for myself. No doubt we will have similarities, but we will also have differences.

Why should we as individuals shed a single tear, or lose a single night's sleep and/or wrack our selves with guilt and be miserable for the rest of our lives because we killed a scumbag?

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Who said we should? Certainly not me.

I never want to take a life. I am sure I would not feel good about doing it but its better than the alternative.

I'd feel bad

I'd feel really bad, but I wouldn't hesitate to use deadly force to protect myself or another from like force. I wouldn't hesitate to use deadly force if someone was trying to rob me or another using a gun. Thinking that they'll spare the person's life is a big assumption to make.

I think that killing another is bad, "Thou Shalt Kill". Some say that it really means "Thou Shalt Murder (not justified killing)". I'm sure that many of those in prison for murder thought that what they did was completely justified. It still doesn't mean that homicide is a good thing. Shooting someone's bad; however, I think that an innocent person dying is even worse, so I'd feel that self-defense is completely justified. Doesn't mean that I won't feel real bad later on. I've heard that a lot of police officers will quit after they kill someone with a gun, doesn't mean that it's not justified.

Those are my thoughts on the subject.

you should never feel good about taking a life. you should feel good that you defended yourself, and even that sometimes makes you feel like ****e, that you had to go that far to do it.

never be proud to kill, be proud to draw your weapon, and be able to settle a situation without having to pull that trigger. thats something to be proud of.

NO.. I'd probably be really pissed about it.. Mostly at the person that I had to defend myself aganist.. That'd be my immediate emotion probably.

I've had to pull a weapon on a guy breaking into my home, He saw what i was doing and decided to leave and get very very far away from me. As I was pointing my pistol at him I told myself that if his hands drop( i could see them as they were up from having so smash my window) I'm shooting. He kept his hands in view, didn't drop them and turned and ran so nothing came of it. Sometimes I think what it could have been, but honestly Its more that I'm glad I was armed, and I'm glad that is over. I'm not sure I'd feel bad about killing him, because my motto is " better to be tried by 12 than carried by 6" but i wouldn't feel good, and i wouldn't be proud of what I had to do, But thats what i would have had to do.

I'm still glad he kept his hands away from his sides ( even though i don't think is was a conscious act on his part). Very glad.

relieved

you know, i would never feel good about the actual act of killing, but if i shot in self defense i would feel good that it was me and it may have just as easily been a defenseless victim such as a friend.

I think that a person with good moral character can kill another, while not feeling good they can be at peace with the outcome. This is what lets the professionals be they soldiers or police sleep at night. In some cases against great evil I think one could even feel good about it. I would submit mass murderers, killers of family or friend, child abusers and molesters as those I might volunteer to open the door to eternity for.

I wouldn't feel good at all, I would hope to avoid ever having to.