Are you shooting to temporarily stop or to eliminate the threat?

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If he decides to pull out a knife or does something stupid, I'd just fire one towards him, and not hit him. If he pulls out a gun, I'd shoot at him.
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cchris:
This is a very unsound and unsafe tactic. You own every bullet that you let fly. If you fire a warning shot, you are going to be held accountable for what damage that bullet does. Guns are not warning alarms.
Don't shoot at a threat. Shoot them.
 
I'm shooting to scare the bad guy away. I'll keep shooting until I scare him away. That's why I have the Crimson Trace laser on my hd gun. I'm counting on the red laser dot on his chest to scare him away.
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Um...this is a joke right?

1) Shooting to scare the BG away is simply a waste of ammo you might need. Shooting to kill him before he kills you is the best way to use your ammo.
2) If you expect the BG to be scared by your laser dancing around, you might rethink how you use your laser. If he can see it, he can figure out your position long before you see him. Lasers when used properly are great, but walking around your house with them on while searching for the BG just gives your position away.

Read the USMC Rules for Gunfighting below and take them to heart (linked in my sig).

Especially # 3

3. Only hits count. The only thing worse than a miss is a slow miss.
 
Shoot to stop the threat, if the assailant has a gun and can move his trigger finger, he is still a threat. If he has dropped his gun (now 25 ft away) and he can't move his legs, he is no longer a threat.
 
um...this is a joke right?
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Yes, it was a joke. I figured folks would see that. However, I will restate.

I plan to aim COM to stop the threat. The laser will (I hope) help my aim.

If stopping = killing, so be it.
 
C'mon guys, read the whole post!!! He(she? it says karen, sorry) said he'd plan on aiming center of mass and shooting him COM untill he was scared away. And i was still too slow.

I'd only shoot enough to stop the imediate threat. The quickest and most effective way to do that is to aim COM and pull the trigger untill there is no longer a threat. If the guy does die, I'd have to deal with that. If he does not and is no longer a threat, I'd do what i could to disarm him and keep him alive so he could be tried and jailed. I'm not out to murder, or kill, just to protect myself and loved ones. Killing IS sometimes possibility with deadly force.
 
True Story

My Cousin later teens at the time was having dinner with his family. A drugged up stranger walked through the front door and started to savagely beat his dad up. He got my uncles pistol and fired a "warning shot" to scare the attacker. It didn't work and the guy kept choking and kicking my uncle. my cousin shot and killed the intruder saving the life of his father for sure.

The "warning shot" made it premeditated murder in the court of illinois and he got 20 years in prison. If he would have just shot and killed the intruder it would have been self defence.

Still planning to try and scare them? Just a thought

Myself I Would shoot COM or headshot if it was available.
 
You shoot to stop the immediate threat. The most reliable ways of doing that create a substantial risk of death

Don't like that? Don't put innocent people in immediate, reasonable fear of life and limb.
 
I'm shooting to scare the bad guy away. I'll keep shooting until I scare him away. That's why I have the Crimson Trace laser on my hd gun. I'm counting on the red laser dot on his chest to scare him away.

I plan on aiming for COM, because, like the experienced LEO mentioned above, chances are I'll miss. Since I'm shooting to scare him away, any hit while aiming COM is accidental.

If the bad guy flees or stops, fine. If he dies, well, it's an unfortunate accident. I was only trying to scare him away.
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LOL! I could imagine the looks on the cops face when they see the bad guy DRT with rounds in the chest and you say, "I was just trying to scare him away." Love it! :D

Now, I think planning on shooting limbs is just a dumb plan. Plan on shooting to stop the threat and don't beat scenarios to death.
 
Here is a way to put it in a bigger context. I think it makes is clearer.

There is a spectrum of bad guys that runs from scared pre-teens to ruthless killers having a meth-induced psychotic break (or equivalent). Some will flee if they hear you yell, some will flee if they see a gun. The few who will press an attack in face of a gun - the ones you will be seriously tempted to shoot - have self-selected themselves to run the risk of getting killed.
 
Shoot center mass until the threat no longer becomes a threat. You didn't shoot to wound or to kill, you shot to stop the threat. If he lives or dies is in the hands of fate, God, luck, or whatever else you want to call it. If you are firing center mass and it doesn't appear to have an effect, shoot for the pelvic region.
 
Shoot to stop the threat, not "to kill". If you say that you wanted to "kill him", you will be investigated as a possible homicide perpetrator.

If he dies, it's not your fault, he was the one placing you in fear for your life.

Shooting someone seven times, and then re-loading and shooting them again, will get you a trip to prison.

Jeez, some people always seize on sarcastic statements, made in jest, to lecture people on their "wisdom". Must be a slow couple of days.
 
I, personally, try to live me life so as not to hurt anyone. I expect the same respect from others.
That being said.... I'll end the threat by shooting COM until the threat no longer exist. Cuz I'll be honest. I could not hit an arm or leg in the dark. Maybe in daylight, if they stood real still, I had a real good sight picture, if I wasn't nervous, and if I wasn't so scare that I s*** myself, then I might be able to shoot an arm or leg. In all honesty, how many of us are even going to know our weapons have sights when the SHTF?
 
Could you get into legal trouble for a headshot* in a self-defense situation?

**As in shots were exchanged and one of your happened to hit BG in his head.

Wouldn't the prosecution try to paint you as a person with deadly intentions due to the fact that you got a head shot on said BG?
 
I wouldn't be worrying about getting sued when my loved ones or myself are in danger.. I will end the threat to the best of my ability
 
Defense is just that. IMHO the BG expiring isn't really germaine to the issue as long as he loses the ability to keep threatening. X
 
I'm shooting to scare the bad guy away.
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Bad idea...could be argued as negligence on your part. Yes, warning shots being a bad idea seems counterintuitive, but the only time a weapon should be fired at (or around) another individual (in a self defense situation) is if your life is in imminent danger of becoming forfeit. Anything else, again, could be construed as negligent handling of a firearm...or worse. Oh, and shooting to wound...also a bad idea.

There is a very, very real possibility that you are going to have to account for every shot....and, you had better have some good answers/reasons (supported by various "facts").

Shoot to stop...not simply to scare, maim or kill.

If I need to fire at someone (imminent danger present) it will involve center mass shots until he/she/they cease to be an immediate threat. Im not going to waste my time going for "noodle shots" when seconds count and when (probably) dealing with a moving target. Hence, I firmly believe in the "large first/small second, if necessary" type of theory when it comes to defense shooting.

For me, its about stopping a violent encounter vs. merely trying to send someone to the grave or believing that unless someone is no longer breathing they are still capable of taking my life.
 
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Shoot center mass until the threat no longer becomes a threat.
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Best sentence yet IMO. Eliminate the threat...not eliminate the LIFE of the person threatening you... just the posed threat. If while you are trying to save your life, or the life of a loved one, the person dies that is not your fault and you shouldn't be prosecuted.
 
I would not try to target an appendage because they are smaller targets, and would more likely be moving, which would increase the probability of missing, and decrease my chances of protecting my family or self from said felonious threat.
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Not to mention increasing the chances of hitting an innocent bystander who is not immediately visible from your position.
 
Shoot to STOP. If the perp still poses a threat, shoot to COMPLETELY STOP! COM is the only and surest way to aim when the adrenaline is pumping. You have a God given right to defend whats yours. Don't second guess or hesitate, those tenths of a second could mean the difference between surviving or becoming a statistic.
 
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