There is a lot of discussion here about less lethal options for private citizens. The subject of less lethal shotgun rounds comes up regularly here or in the shotgun forum. Taser has released or is about to release a model marketed for the private citizen. Many of you carry OC along with your CCW.
I normally advise against anyone who's not duty bound to take an assailant into custody to steer clear of the less lethal options. Why? None of them work against everyone, every time. If you use your less lethal option and it fails to have the desired effect on your attacker, you are most likely to already be close to being in arms reach and employing your lethal force option may be difficult or impossible. You are now faced with a hand to hand fight.
If local laws prohibit you from carrying a firearm, OC may be your only option. In this case I recommend that you spray and run.
The incident related in this news article happened yesterday in the St. Louis metro area. It is a good illustration of how less lethal options should be employed. Backed up by someone else with a lethal force option, should the less lethal option fail.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...FEF14497BCEBA7A3862570D9001C7DD6?OpenDocument
This type of incident is what less lethal options are for. The last attempt to end a situation that would call for the use of deadly force without using deadly force. Unfortunately for Susan Jean Riegel the taser didn't work as advertised and she's not safely in a hospital or jail this morning.
Think about this incident the next time you contemplate buying some of those nifty beanbag shotgun shells or that new taser, and ask yourself who is going to cover you while you attempt to drive off the home invader with it.
Jeff
I normally advise against anyone who's not duty bound to take an assailant into custody to steer clear of the less lethal options. Why? None of them work against everyone, every time. If you use your less lethal option and it fails to have the desired effect on your attacker, you are most likely to already be close to being in arms reach and employing your lethal force option may be difficult or impossible. You are now faced with a hand to hand fight.
If local laws prohibit you from carrying a firearm, OC may be your only option. In this case I recommend that you spray and run.
The incident related in this news article happened yesterday in the St. Louis metro area. It is a good illustration of how less lethal options should be employed. Backed up by someone else with a lethal force option, should the less lethal option fail.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...FEF14497BCEBA7A3862570D9001C7DD6?OpenDocument
Officer kills woman police say pointed gun
By Heather Ratcliffe
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
12/15/2005
WILDWOOD
Police in Wildwood fatally shot a 54-year-old Wildwood woman who, authorities said, had commandeered a delivery truck at gunpoint and walked through a Wildwood neighborhood flourishing a gun and a knife before she pointed the gun at an officer.
Authorities identified the woman as Susan Jean Riegel. They were still investigating a motive for her behavior.
A house across the street from the shooting, in an upscale neighborhood, was struck by a bullet, but police said no one else was hurt.
The incident started just after 1 p.m. at Route 109 and Clayton Road near Lafayette High School. Police reported several calls about a woman in a fur coat flourishing a knife and pointing a long gun at motorists. Riegel lived in the 500 block of Black Canyon Court, authorities said.
Police said she jumped onto a DHL delivery truck and threatened the driver, ordering him to drive her. The driver was not injured.
The delivery truck stopped near the corner of Still Creek Pass and Larimer Trail in a neighborhood lined with two-story houses.
Riegel jumped out and was walking up the street, waving the gun and knife, and residents there also called police, said St. Louis County police Sgt. Mason Keller.
Police said officers ordered her to drop her weapon. One of the officers shot her with a Taser stun gun, but the dart did not penetrate her thick coat, and the shock was not effective, police said.
Keller said Riegel then raised the gun, pointing it at one of the officers. The officer fired, striking her several times. She was taken to St. John's Mercy Medical Center, where she died.
Sheila Richards, who lives nearby, said she had been startled when she heard police sirens rushing down her street, an unusual sound in the quiet, hilly suburb.
A few minutes later she heard several shots. She peeked out of her front window to see officers with their guns drawn.
"I didn't see any panic on their faces," she said, "so I thought it must have been under control. There was no more danger."
This type of incident is what less lethal options are for. The last attempt to end a situation that would call for the use of deadly force without using deadly force. Unfortunately for Susan Jean Riegel the taser didn't work as advertised and she's not safely in a hospital or jail this morning.
Think about this incident the next time you contemplate buying some of those nifty beanbag shotgun shells or that new taser, and ask yourself who is going to cover you while you attempt to drive off the home invader with it.
Jeff