Shoot or not shoot?

[Neser Boha]

It's sort of entertaining reading these tough-as-nails accounts of how you'd shoot an intruder. In real life, most of you would piss yourselves first. Shooting a human being isn't so easy. Nor should it.

 

[Midnight Marauder]

Well, first I'd call police. Then I'd go after the person and want them to identify themselves and of course - drop the knife. If he/she did what I said, I'd have them sit on their hands until the police get there. If they made a threatening move towards me, I'd shoot in the shoulder or leg... depends on how fast it all happens.

No reason to immediately shoot. Most robbers will run for their lives and won't try any shit when they find out they've been found out.

All of this, so he can come back later? Or so he can find another victim? One of your neighbors? Perhaps your parents?

You're really going to call the police while a guy who broke into your house is coming up your stairs with a knife(?) in his hand? Who might even have a gun on him? Who might actually be carrying a gun, instead of a knife?

Even if you're able to hold him until police arrive, he's going to bail out the next business day. Going to be right back at it.

There's many reasons to immediately shoot.

 

[Care4all]

as others have said, I would shout out to drop his knife, the spouse should have already called 911 about the break in so cops are on their way...if he does not drop the knife and you have to hit him in the leg with your gun, then do such to stop him. If he is lunging at you to harm you, shoot to kill.

Care

In firearms training they don't teach you to shoot at arms and legs. If you are going to shoot, shoot to kill. This ain't old-west Hollywood movies.

You're really going to aim for a leg, when the guy can throw the knife? Can jump you when you miss that leg? Can still walk for a time after the leg is hit? Would then also have time to pull out his own gun he might be concealing? In the dark, are you sure it's a knife not a gun? No. Shoot to kill or don't bother having a gun. Put four slugs in his torso, just like you're taught on the gun range. Then begin asking questions.

if you aim for his heart or head, you are still taking the time to aim, and knife could be thrown in the mean time.....?

 

[Midnight Marauder]

It's sort of entertaining reading these tough-as-nails accounts of how you'd shoot an intruder. In real life, most of you would piss yourselves first. Shooting a human being isn't so easy. Nor should it.

Firearms training makes all the difference. So that when the situation warrants, your training kicks in and you do what you need to do.

Killing someone isn't easy to live with after the fact, but if you're trained it's automatic, conditioned response.

 

[Neser Boha]

Well, first I'd call police. Then I'd go after the person and want them to identify themselves and of course - drop the knife. If he/she did what I said, I'd have them sit on their hands until the police get there. If they made a threatening move towards me, I'd shoot in the shoulder or leg... depends on how fast it all happens.

No reason to immediately shoot. Most robbers will run for their lives and won't try any shit when they find out they've been found out.

All of this, so he can come back later? Or so he can find another victim? One of your neighbors? Perhaps your parents?

You're really going to call the police while a guy who broke into your house is coming up your stairs with a knife(?) in his hand? Who might even have a gun on him? Who might actually be carrying a gun, instead of a knife?

Even if you're able to hold him until police arrive, he's going to bail out the next business day. Going to be right back at it.

There's many reasons to immediately shoot.

I hope you're just a dog that barks but doesn't bite because if you actually really thought and acted like this, you'd be considered a danger to society. Seriously. You have no right to dispense justice, my friend - especially when it includes possible death or a life-threatening injury.

And to your questions: Yeah, exactly. I'd give him/her to police. Because I live in a society and I will play by its rules. That is what civilization is based on. IMHO.

 

[Midnight Marauder]

as others have said, I would shout out to drop his knife, the spouse should have already called 911 about the break in so cops are on their way...if he does not drop the knife and you have to hit him in the leg with your gun, then do such to stop him. If he is lunging at you to harm you, shoot to kill.

Care

In firearms training they don't teach you to shoot at arms and legs. If you are going to shoot, shoot to kill. This ain't old-west Hollywood movies.

You're really going to aim for a leg, when the guy can throw the knife? Can jump you when you miss that leg? Can still walk for a time after the leg is hit? Would then also have time to pull out his own gun he might be concealing? In the dark, are you sure it's a knife not a gun? No. Shoot to kill or don't bother having a gun. Put four slugs in his torso, just like you're taught on the gun range. Then begin asking questions.

if you aim for his heart or head, you are still taking the time to aim, and knife could be thrown in the mean time.....?

If you're trained, and practiced -- good with the pistol, you don't actually aim. The slug goes where you're looking. The absolute best professional pistol shooters don't aim. But never miss....

That's the rub, most people don't know what they're actually looking at. In firearms training they teach you to look at where you want the slug to wind up. Not at the end of the barrel, not at their face, not at their knife. You lock on and shoot, takes a half second if you don't choke. The knife hits the floor the same time the body does.

 

[Midnight Marauder]

Well, first I'd call police. Then I'd go after the person and want them to identify themselves and of course - drop the knife. If he/she did what I said, I'd have them sit on their hands until the police get there. If they made a threatening move towards me, I'd shoot in the shoulder or leg... depends on how fast it all happens.

No reason to immediately shoot. Most robbers will run for their lives and won't try any shit when they find out they've been found out.

All of this, so he can come back later? Or so he can find another victim? One of your neighbors? Perhaps your parents?

You're really going to call the police while a guy who broke into your house is coming up your stairs with a knife(?) in his hand? Who might even have a gun on him? Who might actually be carrying a gun, instead of a knife?

Even if you're able to hold him until police arrive, he's going to bail out the next business day. Going to be right back at it.

There's many reasons to immediately shoot.

I hope you're just a dog that barks but doesn't bite because if you actually really thought and acted like this, you'd be considered a danger to society. Seriously. You have no right to dispense justice, my friend - especially when it includes possible death or a life-threatening injury.

Wrong again. Where I live we have the Castle law, which gives me every right to kill an intruder in my home.

As it should be.

 

[Neser Boha]

It's sort of entertaining reading these tough-as-nails accounts of how you'd shoot an intruder. In real life, most of you would piss yourselves first. Shooting a human being isn't so easy. Nor should it.

Firearms training makes all the difference. So that when the situation warrants, your training kicks in and you do what you need to do.

Killing someone isn't easy to live with after the fact, but if you're trained it's automatic, conditioned response.

And you're 100% certain of it. Why.

 

[Midnight Marauder]

I hope you're just a dog that barks but doesn't bite because if you actually really thought and acted like this, you'd be considered a danger to society.

I'd actually be, not a victim.

And I actually do think and act like this: If you break into my home, I am going to shoot you first, then ask questions. I am trained and am very good with pistols. I practice often to stay sharp.

There is NO point in owning a gun if you are not trained and practiced in its use. You might as well get it out of your house.

 

[Neser Boha]

It's sort of entertaining reading these tough-as-nails accounts of how you'd shoot an intruder. In real life, most of you would piss yourselves first. Shooting a human being isn't so easy. Nor should it.

Firearms training makes all the difference. So that when the situation warrants, your training kicks in and you do what you need to do.

Killing someone isn't easy to live with after the fact, but if you're trained it's automatic, conditioned response.

And you're 100% certain of it. Why.

Actually, you know what? I want to hear about this from someone who has a first hand experience with this. Not just some gun toting bag of testosterone. I want to hear about this from a cop or a soldier that was in a position where they had to shoot a person. Everyone else's 'theoretical' opinion means jack shit to me.

 

[Midnight Marauder]

It's sort of entertaining reading these tough-as-nails accounts of how you'd shoot an intruder. In real life, most of you would piss yourselves first. Shooting a human being isn't so easy. Nor should it.

Firearms training makes all the difference. So that when the situation warrants, your training kicks in and you do what you need to do.

Killing someone isn't easy to live with after the fact, but if you're trained it's automatic, conditioned response.

And you're 100% certain of it. Why.

I have had extensive advanced firearms training. Exactly what police go through. This includes shoot/don't shoot scenarios.

My answers here are addressing the particular scenario the OP lays out. If everything in the scenario is true, it's a shoot. It's not a "Halt or I'll shoot" deal. It's not a wound 'em in the leg deal. (those don't exist) It's a stranger who has broken into your home at night and is coming up your stairs with a weapon. It's four slugs in the torso of the target.

 

[AllieBaba]

an eye for an eye....if he did not try to kill me then he should not be killed....he is a thief, not a murderer....

no mention of this hypothetical person going up the stairs trying to kill you?

living with killing another human being who had not tried to kill you or others, is NOT as easily forgotten and as joyous as some may think...you live with it forever...it has been known to break good strong human beings, like our men in war, who have accidentally killed children and mom instead of who they thought were terrorists...collateral damage may be gvt's term for it, but i can assure you, it is not so simple in the human's soul that killed them...

When we lived in Italy, my parents killed a man, a drunk man driving a motorcycle/scooter that turned in to them....he did not die right away, my mom was Italian born so she was fluent in the language and a cop was at the intersection and witnessed what happened so dad was not jailed as he could have been...

anyway, my parents met the old drunk man's family and went to the hospital every day until he died to see him and his family and to pray with them...

My sister and i witnessed them mourn, still to this day, about being the ones that killed this man...they had a huge coronet 440 in italy that dad brought with us when transferred there....if they had not been driving their big car and had been driving the Fiat we also had then this man, might not have died...they went thru every scenario over and over again seeing if things could have been different....it wasn't their fault, but they still were bonkers over it, imho.

People who invade homes at night are generally perfectly willing to butcher the people in the home. That's why robbers often receive more severe sentences than straight up murderers.

There's no way to know the intent of a person coming up the stairs at night. Burglars generally will scope out the homes they're going to break into, and choose a time when t here's no one there. The ones who don't are either on drugs or are actually looking to murder or both.

And killing someone in a car accident is a whole world different than killing someone who breaks into your home at night.

One of my best friends killed her husband. He'd broken her arm, told her he was killing her horses then going to kill her, and went to his pickup to get his rifle. He got the rifle, turned from the truck and she nailed him between the eyes. She hasn't lost a night of sleep.

 

[Midnight Marauder]

I want to hear about this from someone who has a first hand experience with this. Not just some gun toting bag of testosterone. I want to hear about this from a cop or a soldier that was in a position where they had to shoot a person. Everyone else's 'theoretical' opinion means jack shit to me.

No matter the training, it's still always an ethereal question of whether or not the trained shooter will actually kill a live person when the situation arises. Even with the best trained cops and infantry troops. I know cops who have served 15 years and never had to fire their pistol anywhere but on the range. I know cops and soldiers who have had to kill in the line of duty. I have a friend who actually did kill an intruder in his home. All of them believed, before the shoot, that they would indeed shoot to kill. But until they did it, it was an ethereal question.

Fortunately, I've never had to fire on a person. But my training tells me I would not hesitate to do so. It's however, honestly an ethereal question for me too, whether I would or not, in the moment. Because I haven't been there. But I believe I would, because I am trained to do so.

You should invest in handgun training. It's quite educational.

 

[RodISHI]

Actually, you know what? I want to hear about this from someone who has a first hand experience with this. Not just some gun toting bag of testosterone. I want to hear about this from a cop or a soldier that was in a position where they had to shoot a person. Everyone else's 'theoretical' opinion means jack shit to me.

Never had the guy with a knife in my home but a would be rapist entered into my bedroom one early morning. It was a guy my cousin who lived in the apartment next to me had brought home with her the night before from a bar (she was a few years younger than I). I awoke to this stranger standing a few feet away from the foot of my bed. I asked him what are you doing in my house? How did you get in here? Leave now. He said, I just thought I'd ask coffee, tea or me? I told him again leave and added I do not want anything but you out of my house. He repeated it again. Again told I him out. He said I know you want me and jumped on top of me and pinned me into my bed. It had all happened very quickly. I reached my left hand down beside the bed frame and the mattress and slipped my fingers around the gun handle my dad had given me for protection. At that point i was still calm and trying not to panic. I asked the guy again to please leave and get off of me. He said, I know you want me. I told him I want you off of me and out of here. He then told me he was going to rape me. At the point in my mind the thoughts were "thou shalt not kill" but I was not going to be raped or abused by anyone ever again. If it came down to me or him I was prepared to shoot him. I asked once more get off of me, leave now. I did not give him another chance to get out of his mouth what he was going to do to me. I put the gun to his head and told him get off or I am going to blow your ass away. He flew off of me. Not jumped flew. He landed six feet away from the end of my bed standing upright. He was shaking as he said I was just kidding. I told him that is not something that you kid about.

A few years later I was in a neighboring town walking down the sidewalk. This same guy approached me and said, do you remember me? I thought to myself yes I remember you you little prick but I just said yes. He said I have something I want to show you. I'm thinking I really do not want to see anything he has. He said please just a few moments of your time? I relented, okay. He walked down a few store buildings, went into a restaurant and came back out with a beautiful baby girl in his arms. He told me, this is my daughter isn't she beautiful. I agreed with him she was beautiful. He said I want you to know you saved me. I told him no God saved you I was going to shoot your ass. The guy still nice and polite told me he vowed to take very good care of that baby girl God had given him and took her to Church every Sunday.

If I had of shot that young man God would not have been able to work a miracle of life in his life. That beautiful little girl he cared so very much for.

Would I shoot someone if I had too, yes but only in absolute dire circumstances where no other choice was given but to shoot.

 

[Graybeard]

In my case, it's just my 2 teenage daughters and myself. I would have no qualms shooting and if I killed the perp, I would have no problem sleeping at night.
I would rather live with taking a life of a suspect than allowing the possibility of something going wrong and having my children become a victim.
In Texas, if they're in your house or if you feel threatened, then deadly force is justified.

 

[Midnight Marauder]

Never had the guy with a knife in my home but a would be rapist entered into my bedroom one early morning. It was a guy my cousin who lived in the apartment next to me had brought home with her the night before from a bar (she was a few years younger than I). I awoke to this stranger standing a few feet away from the foot of my bed. I asked him what are you doing in my house? How did you get in here? Leave now. He said, I just thought I'd ask coffee, tea or me? I told him again leave and added I do not want anything but you out of my house. He repeated it again. Again told I him out. He said I know you want me and jumped on top of me and pinned me into my bed. It had all happened very quickly. I reached my left hand down beside the bed frame and the mattress and slipped my fingers around the gun handle my dad had given me for protection. At that point i was still calm and trying not to panic. I asked the guy again to please leave and get off of me. He said, I know you want me. I told him I want you off of me and out of here. He then told me he was going to rape me. At the point in my mind the thoughts were "thou shalt not kill" but I was not going to be raped or abused by anyone ever again. If it came down to me or him I was prepared to shoot him. I asked once more get off of me, leave now. I did not give him another chance to get out of his mouth what he was going to do to me. I put the gun to his head and told him get off or I am going to blow your ass away. He flew off of me. Not jumped flew. He landed six feet away from the end of my bed standing upright. He was shaking as he said I was just kidding. I told him that is not something that you kid about.

A few years later I was in a neighboring town walking down the sidewalk. This same guy approached me and said, do you remember me? I thought to myself yes I remember you you little prick but I just said yes. He said I have something I want to show you. I'm thinking I really do not want to see anything he has. He said please just a few moments of your time? I relented, okay. He walked down a few store buildings, went into a restaurant and came back out with a beautiful baby girl in his arms. He told me, this is my daughter isn't she beautiful. I agreed with him she was beautiful. He said I want you to know you saved me. I told him no God saved you I was going to shoot your ass. The guy still nice and polite told me he vowed to take very good care of that baby girl God had given him and took her to Church every Sunday.

If I had of shot that young man God would not have been able to work a miracle of life in his life. That beautiful little girl he cared so very much for.

Would I shoot someone if I had too, yes but only in absolute dire circumstances where no other choice was given but to shoot.

You are very lucky he didn't sweep that gun off his head and stick it up your ass. If you had handgun training, you wouldn't have that gun under your mattress and you wouldn't have let him get near you either.

Edit to add: You don't know how many other women this perp raped, and you also don't know that the child wasn't a product of a rape. It's only your faith telling you it's all good.

Oh and, how it is that the cops weren't called, and this perp wasn't in jail?

 

[AllieBaba]

Hell the kid might not even have been his, and my guess is he was looking forward to the day when he could rape her.

I find that a really weird and creepy story. I'd have shot his fuck face off his skull.

 

[Midnight Marauder]

Hell the kid might not even have been his, and my guess is he was looking forward to the day when he could rape her.

I find that a really weird and creepy story. I'd have shot his fuck face off his skull.

It does sound like quite the fanciful tale, doesn't it? Like something you would see on TV.

 

[RodISHI]

You are very lucky he didn't sweep that gun off his head and stick it up your ass. If you had handgun training, you wouldn't have that gun under your mattress and you wouldn't have let him get near you either.

Edit to add: You don't know how many other women this perp raped, and you also don't know that the child wasn't a product of a rape. It's only your faith telling you it's all good.

Oh and, how it is that the cops weren't called, and this perp wasn't in jail?

He was a young dumb good looking kid. Twenty years old thinking his shit was what all women wanted. I doubt he had raped anyone. My cousin took him home of her own accord. He thought he could get double for his trouble instead he discovered he really was not as sexy as he had thought himself. Somewhat like people who think they are tough and have all the answers when in fact they whimper and say "give" at the first sign of hardship.

Learned how to shoot when I was nine years old. edit: the gun was between the mattress and sideframe of the bed frame. It was one of those big wood water bed frames with a regular mattress.

It's only your lack of faith telling you it wasn't God. Yet that's your problem not mine.

 

[Jon]

I don't own a gun, and if I did, I would not shoot to kill unless absolutely necessary. In other words, unless I knew for certain he was there to harm me or my loved ones, I would try not to harm him. I might ask him to drop the knife, then kick him in the face for breaking into my house. But that's just because someone likes that needs a good kick in the face, but certainly not a bullet between the eyes.