Maybe it's just me out there but if I saw some being raped, or physically assaulted, screw the liabilities, I'm helping that person. Whether that involves use of a firearm or not, the situation will dictate. Sorry, but it's the right thing to do and F anybody who tries to tell me otherwise. I have no desire to be superman (aside from the flying bit) but I'm also not about to stand there and watch an innocent person get attacked doing nothing other than calling police. Everybody on here knows 90% of the time police are too late to stop anything.
.
There are so many ways for you to get it wrong, catastrophically wrong, that they can’t all possibly be discussed on this forum. You come upon two guys in a fistfight. One is losing, badly, even bloodied up a bit. Are you witnessing a felony? Do you have any idea what happened before? Are you fully trained, tested, and certified on what legally constitutes a felony in your state? Let’s muddy it up a bit. You come upon a little old lady, screeching, and little old man on the ground wrestling with a “thug” and clearly getting the worst of it. You draw your firearm and begin barking commands. Enter armed citizen #2 (or how about a cop?), who comes upon the scene 10 seconds after you. He “sees” “thug” and old man on the ground with another “thug” drawing down on them with a firearm. He elects to draw down on YOU. Now what? How about this: The “thug” is actually the old lady’s son, wrestling away a gun you couldn’t see that had somehow found its way into the old man’s hand (he suffers from dementia)……you just shot her son. Stranger things happen every single day. Even if you watch the entire scenario unfold from the beginning you can still get it completely wrong.
.
Unless you are a trained, sworn, credentialed LEO with jurisdiction to act, you, as a responsible armed citizen, have no duty, warrant, or commission to act. If you inject yourself, with a DEADLY WEAPON, into a situation in which you were not threatened or involved you are taking enormous risks. If you have family responsibilities you are placing them at risk also. You could by your actions be making the situation much, much worse. Since society has given you no authority to act, and you are under no obligation to do so, there will be absolutely no forgiveness if you are wrong. Your good citizen’s good intentions will mean nothing.
.
Am I saying you should never act unless you or your loved ones are directly threatened? No. What I am saying is you need to approach that idea with your eyes and mind wide open as to what the possible (likely) consequences are going to be. You need to understand that it is very, very easy for you to make a LETHAL mistake. You need to understand that, in the end, if everything turns out that you made a righteous decision/action, your life (and your family’s) will be turned upside down for at least a couple of years, and you may be bankrupt financially. If you were wrong, you are the FELON now.
