It all depends on who's with me at the time. If I'm by myself, then I'd do what I can to get others to safety and return fire if given the opportunity. If I'm with family, friends, or other innocents who are "unarmed", I'd get them outta there and be following behind them. Once in a safe place, I'll make the 911 call and assist in the meantime if necessary.
Unless I'm backed into a corner, I will usually make an effort to get outta there. I'm not "Superman", nor some type of "super hero". I'm not a sworn LEO, so there's no "duty to protect" on my part. Call it what you like, but it's what I would do. Considering the fact that I'm not up to being arrested and put on trial if things don't turn out the way I want them to. Even if I'm successful at neutralizing the threat, I will probably incur some legal fees and my freedom may be limited for a while as the LE agencies and DA figure things out. Even if cleared of criminal charges, I would still face possible civil litigation from the BG's surviving family members. Win or lose, I'll have to spend some time in court defending myself. Along side me would be my legal counsel. His billable hours for court are around $300/hr. Not sure that I'm willing to go into debt if I could have avoided it.
gf
I would have a hard time standing by and watching people, even strangers, be murdered when I could stop the gunman.
I've thought the scenario through many times. As stated earlier, if I'm by myself, I'd do what I can to help out. My first obligation would be to keep my family safe. Engaging a BG would likely put them at risk. Getting them to safety would be my first concern. Helping others would be a close second.~~
GF Thank you for this post... I woke up thinking about it early this morning. My family Must come first. Our "Obligation", our duty is to keep them safe. You are a wise man GF.. Thanks again.
Wow, I guess I think differently. My thought in protecting MY family WOULD BE to try take the shooter down! Of course, agreeing with Peace Corp, since I am Floridian, I know the law is on my side. I forcible felony is in progress, I have full legal justification to intervene using whatever force necessary including lethal force to stop that forcible felony.
In the scenerio you have me at a neighboring table, I doubt that quietly trying to sneak the family out of the room is going to work well, so I say they hit the floor and I take aim. If I don't have a clean shot, or am some distance away that is different. But next table? I will be happy to help pay to provide the legal representation in any state on that one if you shoot him. Your life indeed IS in danger.
No state has a the bullet has to be on its way to your head statute.
Now if the guy were running to the door, or for any other reason the commission of the forcible felony has ceased and the threat has passed, then that is a whole different animal ... I think we all understand those rules.
This kinda goes along with the "Get involved or mind your own" thread and not to hijack it, how about this situation. A local trial and reading the above thread got me thinking. In the local case there was a couple sitting at the bar a TGI Fridays when another individual enters, walks past and a few words are exchanges. The guy then pulls out his gun and opens fire shooting 3 and killing 2.
Now, what do you do if your sitting in the restaurant and your armed? Take cover and hope bullets don't fly your way? Take aim and take down the shooter? If you weren't paying attention to what had happened earlier you might not know the gunman was aiming at someone or if it was just a random loony shooting up the place.
What would you do?
It all depends on who's with me at the time. If I'm by myself, then I'd do what I can to get others to safety and return fire if given the opportunity. If I'm with family, friends, or other innocents who are "unarmed", I'd get them outta there and be following behind them. Once in a safe place, I'll make the 911 call and assist in the meantime if necessary.
Unless I'm backed into a corner, I will usually make an effort to get outta there. I'm not "Superman", nor some type of "super hero". I'm not a sworn LEO, so there's no "duty to protect" on my part. Call it what you like, but it's what I would do. Considering the fact that I'm not up to being arrested and put on trial if things don't turn out the way I want them to. Even if I'm successful at neutralizing the threat, I will probably incur some legal fees and my freedom may be limited for a while as the LE agencies and DA figure things out. Even if cleared of criminal charges, I would still face possible civil litigation from the BG's surviving family members. Win or lose, I'll have to spend some time in court defending myself. Along side me would be my legal counsel. His billable hours for court are around $300/hr. Not sure that I'm willing to go into debt if I could have avoided it.
gf
Get outta there, call 911 or call 911 and drop the phone in your front pocket if you can't get out. Let them record the whole thing. It's a mine field of legal ramifications even if you're 100% right. On the other hand if the deadly force is coming your way and you're speaking into the mic then defend yourself. forget about the legal shit. Blow the head clean off, no open casket.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?