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@speakeasy

I think you may have missed my point. I'm not advocating firing at the vandals - certainly not if you know it's "just paintballs" ... it's more of a situational awareness, preparedness, mental thought exercise ... would you have the mindset and ability to observe and orient BEFORE deciding to act with deadly force (ooda loop keywords used on purpose)

You nailed it saying paintball guns don't sound like real guns. But what about real guns with silencers? Far fetched, yes, but not out of the question as your adrenaline starts gushing from all the other visual and audible stimuli. And has been shown above, not all paintball guns have the tell tale giant hopper on top or colorful metallic color paint scheme. Kids with toy guns have been shot before, it happens.

Again, just a thought exercise.

This little tidbit prodded my imagination a bit ...

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/ ... ounty_beat" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In a nutshell, vandals "painted" an Austin city councilman's car and home at night with paintballs.

So here's the scenario, your wife hears a funny noise, you go outside to investigate (carrying, of course), it's dark, you see men in shadows aiming gun-like objects in your general direction, something pelts your car and makes that telltale "thud" .... would you have the mindset to distinguish a real gun from a paintball gun before drawing down on or even discharging your REAL gun at the "attackers"? Would you even knowingly fire at these vandals - after all this would seem to fall under "criminal mischief at night" in Penal Code?

Just food for thought and discussion ...