I caught one... now what? (scenario)

[joe817]

[RocTrac]

My Wife can hit a target quite well and has been to a range once. But she is still uncormfortable with a gun. I will do whatever it takes for her to be as good or better than I am with a weapon/weapons. Just gotta remember not to make her mad. What is gonna happen if you are, ummmm playing cards at a buddies house. She is home alone with the kids. I am not fussing, we tend to get more range practice and more training than our Wives because "she can barely shoot". It is just a matter of training and practice. And you are right, she would be the one that I want to call 911, since I am the one to get out of bed and check things out. This is one of the conversations best had over a beer or around the campfire.
Carl

[lonewolf]

The truth is that my wife is just not that interested in learning to shoot. I certainly won't make the mistake of forcing her beyond her comfort/ability level. That would be entirely counter productive. As long as she is supporting me, my efforts and concerns, that is the best I can do for now.

[03Lightningrocks]

I have a customer that is an older retired gentleman. Ben has a place out in the country somewhere in east Texas. A couple years back he started staying out there on week days instead of just week ends like he did before retirement. He had several break in's over the years, always during the week, while he was back here in town. So one week night he was awakened to the sound of breaking glass. His place is fairly small so the distance from the area of his sliding glass door to his bedroom is minimal. He jumps out of bed with his gun and before he can turn any lights on sees a guy standing in the opening that used to be his sliding glass door. He tells the guy to get on the ground and that he has a gun. The guy pretends he is co-operating when a second perp appears from around the corner and lunges at ole Ben. Ben is startled and immediately pulls the trigger a few times. His gun was pointing at the guy in the door way who had started coming at Ben as well. This guy immediately drops to the floor moaning and crying about being shot. The guys partner in crime proves his loyalty by running out the door and making a hasty retreat. Ben is stunned at this point from what has just happened in about a 60 second time frame so he doesn't think to blast the guy trying to run. The guy he shot died right there on the floor before the Sheriff arrived. The Sheriff congratulated Ben on a good shooting and told him he made two mistakes The first was telling the guy he saw in the door to get on the ground. He said Ben should have just shot him and not risk getting over powered by the BG. He said the second mistake was not shooting the other BG before he got away.

They never got the guy that got away because the dead guy was an illegal immigrant which makes it hard to find relatives or friends as they operate under the radar to some extent.

This is the only situation like this that I known the guy involved. Ben is a fairly large guy...about 6'6" and maybe 275-300lbs. He has to be in his mid sixties and looks like one of those old rough guys from a spaghetti western...LOL. Even with a distinct size advantage, these two thugs were going to take him down. I have often wondered what I would do if I cornered a bad guy in my house. After this happened to Ben, I made up my mind that holding them for the Police was not going to be a likely choice for me. I wouldn't blast a guy that hit the ground or ran off, but if he acted the least bit hesitant I am afraid my fear of the situation would cause me to shoot. You never know when a second or third perp is going to pop out. Why risk it???

[NAVY CHIEF]

The Sheriff congratulated Ben on a good shooting and told him he made two mistakes The first was telling the guy he saw in the door to get on the ground. He said Ben should have just shot him and not risk getting over powered by the BG. He said the second mistake was not shooting the other BG before he got away.
...about 6'6" and maybe 275-300lbs. He has to be in his mid sixties and looks like one of those old rough guys from a spaghetti western...LOL. Even with a distinct size advantage, these two thugs were going to take him down. Why risk it???

Definitely food for thought! If a LEO (how many do we know that feel this way - anyone have first have knowledge?) told Ben this, and Ben is a BIT bigger than I [a scrawny (but scrappy!) 5' 7", 150 lbs guy!], this will definitely make me think differently! Thanks for sharing 03lightingrocks!

[03Lightningrocks]

The Sheriff congratulated Ben on a good shooting and told him he made two mistakes The first was telling the guy he saw in the door to get on the ground. He said Ben should have just shot him and not risk getting over powered by the BG. He said the second mistake was not shooting the other BG before he got away.
...about 6'6" and maybe 275-300lbs. He has to be in his mid sixties and looks like one of those old rough guys from a spaghetti western...LOL. Even with a distinct size advantage, these two thugs were going to take him down. Why risk it???

Definitely food for thought! If a LEO (how many do we know that feel this way - anyone have first have knowledge?) told Ben this, and Ben is a BIT bigger than I [a scrawny (but scrappy!) 5' 7", 150 lbs guy!], this will definitely make me think differently! Thanks for sharing 03lightingrocks!

I can imagine a small town Sheriff in a rural area saying to shoot first. It took the Sheriff almost a half hour to get to Ben's house. Folks who live out in the sticks are definitely on they're own. In the big city I don't know. I have had two cops tell me they would rather be filling out paperwork on a dead bad guy than stolen property. I kind of figured some of it is just talk. Maybe they are getting tired of all the lazy criminal types more than the citizens are.

[hheremtp]

I can imagine a small town Sheriff in a rural area saying to shoot first. It took the Sheriff almost a half hour to get to Ben's house. Folks who live out in the sticks are definitely on they're own. In the big city I don't know. I have had two cops tell me they would rather be filling out paperwork on a dead bad guy than stolen property. I kind of figured some of it is just talk. Maybe they are getting tired of all the lazy criminal types more than the citizens are.

Can you blame them, the cops arrest someone and before the ink dries on the paperwork that person is out and committing crimes again, it's like the jails have revolving doors on them. I would get tired of arresting the same person 4,5 or 6 times for committing the same crime over and over.

[03Lightningrocks]

I can imagine a small town Sheriff in a rural area saying to shoot first. It took the Sheriff almost a half hour to get to Ben's house. Folks who live out in the sticks are definitely on they're own. In the big city I don't know. I have had two cops tell me they would rather be filling out paperwork on a dead bad guy than stolen property. I kind of figured some of it is just talk. Maybe they are getting tired of all the lazy criminal types more than the citizens are.

Can you blame them, the cops arrest someone and before the ink dries on the paperwork that person is out and committing crimes again, it's like the jails have revolving doors on them. I would get tired of arresting the same person 4,5 or 6 times for committing the same crime over and over.

[wgoforth]

From what we were told in class by the deputy was that if he gets up slowly, walks to and out the door...we perceive no threat, we have to let them. I think my feeling would be that the slightest move I WOULD perceive as a threat and would fire, being able to honestly say that I was in fear for my life, his having made a threatening move. When I said that in class though, the deputy said "well, you don't have a crystal ball." Sounds to me like you just have to shoot them to start with! lol
Wayne

[Liberty]

From what we were told in class by the deputy was that if he gets up slowly, walks to and out the door...we perceive no threat, we have to let them. I think my feeling would be that the slightest move I WOULD perceive as a threat and would fire, being able to honestly say that I was in fear for my life, his having made a threatening move. When I said that in class though, the deputy said "well, you don't have a crystal ball." Sounds to me like you just have to shoot them to start with! lol
Wayne

If a guy is getting up off the floor, he can easily be perceived as a threat. Once the bad guy is the door. He has every right to expect to get shot.
While it may not have benn been crystal clear before Sept 2007 the Castle doctrine made clear of our right to defend our home with deadly force.

[C-dub]

The only thing the BG on my living room floor should be doing is bleeding. There, hopefully, won't be any conversation or movement on his part at that point.

[KD5NRH]

If my wife sees that they guy made a bigger mess that I usually do, I'll just get the spackle ready.

[03Lightningrocks]

The only thing the BG on my living room floor should be doing is bleeding. There, hopefully, won't be any conversation or movement on his part at that point.

If my wife sees that they guy made a bigger mess that I usually do, I'll just get the spackle ready.

[5thGenTexan]

Hello All

As a fairly new member of this forum I've spent the last few weeks reading quite a few posts and getting a picture of the people on the forum. I was pleasantly suprised at the level of polite discourse at times and the quality of input from a number of the members to the newer licensees and those who are new to handguns.

My wife and I both have our chl's and do have a plan if things go bump in the night. Our master BR has the closet at the oposite end of the bath with a 15 foot clear lane of fire backlit by streetligts comming through the shutters. I keep a Judge with 2 #7.5 shots, 2 buck, and 1 45hp in my headboard, wife has SP101 w/115grhp +p on her side and there is a PM9 Kahr secured in the closet. Cell is on the way to the closet with one on the nigt stand. Family is from the country, I have shot and had guns since before I could buy a handgun, her ex was POLICE so we both have no qualm with doing what we have to to defend ourselves.

On Friday night aveage response time to neighborhood is 4-5 Mins for 3 squad cars, we are at the intersection of 3 beats in Fort Worth and our NPO lives in the general area.

Again great forum and good people.

[Keith B]

Welcome to the forum 5thGenTexan. Thanks for the compliment and glad to have you with us!

Hello All

As a fairly new member of this forum I've spent the last few weeks reading quite a few posts and getting a picture of the people on the forum. I was pleasantly suprised at the level of polite discourse at times and the quality of input from a number of the members to the newer licensees and those who are new to handguns.

My wife and I both have our chl's and do have a plan if things go bump in the night. Our master BR has the closet at the oposite end of the bath with a 15 foot clear lane of fire backlit by streetligts comming through the shutters. I keep a Judge with 2 #7.5 shots, 2 buck, and 1 45hp in my headboard, wife has SP101 w/115grhp +p on her side and there is a PM9 Kahr secured in the closet. Cell is on the way to the closet with one on the nigt stand. Family is from the country, I have shot and had guns since before I could buy a handgun, her ex was POLICE so we both have no qualm with doing what we have to to defend ourselves.

On Friday night aveage response time to neighborhood is 4-5 Mins for 3 squad cars, we are at the intersection of 3 beats in Fort Worth and our NPO lives in the general area.

Again great forum and good people.