How well could you carry the burden if the guy you shot and killed turned out to be an innocent graduate student desperately trying to defend himself against a PCP crazed street person
This shows perfectly the often spoken response on a GUN forum. "If all you have is a hammer, everything gets treated like a nail".
I never said i would see the problem and instantly go to guns. That is a simplistic (and slightly moronic) assumption. There are a number of options to help you figure out what is likely to be happening AND help stop the action besides putting rounds on target.
As mentioned a cpl posts back, a loud verbal command to "STOP" is going to help ascertain the intent and motivation of the combatants. A car horn...driving your car up to them and flashing the high beams. Any number of options to interrupt the fight and allow the innocent party to disengage.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sharkbite
...its is YOUR CHOICE to sit there and watch this woman get her head smashed into the concrete and end up horribly injured or dead....
Who said anything like that? That's not what it shows in the video.
I said it. I took the action in the video to the extream end. Where your interferences in the situation became a fairly black and white decision. Watch as her head is smashed against the pavement and be a "good witness" or intervene and save her life.
Now, having been in LE and a use of force trainer for ~25 years. I have dealt with more then my share of street/bar/domestic fights. Its never black and white. But, the violence needs to ended quickly...no matter which party is "winning" at the time i arrived on scene.
As soon as the "fist fight" turns into a deadly force encounter. It needs to be stopped and whoever is trying to kill the other person is the one getting my attention. It doesn't matter to me what started the fight or who is to blame. The person trying to smash the other head into the pavement..kicking a downed person....choking...stabbing... ANYTHING that is likely to kill or maim the other, needs to be stopped.
A schoolyard type fist fight is one thing. A purse snatching that turn into a minor tug-a-war and similar circumstances are one thing. Sure be a good witness, take a cell phone video.
When it turns deadly, i think i have a MORAL obligation to intercede. Your moral compass may point you in a different direction. Thats FINE. I chose to walk that path (and have done so in more crappy parts of this world then i care to think about)
It may be pleasing to one's vanity to think of himself as the "sheepdog."
Its not about "vanity"...its about a true HEARTFELT desire to help my fellow man.
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You choose to sit by and watch. To "not get involved", that is TOTALLY your right and choice.
<<SNIP>> I CANNOT envision Thomas Jefferson or George Washington just standing by and letting a woman take a beating. Jump forward in time...Abe Lincoln??? Ronald Reagan?? Tired of Presidents, want a regular guy? Chris Kyle?? These are the men i look to as heros
You may not understand the path i have chosen to walk, and thats FINE.
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