I never go to the bank.....

[Zekewolf]

Batman: We're actually on the same side! I live in a pretty gun-friendy jurisdiction, where prosecutions for violations of gun laws is rare. I do have access to some pretty good, "real" lawyers, but, like you, sure wouldn't go out and provoke a situation just to try 'em out.

My reference to our relative prowess in reading comprehension was my response about your not having attacked my reading comprehension skills. Of course, you hadn't attacked my reading comprehension skills! Sometimes, people WILL post case cites for us board members to read and interpret for ourselves, and since you mentioned case law, I thought you might have some specific knowledge of specific case law relevant to this subject.

 

[Wendi5000]

Also, you could end up making a big FUBAR of the thing if you pull out a gun. Most robbers leave without hurting anyone, using the gun as intimidation. But, if threatened, they'll use it. Someone pulling a gun out on them is threatening.

Good point. There are too many "what ifs" in any type of criminal situation. But on the other hand, what did the gov't always tell us about how we should respond to a hijacking on a plane prior to 9/11? Sit down, shut up, do what they say and let the law negotiate a surrender and deal with them later.

Woops. Another "what if"... I guess there really are no easy answers.

But on a semi-related note I carried a knife all through school, even after the "zero tolerance" policies. In a gang & drug ridden school on the wrong side of the tracks in a gulf coast fishing village I and other law-abiding students had little choice.

When weapons are outlawed, only outlaws have weapons... (though I will admit I never did quite have the nerve to carry a gun to school even after six of my classmates were murdered in a gang shooting at 4 in the afternoon on the way home from school)

The key is this. Conceal it, don't flaunt the fact that you carry, and don't act like the idiots on the playground that thought it was cool to compare knives and thus got kicked out of school. As far as the law and guns and banks and such, I'd probably apply a similar principal.

Bottom line? Every situation is different, and the most prudent thing to do would be to talk to your local law enforcement as well as a local attorney who would most likely be familiar with any previous similar cases and their outcomes. Then decide for yourself what you think is right for you in your situation based on all of the facts.

 

[nbk2000]

But on the other hand, what did the gov't always tell us about how we should respond to a hijacking on a plane prior to 9/11? Sit down, shut up, do what they say and let the law negotiate a surrender and deal with them later.

And it was almost always effective in preventing fatalities.

Now, if Jihadhis start robbing banks for funding their terror, and start executing all heathen infidels in the process, then it'd be prudent to resist the Jihadi robbers from start.

But since that's not happened yet, please refrain from pulling a John Woo move until it does, eh? Thank you.

(Just like how, since 9/11, Jihadi's know that trying a repeat of the plane hijack/crash technique is doomed to failure since everyone on the plane already knows that compliance=death, thus no one is going to be compliant and passive, but rather, aggressive and combative.

If everyone, everytime, started shooting it out with bank robbers, it'd greatly decrease the incidence of robbery, but those that DID happen, would have much more fatalities, as those robbers willing to take the risk would be extremely aggressive and heavily armed, going in with guns blazing.

Better to remain passive if it keeps the general violence level down for the uninvolved parties.)

I'm not a LEO so I'm not going to try to stop an armed robbery. If the guy just wants the money, he can have it. I'll try to cooperate as much as possible. But if he starts to shoot people, then he's forcing me to act. I'm not just going to lie there while he walks around the room executing people. Nobody wants to die but I would rather go out firing than getting one in the temple prostrate on the ground crying!

Of course! I'm not suggesting that anyone has to let themselves be killed if they have the means to prevent. I'm just saying people shouldn't be the ones to start the killing if there's no killing going on.

"Hero's" have a bad habit of getting those around them killed.