My goal is to stop the criminal. My goal isn't to stop the crime, it's to stop the crimes, the ones that he or she is likely to be involved in after this incident if he is allowed to walk away. He is too dangerous to ignore.
I might miss. I might hit an innocent. I might get shot. I might die. I might get prosecuted, spend 5 to 10 in prison for negligent homicide or worse. I might get sued and lose everything I own. The BG might be wearing armor. He might have accomplices (an issue I addressed in my first post). There may be other CCW holders who mistake me for an accomplice, or that I mistake for an accomplice. I might put 8 rounds in him only to see him smile and shoot me in the face while I struggle to reload.
Those are just some of the risk. I accepted them the minute I picked up a gun and decided to carry it for defense. I have thought about them. I spent nine hours at work last night thinking of all the ways this situation could go bad. And in the end, I decided to keep carrying my gun with the intention of acting within the law to perform the legal defenses allowed by my state if and when I deem necessary.
I made a lot of assumption in my previous post/s that I will address here. If I speak of taking action, I assume I've already decided my hands aren't shaking so bad I'm going to miss, and that I can (probably...nothing is ever certain until after the fact) take action without making the situation worse. I assume I'm alone, not with a loved one (because then my priorities change, althought that doesn't necessarily change that action I said I'd take). In this specific situation I've already got the drop on the BG, so I don't have to worry about drawing and firing in a split second. I have time to look over the situation, take cover, and aim. He's holding up a WalMart in broad daylight in the middle of the day (I assume), so I know he's probably not the brightest individual in the world or the most prepared.
Again, I assume these things. I could be wrong. I could always be wrong. That's the chance I take, and like it or not it's my decision whether to take it or not.
Even if I decide everything is in my favor, I might still mess up. That's a fact of life I accepted when I decided to carry a gun, and I don't think I'm the only one. I could second guess myself into never taking action because I, or someone else, could get hurt or killed but I'm not going to do that. Doing that means I'll never do anything, in any situation, because it can always go wrong. I realize my decisions will affect other people. That's the risk we all take in living in a world with other people who have the ability to think and make decisions. I'm willing to take the chance and face the consequences if something goes wrong.