Defensive Carry banner

Warning shots

5K views 48 replies 39 participants last post by  gtv 
#1 ·
I happened upon a thread on the high road while doing a google search for something else. The following quote is one of the responses to the thread:

"Never, EVER, fire a warning shot. Seriously, from a legal standpoint it is quite possibly the worst thing you could possibly do. A "warning shot" by it's very nature is an admission that you didn't think lethal force is justified, yet, by it's very nature you used lethal force to do it. Don't do it. If deadly force is justified then use it to stop threat not scare it." -insidious_calm

I thought I'd get everyone's opinions. I've heard this before, but never so succinct.
 
#9 ·
I agree with this. "Firing a 'warning' shot" never comes into play with self defense. A "warning shot" is for the most part illegal so far as I know. My suggestion.............don't ever think of firing a 'warning shot". Your pistol comes out of your holster for one reason only, and that's to save your life and hit the immediate threat. Warning shots are nonsense, and you shouldn't even think in those terms. Warnings can be verbal only if you choose to do so. A shot can be fired when you fear for your life. To heck with local laws......this should be pretty much a universal ideal!
 
#7 ·
Kinda what I was thinking. Is there a situation where it would be LEGALLY acceptable? For example, if two pit bulls were attacking a lady and you didn't want to shoot for fear of hitting the person. Maybe the shot would scare the dogs.
 
#8 · (Edited)
My warning shots are the two to the chest. . . the headshot is the "serious" one.

:wink:
 
#21 ·
ROTF, agreed. no warming shots.
 
#12 ·
Never say never.

Our department had a strict policy about warning shots and rightly so the civil liability can be threw the roof. An officer made a traffic stop and it went down hill quickly with the suspect advancing on the officer. This was long ago before tasers and good OC so the officer as a last resort before taking a human life pointed his magnum at the muddy ditch beside him and pulled the trigger. The sound of the silvertip going off along with the ball of fire that was produced I guess brought the suspect back into reality that he was about to be dead.
The officer explained the situation to the supervisor handed over his weapon and rode out his three days off.
Most times you will not have time for a warning shout much less a warning shot but you never know what life will throw at you.
 
#13 ·
I can confidently say NEVER. I will never fire a warning shot. If.....key word is IF....a situation breaks down to where I absolutely MUST pull my gun...then I have already determined that I, my family or someone else is in imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm. At that point I shoot to stop the threat, not to warn.

The one alternative to this...is when I pull my gun the BG immediately drops whatever weapon(s) he/she is holding and complies with the ensuing verbal commands to lay flat on their stomach, arms outstretched, palms turned upward, ankles crossed and head turned away from the sound of my voice.

That is the outcome I would desire. But should the threat continue, I am trained to do what must be done to ensure the safety of myself and my family.

The time for warnings ended the moment my gun came out of its holster.

You want to warn someone? With your hand on your holstered gun, warn them that you are armed and command them to "stop!". If you really feel the need to warn them. Though you are not required to.
 
#14 ·
Warning shots are a no no! Your accountable for every bullet that comes out of your firearm. So you better have a damn good and lawful reason why one came out of your gun somewhere other than the range. Thats like brandishing x20.Definitely stupid move.:Slip:
 
#15 ·
A few examples here.

Like the Temple shooting in Louisiana, these are all cases where an officer is struggling with an assailant and citizens render aid. In one, it appears that the shooter didn't have a clear shot and fired a warning (not recommended). In several others, the "warning shot" was applied to the attacker's leg (recommended).

We can't foresee any and all cases. There could, as above, be some kind of wacky scenario where shooting a leg might be preferable to COM. What those kinds of examples show is that fights are dynamic, fluid situations involving any number of actors whose identities may or may not be known. Only a fool would repeat like some dumb robot: "I always shoot for COM, I always shoot to kill..." You have to read all circumstances as best you can and do what seems most prudent, whatever that turns out to be.
 
#18 ·
Never say never.

Our department had a strict policy about warning shots and rightly so the civil liability can be threw the roof. An officer made a traffic stop and it went down hill quickly with the suspect advancing on the officer. This was long ago before tasers and good OC so the officer as a last resort before taking a human life pointed his magnum at the muddy ditch beside him and pulled the trigger. The sound of the silvertip going off along with the ball of fire that was produced I guess brought the suspect back into reality that he was about to be dead.
The officer explained the situation to the supervisor handed over his weapon and rode out his three days off.
Most times you will not have time for a warning shout much less a warning shot but you never know what life will throw at you.


^^^^^^^^^^These have to at least make you naysayers pause an think for a moment^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^



I have an aversion to never and always.

^^^^YEP^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

So its safe to say, you will not be caught saying, "Never say never"
 
#16 ·
Here where I live, it's a crime to discharge a firearm except in SD. One can argue that a warning shot is in SD, but I imagine that argument would be in court.

And my main reason for no warning shot: it's like to initiate a warning shot in return--or worse! Shouting, "I'm armed," as I reach is warning enough.
 
#19 ·
It's illegal in Washington state to pull your weapon except in the defense of yourself or another that is in serious threat of bodily harm or death, no if ands or buts. Warning shots will get you a trip to the local lockup.
 
#22 ·
I would use a warning shot to distract someone from attacking my family. If I was running to the situation and was too far or didnt have a clear backstop, I might use it to draw attention to myself and/or to try and scare off the attacker. Illegal or not. Some consequences are worth bearing.

Another situation that I've considered is if a child is being snatched. If a mother is screaming and pointing and I cant catch up to the person fleeing with a child, I would at least try a (safe) warning shot to let them know I'm armed. It may scare them into dropping the kid. I certainly cant take the shot if they've got a kid in their arms (at least *I* cant). If it doesnt work, at least I tried and hopefully the legal consequences wont be too bad. If it works, great. I'd still probably get hit with consequences but hey, no good deed goes unpunished.

With regards to the 2nd scenario, I also dont know the whole story...I'm not shooting someone running away with a kid....that person might be in the right, you never know.

If someone were stealing my dogs or horse, or harming them, I'd use warning shots in an attempt to dissuade them. The law here forbids me from actually shooting the person but I would do everything in my power to stop them and if warning shots were what it took....and alot of them....so be it. I'll deal with those legal consequences as well. No one steals 'members of my family' even if the law would allow it. (And my horse is trained to gunfire). And if they were in a vehicle/trailer, I'd shoot the hell out of the car to try and get them to stop. If I could do so safely of course. Illegal? I'll pay the price then but I am morally obligated to save those in my care.

There are indeed times when a warning shot is appropriate, even if not legal. If you have other options or choose differently, fine.

"Never say never" ...opting for platitudes rather than sarcasm
 
#24 ·
If you miss with your first shot, call that your warning shot. Better not to miss.
 
#25 ·
When there's a group attacking, and the Alpha of the group takes two COM, that should be warning to the rest of the group; there you go, warning shot.

For those saying warning shots are ok, what is your target what is beyond it, what backstop do you have? Finger never touches the trigger before that following the four rules. Instead of answering those questions about the imminent threat to life, you're now diverting focus from the threat to place your warning shot, increasing the opportunity the threat has to take action against you.

If there is safe backstop present there is still the paradox of using deadly force with non deadly intentions in the process of self defense, which would open the door for a lawyer, either to prosecute you for killing someone when there was a not imminent threat to life or for discharging your firearm in a situation that it wasn't justified. You also need to consider that introducing a firearm is a last resort, and that means that all other options have been removed, if there's pause and time for a warning shot, that opens the door for lawyers to say that you had the time to execute other options. Judged by twelve than carried by six, but you still want to do what you can so that it's acquittal, not 20years for manslaughter or negligent homicide.
 
#27 ·
For those saying warning shots are ok, what is your target what is beyond it, what backstop do you have? Finger never touches the trigger before that following the four rules. Instead of answering those questions about the imminent threat to life, you're now diverting focus from the threat to place your warning shot, increasing the opportunity the threat has to take action against you.

.
For myself, I did address this in my post, but pretty generally. Also, if you dont have a safe backstop to for a warning shot, I certainly hope you are a perfect shot when taking the real shot. Altho I do consider other "safe" options besides in the direction of the threat. Depends on situation so I was pretty general. Also in my scenarios, none of the threats was to me.
 
#26 ·
Warning Shots are too much from Hollywood, and not based in reality.

That is not to say that I couldn't conceive of a situation where a warning shot wasn't the right thing to do at the time. For the most part they are a "No-No", but like I stated, I can conceive of a situation or two where they may be appropriate.

Biker
 
#31 ·
Most likely, if I have drawn, I am shooting to stop the threat. My warning shot, if I ever took one, would be towards the ground.

LEOs around here are trained to (in an intense firefight, or drawing against the drop) to start firing as they bring the gun up from the holster (or more accurately, as they are acquiring a better sight picture)...

It's sort of like brandishing... you shouldn't do it... but there are reasons to do so, that may put a stop to the action without anyone getting shot.

I probably wouldn't fire a warning shot, but I might if I was sure of the backstop, and thought it would stop the threat. More likely, once unholstered, my gun is aimed at the threat... and the threat has microseconds to reconsider his actions.

But there's no such thing as never, always.
 
#32 ·
The one and only time I've ever fired "warning" shots was the time poachers or rustlers drove up on me while I was on "our" farm.

When they saw me and a couple of other family members the accelerated toward us in a threatening manner. Since we were out in the open with nowhere to run, we began shooting at the BG's truck. A couple of people first fired a few shots at the radiator; this produced no results. So my cousin and I shot a few rounds into the windshield. (This caused them to turn and run.)

We were unable to get a tag number; but did give a description of the truck to the sherrif. Nobody was ever arrested. More importantly, nobody ever poached or stole our cows or horses since.
 
#33 ·
Never use um, and I don't believe in um. If the threat would cause me to fire my firearm, I'm aiming at the threat itself. I don't want to hit some innocent soul off in the distance that had nothing to do with the situation, unless it's one of the BG buddies that didn't think I knew he was there.:tongue:


GBK :bier:
 
#34 ·
In Florida, it's considered a very bad idea. According to Jon Gutmacher who wrote: "Florida Firearms Law, Use & Ownership":

"...if you fire a "warning shot" in a self-defense situation, and you somehow get prosecuted, -- you're facing a mandatory twenty year sentence unless you take a plea bargain, or are found "not guilty" !
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top