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Would you Hesitate?

3K views 35 replies 36 participants last post by  TRICKORMATE 
#1 ·
I was asked the other day, would you shoot to kill? I answered if my life was in danger I would not hesitate to shoot and kill someone who had a gun pointed at me. I then thought for a moment and said... I would hesitate if the person was a 9 of 10 year old boy or girl, this could cost me my life. What would you do?
 
#2 ·
Shoot to live.
 
#3 ·
You shoot to stop the threat!

Whether the aggressor lives or dies is irrelevant. Your objective is to cause him to cease to be a threat to your life.
 
#5 ·
Its a terrible thing shooting a kid.

I was in some god forsaken Mideast country back in the late 70's when a band of thugs started shooting at the hotel we were at. The group I was with returned fire. When the smoke cleared after a few minutes and we went to check them out, most were in their late teens to mid twenties. There were several in the building across the street, and and two in the alley to the left of it. One of the shooters in the alley couldnt have been more than 10. Little dude had an AK with another 4 magazines in his belt and 2 empty ones on the deck. Due to the angle,I never even saw them.

One of the guys engaged them both and took them out. When he saw that kid, he sorta freaked out. It was hard on him, very hard. He just couldnt image shooting a kid.We all had a hard time believing that they would let a kid do that with them. It made us all feel bad. In that situation it really didnt matter. When you shoot at muzzle flashes and glimpses of movement and stuff that is whizzing by and breaking and splattering stuff all around you, you just want it to stop.

It wasnt like we could tell who was doing what, but I still think that even if we could tell it was a kid, it was still an AK shooting at us and that is what we shot at.

That was my first real taste of dealing with muslims that wanted us dead. We were lucky that day as none of us sustained anything but cuts and scratches.One of the clerks in the hotel lobby got shot in the leg and a hotel guest got shot through the hips. I gotta tell the truth here though. I didnt really shoot to live and I didnt shoot to stop.I shot to kill the punks that started it.
 
#7 ·
If you watch the news and read the papers the robbers are getting younger and more brazen ,so in reality there is a possibility that situation could arise and I will shoot to stop the threat,It won't matter if the trigger is pulled by a 10 yr old or 20 year old the bullet will kill the same.
 
#9 ·
I was asked the other day, would you shoot to kill? I answered if my life was in danger I would not hesitate to shoot and kill someone who had a gun pointed at me. I then thought for a moment and said... I would hesitate if the person was a 9 of 10 year old boy or girl, this could cost me my life. What would you do?
As others have said, "Shoot to stop the threat". Someone with a gun in hand has no age or sex. They are a threat to my life, and will be dealt with as such. Will I feel badly afterwards? Probably, but no more so than if it were a 30 year old male that I was forced to shoot.
 
#10 ·
Will I hesitate?
Most certainly I will hesitate.
I will hesitate just long enough to be certain of target identification and target acquisition.
 
#13 ·
Around a year ago a thread started up about an actual event where two armed teens under driving age were committing armed robbery with firearms. The very same question came up by that OP, asking about all the mental blocks, effects, and legalities of being engaged by a child.

My response then, and still remains the same:

Shoot first, let the attorneys sort it out later.

You have to be willing and able to survive a deadly encounter with a bad guy first, regardless of age, before you can worry about the aftermath.
 
#16 ·
I do not desire to kill anyone.:c-no1:

I will, however, stop any threat to my person or my family...quickly and violently.:yup:

Pretty simply in my book...:logish:...:comeandgetsome:

Stay armed...stay alert...stay safe!
 
#19 ·
Anyone who's been in an actual combat situation, asks themselves the same question, over and over on their way into a trouble zone. You won't know the answer until you actually do, or do not pull the trigger. Speculation is easy. Conjecture is easy. Dealing with the aftermath of pulling the trigger is NOT easy.
 
#25 ·
Did it. RVN 1971. Hesitate? No. Did it cause me later regret and consternation? Yes it did and still does. But, did I hesitate? No, fired at-fired back. That was training and it worked to keep me alive. I have to reconcile my feelings withh the fact that I didn't arm and send a kid out to try to kill Americans. Still hurts though, and that can be the real price of a shooting. People aren't paper targets and it does stay with you.

RVN 1963-1966, 1967-1968, 1970-1971

USMC
 
#20 ·
To share a very real quote from a controversial movie (and I may be paraphrasing a bit)...

"A bullet from a child is just as effective as one from an adult. Often more effective."

It's no secret that terrorists and armies around the world have used children to do their dirty work, especially because they know that people generally have a soft spot in their hearts for children and don't think of them as threats.

Children are very effective, manipulative, often placid as long as they think they are doing what they have been taught is okay, and even easier to drug.

Not that this is a huge problem here in the states but it's not impossible to encounter a child on the other end of a very bad situation.

Of the four kids who robbed a gas station down the road from our home, shooting the clerk twice in the head on their way out, the oldest was 20, the rest were 16.

I just don't know how I would react. Would I hesitate? Would it be hard?

I can't answer that with certainty, just like I can't answer what I would do if faced with an adult. I don't think anyone can "KNOW" unless they've either been there and done that before. Even then only the situation can dictate the outcome.
 
#22 ·
I teach social studies in an inner city high school. I'll tell you what I tell my students when they ask me the same thing:

Old enough to shoot?

Old enough to get shot.
 
#23 ·
I won't hesitate to defend myself if I am in fear of my life, the life of a family member or of serious and crippling injury.

Those situations happen in the blink of an eye in most occasions.

I am focused on the threat, evaluating the attackers ability and opportunity and focusing on shooting the attacker.

I feel that during all that, I will likely not even be able to stop in time to determine the age of my attacker if they are anywhere in the teen age group simply because of their statue and physical dimensions. Someone under the age group of a teenager, it may subconsciously register, but I will still be focused on trying to stop the threat and trying to keep someone from killing me.

With that said, the age of my attacker will probably not be cognizant to me until well after the shooting stops... provided I survive the encounter in the first place.

As far as how I will deal with the fact that I shot a child? I train for being able to correctly identify a life threatening attack and effectively trying to stop it. I am fully aware that children are more than capable of being a stone cold killer and I am not responsible for their poor choices in life.

I hope I can deal with it emotionally. I try to rationalize and keep things in proper perspective regarding those issues so hopefully I won't have any psychological baggage to carry around if I am ever thrust into a situation where I end up using deadly force to defend myself regardless of the age of my attacker.
 
#26 ·
I remember talking to a Veit Nam vet telling me about setting at an outside cafe at some large city in South Viet Nam with a buddy who had 1 day left
before he was shipping out to go home when a kid of 10-11 came up to them with a grenade in a tomato can.He gave it to his buddy who was shipping home you know the rest of the story the story the poor guy died! The kid killed
himself to take out an American officer ! Hesitation kills ! When you innate an attack ,attack until the threat is terminated period!
 
#27 ·
Tough question...one hard too answer sitting at a computer drinking beer...I would say NO.
But looking at a 10 year old face might freeze me dead in my tracks.
 
#28 ·
There are situations I know there would be very limited (if any) hesitation. An intruder will place themselves in great danger if they enter my home.

Outside the home I am flawed. I guess in my mind, I feel the need to flee before I use lethal force, unless I am at home. I just don't want to take a life, and am willing to risk my life, even if I would be in my rights to use lethal force.

This is a fine line. But I must admit, those who will have no hesitation, have an edge.
 
#29 ·
Anyone coming to the dance has to know you may fall down and get hurt, so if you don't want to fall, don't come to the dance.

Kids are smaller than an adult, so just by physical size they make a harder target to hit. They also may be just more jumpy making hitting a moving target more of a challenge, so don't hesitate, just stop the threat.

It would be a horrible day shooting anyone, a kid would just make the situation worse.


Z
 
#31 ·
As stated. You shoot in SELF DEFENSE or when there is a threat to you or your family. If you can stop the threat long enough to get away, then you have won. There is no prize for dropping someone for the full count. If that time ever comes though, don't hesitate or it may be you that is taking the count. It is a responsibility called Concealed Carry.
 
#32 ·
I don't think I would see age, just weapon pointed at me. Since I can't out draw my 1st reaction would be movement for cover then to sight center of mass.
 
#33 ·
Certainly shoot to stop the threat. If that means a fatal shot, then that is the choice. Shooting a kid is almost unfathomable, but your need to survive I believe would be stronger.
 
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