Can you shoot someone

[Bill MO]

This is the Sheepdog Tip of the Day from Lt. Col. Dave Grossman book "On Combat". I think it bring up a very important question to be answered, and most likely should to answered before we start to carry our gun.

The time to decide whether you can kill another human being is not in the middle of combat. The time to decide, to the utmost of your ability, is right now. Dr. Ignatius Piazza puts it very clearly and succinctly to every student at his Front Sight Firearms Training Institute: These are terrible decisions to make and we would like to avoid them at all costs. However, if you do not make the decisions in advance, I guarantee you that you will hesitate to make them later and that hesitation may make the difference between you living and dying.

What say you?

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[buckeye .45]

I say it is a question that can not be answered until you are in that situation.

Is it something that people who are serious about self defense should consider, you betcha. But until the elephant is in the room, no one can honestly answer that question. They can just give their best guess.

[Mike1956]

This is the Sheepdog Tip of the Day from Lt. Col. Dave Grossman book "On Combat". I think it bring up a very important question to be answered, and most likely should to answered before we start to carry our gun.
What say you?

A bit rhetorical, given the focus of this forum.

[msgt/ret]

I say it is a question that can not be answered until you are in that situation.

Is it something that people who are serious about self defense should consider, you betcha. But until the elephant is in the room, no one can honestly answer that question. They can just give their best guess.

Excellent answer, no one knows exactly what they will do until faced with having to make a choice.

[MadMac]

I don't know because I am not a "sheepdoggie".

[apvbguy]

if you are not prepared to pull on the trigger if you were ever in danger of bodily harm, you should reconsider your choice of carrying a weapon

[DontTreadOnI]

Hmm dunno, I'm not shooting to kill, I will be shooting to stop the threat. If death is a byproduct of that situation it will be because of someone else's decision to put me in a situation where I feared for my life, and I hope that I would go home and not lose any sleep that night.

[Horsetrader]

A bit rhetorical, given the focus of this forum.

+1.

[pfries]

I do not have to question that I have made that choice and I am here for it. The only difference now is I wear civvies.

[First Sgt]

Mindset...Will you do whatever is necessary to save your life and/or the lives of your loved ones? WHATEVER IT TAKES TO PREVAIL!! I say your mind can be trained to prevail. You don't have to "see the elephant" inorder to survive. JMO

[Bill MO]

When you are face to face with a threat how long do you have to make up your mind and pull the trigger?

[Fitch]

While I can't say for sure, I'm as sure as I can be in advance that if I have to, I'll pull the trigger in self defense. My biggest worry is recognizing the situation fast enough.

I have no problem pulling the trigger on ground hogs (40 last summer), deer, or other animals that are making pests of themselves on the farm. I think maybe that (having killed game animals, varmints, and/or predators) helps, then again maybe it doesn't, don't know for sure.

Fitch

[WD54241]

If I had to draw my weapon at that point I've already decided that there will be a very good chance of me dying or being hurt in a critical way. I hope that years of training and drills paid off.

[NYCrulesU]

It boils down to who you are. Inside. Your views, beliefs, will and testicular fortitude.

If you don't feel you COULD..word is "could"...ever take another persons life (in general), you should not be carrying a firearm or SD weapon of any kind. What good are they?

None of us should ever WANT..word is "want"..to take a life. But could you?

Speaking from first hand personal experience, I could. Without hestation and wouldn't lose a seconds sleep over it. In the defense of myself and my wife/children, my will to survive is stronger than the BG's. Skipping any military discussion, as a civilian I had to take someone's life in self defense. This was long before I carried and did not involve a firearm. Principle is the same. My life was in danger and I did whatever was neccessary to walk away alive.

In the years since nothing has changed. Except perhaps my resolve has strengthened. I hold a person who would physically pose a threat to my life or the lives of my family in the same regard as a pile of crap on a sidewalk. You step in it, get aggrevated, wipe it off your shoe and move on.

Nothing more than an inconvenience.

[NYCrulesU]

Mindset...Will you do whatever is necessary to save your life and/or the lives of your loved ones? WHATEVER IT TAKES TO PREVAIL!! I say your mind can be trained to prevail. You don't have to "see the elephant" inorder to survive. JMO

Hooah.

This says it all.