Two things:
1) Crawling into a burning automobile to pull another person to safety is not a valid parallel to shooting an attacker, because when you run toward the flames there is no risk of
killing an innocent person (other than yourself) if you misunderstand the flow of events. But when you intervene with gun in hand, that is
exactly and
precisely the risk you are taking.
2) Lawsuits aren't the primary fear that would keep a trained and responsible person from jumping in. Fear of
killing the wrong person is really the primary fear, followed closely (and not unreasonably) by the fear of spending the entire rest of your life in jail for getting it wrong.
So...
If you choose to intervene using firearms, you'd better be
overwhelmingly certain you understand exactly what is happening, who the aggressor
really is, whether or not the innocent really is innocent or merely looks that way.
And you'd also better be dirty-word certain you can back up your plans with an honest and realistic understanding of your own limitations and skills. The fact is that when intervening in someone
else's fight, you are likely to be facing
- a confusing, chaotic situation
- with rapidly-moving participants
- including at least one and possibly multiple innocents close to the attacker but whom you must not hit,
- and distances somewhat or significantly greater than you would face when using the firearm in your own defense.
How good is your shooting,
really? Is your accuracy
really good enough to cope with a small, distant, moving target under extreme stress, and no matter how much stress you feel are your shots absolutely guaranteed not to go astray and kill an innocent bystander or witness?
If you are not 100% confident --
realistically confident -- in your ability to do that, then perhaps you'd better rethink your plans to intervene.
Think long and hard about that, whichever way you choose. And then if you still don't think you could
ever walk away or tend your own family first, for God's sake and the sake of every person who has ever loved you:
get some good training and keep it fresh.
pax