[Euclidean]

This is rich. Basically here's a summary of a coversation I recently had.

I'm not in quotes the other party is.

If I ever had to defend myself I'd fire a warning shot first.

What? I'm sorry but have you thought about the many problems this presents? For one thing the numbers tell us we're well within contact range already. Wasting a golden opportunity to take a shot could very well mean death. (Then I summarize how 80% of all such things take place within 7 yards, etc.)

Not to mention the safety hazard you've just intentionally created. Where exactly are you firing this warning shot?

What if you could somehow see it coming?

If the situation requires I present a firearm, I intend to use it not pussy foot around with it. And odds are pretty good if I could see it coming, I'd have avoided it. I do it all the time. The firearm only comes into play when awareness has failed or will not work. That does not happen all the time, I'm happy to report.

What if there was a crazy man shooting people in a crowd? You might hit someone. You'd be better off scaring him away.

And firing a warning shot will address this situation how? Look I don't like the idea of shooting into a crowd at all, but in that situation if you don't do something, it's just going to get worse. You might be the only person there that can do anything at all. I hate to use the quote but "Good, bad, you're the guy with the gun."

Could you sleep at night knowing you were armed and you sat there and watched some nutjob waste a bunch of people? I'd go insane from the guilt I could have at least tried.

So that's your response to everything is just kill them without even trying to out think them?

Out think them how exactly? Look a firearm is the only form of self defense which often gives the attacker a last ditch chance to surrender or flee. No martial art can say that. But that's not its intentional use. It just happens by happy coincidence sometimes.

I spend all day gently persuading uninterested, hyperactive people who resent me to do things they don't want to do. And it works because these are people not goblins that attack people on the street. People respond to warnings and cues, goblins do not. Don't confuse a goblin with a human being.

The only thing that a goblin deserves is your hot lead. No visual or other type of threat scares them. If they get the chance to run and take it, well good for you (not them) because you avoid a very messy situation that way.

You sure are determined not to let anyone walk away are you?

And I let it go at that. I was tired of it at that point and didn't care if he got the last word in or not.

But the conversation has a benefit: I'm questioning my paradigm. I think I was too quick to completely brush the idea off.

I pose a question CCWers: IS there ever a scenario when the very idea of the warning shot might come into play? I can't think of one.

 

[rocky]

The only time I may consider a warning shot would be someone who was wielding a non projectile weapon and attempting to close to engage another person. Even then I probably would shout a warning over firing a round. Mainly , not to waste ammo.

 

[rstickle]

Warn all you want, but when you pull that trigger it better be for keeps!

 

[joe/OH]

Well, if the teller won't open the safe... oh wait, wrong forum! :chairshot

 

[srfl]

The bad things about warning shots is that a particularly humorless fellow named Murphy generally shows up at times like that and does nasty things like encourage the "warning shot" bullet to strike a baby carriage or head towards a pack of Catholic nuns.

 

[Scott]

My answer is simple and concise. Warning shots are illegal in my jurisdiction. To fire a warning shot means I will go to jail.

Euc, some people just can't be argued with. Your text indicates that you encountered one.

-Scott-

 

[QKShooter]

How Sad Would It Be ???

How Sad Would It Be to have your potential attacker "run off" & and innocent person 6 blocks away be killed by your warning shot. :frown:

 

[Captain Crunch]

The Only Time A Warning Shot Is Justified.......

.....is when the BG is running across the frozen Bering Sea towards Siberia. :biggrin:

 

[tanksoldier]

In a civilian personal defense situation I cannot image a situation where a warning shot would be a good idea. You have to account for that round.

Any situation where a warning shot might be possible time-wise, having your firearm drawn and issuing a verbal warning would be just as effective and much safer.

 

[KenpoTex]

I actually sat here and thought about it for a couple of minutes and I cannot conceive of a situation which would warrant a warning shot instead of a verbal command, or firing for effect.

Euc, don't you just love touchy-feely idiots that know so much more than you? :biggrin:

 

[500Mag]

Know your backstop...I don't think "somewhere in the sky" counts, gravity will bring that projectile screaming back to earth and unless your super skilled in physics (assuming you know where the shot went to begin with) you probably don't know where that landing zone will be. Also agree with others comments that if time permits a warning shot, I'd perfer it be a warning shout. Verbal warning is fair and serious enough.

 

[GoodSamaritan]

The only warning shot I am likely to give is if, for whatever reason, I miss them with the first round, and they run away.

I am generally soft spoken, but I have a voice that carries. My Dad was hard of hearing. When he was still alive, he couldn't hear the doorbell without his hearing aid, which he slept without, and you could practically have beaten the door down before he woke up. I could wake him up from outside the house with one or two shouts. In other words, if I give a warning to some BG at all, it will be verbal, and anyone within half a block will hear every word.

 

[Miggy]

I would let out a warning shot into the air...........inside the lungs of the BG.

 

[P95Carry]

I am in the verbal (spelled 'SHOUT') camp - if warning is deemed useful.

I think we are essentially on the same page here. Euc's ''other party'' is probably also of the ''if you carry and a gun you are asking for trouble'' mentality.

There is little we can do to probe their minds to find the all but non-existent logic region... they are way to emotion driven.

 

[KenpoTex]

I think we are essentially on the same page here. Euc's ''other party'' is probably also of the ''if you carry and a gun you are asking for trouble'' mentality.

There is little we can do to probe their minds to find the all but non-existent logic region... they are way to emotion driven.

These are the same kinds of people who can't understand why you can't just "shoot the gun out of their hand," or "just shoot them in the leg."

I think most of them have seen too many movies.

 

[acparmed]

As was posted in another thread, once that bullet leaves the muzzle you are responsible for it. Legally, morally and ethically.

A warning shot has no useful purpose and a hell of a lot of trouble tied to it.

I was told by a couple of LEO instructors at Thunder Ranch that when giving a verbal warning you should yell, "Stop Police!!" Later when recounting your actions and you are asked about it you say, "No, No what I yelled was "Stop Please!!!, I begged him to stop."

Sounds logical to me.

 

[rfurtkamp]

In the the last two of three times I've had to clear leather, I haven't had time to issue a verbal warning, let alone a casual shot to make sure the gun fires (ala the warning shot). It happens that fast.

Once the gun is out, I *may* have the luxury of a verbal warning, but quite frankly, that's the least of my concerns at that point.

I've found that if the cretins who have found themselves suddenly downrange typically listen to Mr. Sig, but even he's not always persuasive enough.

Two idiots at the shop last summer didn't listen until I pulled out Mr 12 Gauge with my other hand and warned my regulars who were covering my six to stand aside as I didn't know what the pattern on this thing would be like.

Amazingly, right then and there, I had compliance.

 

[ExSoldier]

Warning Shot?

The only time I may consider a warning shot would be someone who was wielding a non projectile weapon and attempting to close to engage another person. Even then I probably would shout a warning over firing a round. Mainly , not to waste ammo.

In Florida even the DISPLAY of a firearm is considered to be the use of deadly force. Therefore firing a warning shot or aiming for any place rather than an "alpha zone hit" (head or COM) is going to land you in hot water. The judge is going to say: Well you fired a warning shot and so you used DEADLY FORCE but you weren't trying to stop the threat and you endangered others with your errant shot....so you must not have felt the true NEED to use DEADLY FORCE..... Do you see?

My feeling is that if I'm pushed into an unavoidable state of Condition Red....that's Combat! I shoot and I'll keep shooting until the threat(s) have been neutralized....

 

[Tubby45]

We were told in CCW class if we ever fired a warning shot, the instructor wil hunt us down and pistol whip us until he passed out from exhaustion. I am not kidding either. He really said that.


Warning shots are for the movies, same for kicking the weapon out of the hand or shooting it out of grasp too, for that matter.

In cop school, there are foreign students in my program from Canada, who are the " shoot him in the leg" ultra-liberal crybabies. Even the instructors get furious at them for their ignorance. They told them if they were ever involved in a deadly force incident, hopefully they would not be there too. Some morons never will learn.

SIDE NOTE- What's even scarier than a warning shot??? Read below.

There was even a (true) story from my program president tonight in class about two Oregon state troopers who NEVER CARRIED A LOADED WEAPON ON DUTY!!! It was against their religion to kill a human. They could not face the taking of a human life so they never had any bullets in their guns or magazines. No bullets in the gun WHATSOEVER!!! Now what would have happened if they needed to help a fellow officer whose life was in danger- Never mind I don't want to picture it. Needless to say, those two officers were promptly fired. The other troopers were understandible and rightfully IRATE!!! Talk about an officer safety issue!

 

[A1C Lickey]

Just to add my two cents in, but I distictly remember being told during training both military and civilian to never fire a warning shot. Any warnings given were to be verbal, any shots fired COM.

A1C Lickey