Quote:
Originally Posted by Angel
Aklim,
you bring up a good point...
I can see a situation like this, Mr. CCW and his wife drives up and sees this taking place. now Mr. CCW knows that his life is not in danger, and knows (ccw classes =) that he really has no legal authority to touch what is going on.
Mr. CCW also knows that the child-beater might be carrying
If Mr. CCW had a firearm, could he have fired a "warning shot" or brandished his weapon (?) to get the beater's attention - thats all we wanted in the first place anyway. "warning shots" are not in any police/law enforcement doctrine, but Mr. CCW is not a cop - just a dude who wanted to stop something from happening. In this case, Mr. CCW might get a ticket/night in jail for discharging a firearm in a place where it is illegal to do so (many communities/townships...) but if it were that or the life of the child, I'd do it. easy for me to say now that its all over...
interesting...
-John
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I wasn't paying much attention to this part of my CCW class but IIRC, if your life is in danger or you can reasonable show that someone's life is in danger, you can use your firearm. If you were trying to kill my wife BUT NOT ME, I could still shoot you if I thought her life was in danger.
However, it brings up the question of "what did I hit?". Now if I hit the guy, there would be paperwork, questions, explanations, etc, etc. Would Mr CCW want to get involved with that? You KNOW a shooting will not be just a 5 min deal and you walk. As a witness, I can walk away and say "I wasn't paying attention.". As a shooter, it is different. OTOH, if I did shoot the kid by accident, I know there will be hell to pay. I am not sure that I would be covered by the "Good Samaritan Law" either.
Now you have all this hassle on one hand and Mr CCW on the other side. It is going to be a tough sell to get him to pull out his gun for a total stranger.