Quote:
Originally Posted by Wagonmaster
Referring to the person who walked up to the Oklahoma City restaurant and fired several shots at the customers injuring several then was killed by two by-standers in the parking lot who ran back to their cars and returned with their hand guns.
So far those two by-standers have been herolded as heros since the shooter was discovered to be mentally disturbed and it wasn't known where he was headed next. The news reports don't describe how they knew what precisely had happened and was happening, other than the shooter had been shooting at restaurant customers.
Was this the appropriate thing for the 2 by-standers to do, and would you do the same thing? How did they determine immediately that the person was the shooter, and what if one or more of the shots fired by the by-standers had ricocheted and hit someone else?
I always Carry whenever out shopping or eating out but always wonder just what I would do in a case where I wasn't directly threatened but others were.
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First my disclaimer. I’ve never been in a self defense shooting (or any shooting).
I don’t know. Going to the car to get a weapon and coming back to fight makes Oklahoma messy.
Here’s how I’ve thought about it.
Personal violence against others:
I’m not the police. My default position is my first responsiblity is to protect my family, make it home to them each evening, and be a good witness if I see a crime. In one on one violence, you may not know who was the instigator and who is the defender.
Active Shooter:
A mass shooting is different. The bad guys should be obvious. They are the ones walking around killing innocent people. I subscribe to the “escape/barricade/defend” approach. It’s a takeoff on run/hide/fight. Escape the situation with my family if I can. If I can’t escape, barricade my self and family in a safe place. If I can’t barricade myself and family somewhere, prepare to defend ourselves.
Oklahoma seems unique because the shooter was oblivious to what was going on around him and when the self defenders confronted him he didn’t engage them. Heroic - yes. Wise - I don’t know.