Warning shots

[gdnagle]

Nope!!! what goes up must come down, and who knows what is beneath you if you try to fire into the ground, might hit someone's cable and get them perturbed at you also. Also that split second could give the bad guy an advantage.

Next someone will ask if you are threatened by a armed person trying to do you harm would you shoot the weapon out of their hand. Nope to that also, center mass my friend center mass. Only seen it done once on TV by a sniper when a guy was threating suicide sitting in a chair in open ground, shot the gun outta his hand, I wouldn't try it.

UH OH hope I didn't hijack the thread....

 

[Smitty357]

There is no such thing as a warning shot.

The only warning u get is something we like to call Muzzle Flash. When u see the flash u may want to duck.

Nope!!! what goes up must come down

Except for age.

 

[kraigwy]

NO;

But on the lighter side, I saw a bumper sticker that stated

"Do to the cost of ammo now days, don't expect a warning shot, this is the only warning you get".

 

[fonejack54]

NEVER !! A bullet that goes up comes down somewhere. We had an Amish girl killed here by a guy that cleared his rifle by shooting it into the air. She was a mile away.

 

[shouldazagged]

I think we can be safe in saying that the general opinion is that it's a terrible idea...

 

[CoMF]

No, never. However justified. People HAVE been convicted of crimes for firing warning shots at attackers who were an immediate threat to life and limb.

 

[Fishinfool]

I used a warning shot once....On a black bear in the woods. It worked.

The temptation to fire a warning shot to avoid having to take another life can be high with some folks. Thing is, at least in my opinion, once you are in a situation you feel your life may be in danger, your weapon should be in your hand. Any reasonable thug seeing this, who still continues his threatening actions, is probably in it until the end...

One mindset I see a lot of in this thread is that once the gun is drawn, its all or nothing - someone is getting shot. Not so in real life, and a dangerous mind set to have. For every justified shooting, there are many more instances of a gun being presented, and the situation defusing before it reaches the point of no return.

That is not to say don't be ready to use it once your weapon is in your hand, you may very well have to, but it is never a given, and most folks who claim blood is going to flow once their gun clears leather have never had to shoot someone before....

Larry

 

[Delos]

No warning shots

The answer will always be NO.

I am easy but there are judges and prosecutors out there that are real jerks.

Even if the neighbors evil dog pootsie has your cat lovey up a tree they will not understand. The answer will always be NO.

All that said. A friend once had a neighbor with an aggressive Doberman. One day he and some friends were sipping suds and barbecuing. The dog again came on his property barking aggressively. He fired a warning shot (ball bearing from whamo slingshot) that accidentally hit it in the head knocking it out. Naturally they were then forced to duct tape it to the fence in a running position. When the guy came home he decided to keep his dog inside his house and fenced back yard. Sometimes warning shots are legal with slingshots. I am not sure about the taping to fence thing. Good thing there were no kids around with camera phones back then. When it goes viral on the internet you must then shave off the beard you grew last time you did something goofy.

 

[Poodle Soup]

I used a warning shot once....On a black bear in the woods. It worked.

The temptation to fire a warning shot to avoid having to take another life can be high with some folks. Thing is, at least in my opinion, once you are in a situation you feel your life may be in danger, your weapon should be in your hand. Any reasonable thug seeing this, who still continues his threatening actions, is probably in it until the end...

One mindset I see a lot of in this thread is that once the gun is drawn, its all or nothing - someone is getting shot. Not so in real life, and a dangerous mind set to have. For every justified shooting, there are many more instances of a gun being presented, and the situation defusing before it reaches the point of no return.

That is not to say don't be ready to use it once your weapon is in your hand, you may very well have to, but it is never a given, and most folks who claim blood is going to flow once their gun clears leather have never had to shoot someone before....

Larry

Well said!

Drawing the gun is the warning. If you pull the trigger aim to stop the threat. If your carrying a gun and first and foremost in your mind is that you cannot take a human like carrying a gun is a very bad idea.

On wild life? I would say the situation is not really in the same ball park as long as your not in a town/populated area.

 

[Rastoff]

That is not to say don't be ready to use it once your weapon is in your hand, you may very well have to, but it is never a given, and most folks who claim blood is going to flow once their gun clears leather have never had to shoot someone before....

Larry

This is very well said Larry. Guys on the internet like to talk about how they'd shoot the bad guy and then dance a jig of happiness. The real world is not like that. I'm sure there are some truly evil people in the world that like killing and that would have no trouble taking another person's live. Most of us are not that way.

Seriously, think long and hard before you decide to carry a gun to defend yourself.

I agree with most here. Warning shots are a bad idea. It costs you a round. It wastes time. It could endanger others. It could elevate a situation that could end with no shots at all.

I just don't see the benefit.

 

[David Armstrong]

As with so many things it is very situational. As a general rule for most folks in most places it is probably a bad idea. Other times it can be a very good idea and save lots of headache. Generally if you have a safe area and feel shooting would be appropriate firing a warning to attempt to de-escalate the situation you'll be OK. Most folks won't ever be in that kind of scenario so maybe not so OK. I've used warning shots in the past and it was the right thing to do. And there have been times when a warning shot not only would have been the wrong thing to do it would have been a disastrous thing to do.

 

[Double-O-Dave]

Warning shots - don't believe in them, and I don't recommend their use. Here's a story of my only experience with them:

I was working the night shift on a weekend at the local ER (Emergency Room - I was an ER nurse for about 15 years) when the EMS guys brought in a patient with a GSW (Gun Shot Wound) to the upper chest. He was a big guy, really upset, but in no real distress. Even before the EMTs got him into the ER, I could hear him screaming: "I can't believe he really shot me!" The patient, of his own volition, told me he was at the local watering hole drinking beer when he noticed a "little crippled *** eyeballin' " him. The victim said that the more he thought about it, the madder he got, and he decided to beat the other guy up. The victim was reportedly smaller in size than the victim, and he used a cane to walk. As the patient crossed the bar towards his intended victim, he apparently vocalized his intent ("I tol' him I was gonna' kill him"). The intended victim produced a small caliber revolver (definitely not legal at that time in Texas) and begged the patient to let him leave peacefully. My patient said this only made him madder, and he continued his track towards his victim. By his own volition, the patient stated that the intended victim fired once in the air, then fired a round between his feet, and finally fired a round that struck him in the upper chest.

We had a new District Attorney that was going to be tough on crime, and decided to try the shooter. I was served with a subpoena to provide testimony as to what the patient had relayed to me of the "attack". I provided my testimony (this was my first time in court), and then the DA asked me: "and what do you think of this matter?", to which I replied: "I believe the patient said his intended victim fired one shot into the ceiling, and fired another shot between his feet before finally shooting the patient in the chest - correct?" The DA agreed, and I then said: "well, where I come from, those are called 'warning shots', and I believe he fired 2 to darn many". The DA got a sick look on his face as he silently turned towards the Judge. The Judge said: "Son, there are 2 things you should have learned in law school: 1) never ask a question you don't know the answer to, and 2) learn to read the person your questioning. This witness obviously has an opinion, doesn't mind sharing it, and he happens to be right. You've wasted the Court's time with this case that has no merit and should be No True Billed"

The case was subsequently dismissed.

(Note: for the lawyers and LEOs out there, please excuse me if I didn't correctly use the legal terms and concepts in my story. This actually happened, but over 30 years ago, and I am trying to relay the situation as it happened.)

Regards,

Dave

 

[jinx]

I have carried my sidearm for forty some years. Not once did I carry it to fire a warning shot. Come to think of it, none of my guns were ever designed to fire warning shots.

 

[Silver Dollar]

I can't imagine a self defense situation where I would have time for a warning shot. Put it this way, I can see in a court room, the prosecution showing that my warning shot proved that I had time to get away or find another solution.

That's what I was going to say but you beat me to it. There recently was a case where a home owner fired a warning shot during a home invasion. They prosecuted him and said if he had the time to fire that warning shot, he was not in danger of imminent death or grievous bodily harm. They nailed him even though he shot at the ground.

 

[Smithsrevenge]

NO.

Nuff said. In my mind there is no thing as a warning shot. It doesnt exist.

If I clear leather, its because the situation is grave enough to require deadly force and nothing short of it. Otherwise she stays holstered. Period.

 

[Delos]

Sometimes a warning shot can save a life

Once, when I was a teenager in California, I was hiking in the mountains a few miles out of the city. There was the usual ravine a hundred yards or so between me and the facing mountain. Someone I could not see on the other ridge fired a few shots that hit not far uphill from me. I fired a shot into the ground to let them know I was there. No more shots were fired. We never saw each other.

I guess we might call it a "hey, someone is over here" shot.

I have never considered that it might have been wrong. Maybe by today's standards I should have hidden in a ravine for a few hours and not tried any form of communication. Maybe every hiker should carry an old Calvary bugle. City people write all the laws. Remember when California city folks voted protected status for mountain lions everywhere in the state. Last I heard a few people have died and untold thousands of pets. Endangered Big Horn Sheep are in trouble. All mountain hikers and mountain bikers should be armed where legal. I also think warning shots should probably be fired when a mountain lion is stalking a kid or pet in a rural area where shooting is legal.

One university has a program of planting mountain lions in places they have disappeared. Two of their former students have been killed by mountain lions. Do a search under Iris Kenna and Barbara Schoener.

UCDavis magazine online. Fall 2001
UC Davis Magazine, Fall 2001: In Lion Country
(About 17 paragraphs down the article says.
Lastly, there were the political aspects. For a creature that most Californians will never see, the mountain lion is remarkably charismatic. In 1990, Californians approved Proposition 117, banning cougar hunting. In 1996, even after cougar numbers had begun to rise, and the cats had killed Kenna in Cuyamaca and Barbara Schoener near Sacramento, voters again endorsed cougar protection.

 

[Kanewpadle]

I used a warning shot once....On a black bear in the woods. It worked.

The temptation to fire a warning shot to avoid having to take another life can be high with some folks. Thing is, at least in my opinion, once you are in a situation you feel your life may be in danger, your weapon should be in your hand. Any reasonable thug seeing this, who still continues his threatening actions, is probably in it until the end...

One mindset I see a lot of in this thread is that once the gun is drawn, its all or nothing - someone is getting shot. Not so in real life, and a dangerous mind set to have. For every justified shooting, there are many more instances of a gun being presented, and the situation defusing before it reaches the point of no return.

That is not to say don't be ready to use it once your weapon is in your hand, you may very well have to, but it is never a given, and most folks who claim blood is going to flow once their gun clears leather have never had to shoot someone before....

Larry

OK, let's say this is your wife or daughter. Do you REALLY want her to fire a warning shot?!

Has nothing to with never having shot someone. It ALL has to do with mindset and preparedness. If you don't have that, you have NOTHING.

You darn right. If I clear leather it is all or nothing. I ain't a cop. I can't make a "felony" stop and display my weapon before things get out of hand. Concealed carriers are at a disadvantage as we have to WAIT until the threat is credible and then and only then can we react. Concealed carriers are already behind the 8 ball if things turn bad.

Comparing cops to the average gun toter is wrong.

 

[44 Mag Fan]

Many years ago we had a case where a young man was just going to display his weapon to" tone down" an argument he was having with another person. Unfortunately, he had the gun taken away from him and he lost his life. The same could be said for a warning shot.

 

[cmort666]

Many years ago we had a case where a young man was just going to display his weapon to" tone down" an argument he was having with another person. Unfortunately, he had the gun taken away from him and he lost his life. The same could be said for a warning shot.

That seems like a common thread in those sorts of cases. In many, if not most, of the reports I've heard of citizens who failed to prevail in gun involved self-defense incidents, they failed to act resolutely and decisively. They displayed more apparent motivation to avoid shooting than to protect their own lives.

When somebody puts you in immediate and credible fear of life and limb, "deescalation" has either failed or was never an option.

I'm never going to put my own life at risk in order to try to protect a violent assailant from the consequences of HIS actions. He's made his decision. I'm not going to second guess it. I'm going to act to protect myself.

 

[Delos]

Never Never

It is absolutely a fact. If you will never use it, or not sure, then leave it locked up. Get some pepper spray or a stun gun or something you will use. A hand full of dog excrement is better than a gun if it is all you will use.

Any number of people have been killed over the years trying to scare or impress or bluff.

So yes warning shots and brandishing are illegal and really dumb if one has no follow through ability.

An Old Correctional Lieutenant told a story that was important to him. As a young man he had worked in a railroad crew. One young man showed up one day waving a pistol around. An older worker told him in no uncertain terms to "put it away or I will stick it down your throat". A little later he warned him again (maybe he said "feed it to him"). Then he did proceed to stick the gun barrel down his throat. The old Lieutenant continued "do not take one of these guns if you will not use it. It is not a toy. If you have never seen a pistol crammed into someone's mouth it is not something you want to watch".

This goes back to numchucks, switch blade knives, as far back as you want to go. Somewhere in history of flint knives and sharp sticks that little issue existed.