4 recent self-defense shootings raise questions about law, safety

[oneshooter]

DAYTON — In a recent four-week period, four local residents who were threatened by armed individuals opened fire, shooting the people who had allegedly drawn or fired the weapons first. One incident left a would-be robber dead after a homeowner shot and killed him inside his home.

It’s a recent trend that leaves police torn between public safety concerns and law enforcement objectives.

“If your life is genuinely in danger ... I would expect people to fight for their lives or their family’s lives,” said Dayton police Lt. Patrick Welsh, a former prosecuting attorney. “But we also encourage people to think, ‘What can I do to avoid being placed in that situation in the first place?’ ”

More here: http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/crime/4-recent-self-defense-shootings-raise-questions-about-law-safety-343110.html

Oneshooter
Armed and Livin in Texas

[county worker]

1. I grew up in Dayton. We had quite a few people who moved up from the South.

My dad use to take me to the local bar with him when I was ten. I remember men coming in and sitting at the bar and putting a revolver on the bar in front of them. This was in the 50's.

It isn't really a new thing to have people carrying guns in Dayton. I think that more do now but it is also more well known than back then. The people I remember have all passed on and a different group of people live there now I'm sure. In the 50's no one that I knew would even question what I saw in the bar.

[snot]

2. I think a distinction needs to be made:

When you're INSIDE your own home or car and there's an intruder INSIDE with you, pointing a gun at you, I'm not going to question your decision to shoot the intruder.

But it sounds like 3 of these cases were not that.

[TPaine7]

3. So if you are on Main Street and someone points a gun at you

do you have a responsibility to die or be wounded if they choose to shoot you? Do you have an obligation to try to outrun or out-dodge their bullets?

If they point a gun at your kid, do you have an obligation to leave your kid to their sense of decency?

Is your life less worth defending because you aren't in your home or car?

[jazzhound]

4. The value of a human life is dictated by

the location of the human being at the time of an assault?

Really?

[snot]

6. Um, are you guys trying to pick a fight with me?

All I said was, I'm not going to even ask any questions if it all took place within someone's own home or car.

If it took place outside, of course, there are an infinite no. of reasons why it might still have been justified.
But yeah, I'd ask a few questions; wouldn't you?

Like, was the alleged criminal shot in the front or the back, etc.

[PavePusher]

7. Personaly, if a criminal trying to rob/injure/kill someone...

gets shot in the back after realizing that s/he picked the wrong target, I do not understand why it's a problem.

S/he'll will either live and continue to be stupid, live and learn a valuble lesson, or die and no longer be a problem to society. In scientific terms this is known as "evolution" and is the current theoretical basis of much of the life sciences.

What the problem is?

[jazzhound]

8. Actually, I'd ask a few questions even if the alleged

intruder was shot inside a dwelling, as I'm certain the police do. For example, if the evidence pointed to the fact that a burglar was shot twice in the back as he was preparing to exit the home with a TV in his arms I'd be more than a little uncomfortable with the shooting.

And for what it's worth, while I don't recall the exact percentages I do recall that there are a greater number of defensive gun uses away from the home than there are within the home.

[SteveM]

9. Self-defense is just that, not a site-based action. nt

[PavePusher]

5. Criminals are attempting to commit crimes...

and are getting shot and stopped.

I don't see a problem here.