Posted on 07/23/2013 8:38:00 AM PDT by marktwain
A man scared of a burglar Saturday morning after he fired off a warning shot.
A police report says that an officer was responding to the 900 block of Washington Street at about 3:53 a.m. Saturday for a residential alarm call when he learned that a gun shot had been fired from the residence.
Officers arrived at the location where the owner and neighbor of the location was carrying a 12 gauge shotgun.
The man told police that when he learned of the alarm going off next door at the area in which he used for storage, he grabbed his 12 gauge shotgun and went to check the area. When he approached the front of the residence he stated he heard a “scuffling” noise and yelled “Come out, I have a weapon” to the suspect inside the residence.
At that point a male wearing dark clothing leaped through a screen and onto the porch and began running towards his direction, according to the owner, which prompted him to fire his shotgun one time into the air.
(Excerpt) Read more at lagrangenews.com ...
NEVER fire a “warning shot”!!
It’s usually illegal and always causes you more problems than it’s worth.
If you don’t fear for your life, don’t shoot.
If you DO fear for your life, PROTECT IT!
/johnny
Do you know anyone in Law Enforcement or who teaches self defense, who recommends firing a warning shot?
/johnny
This is a very specific situational issue. If the suspect is approaching you and you can, with high confidence, see he has no weapon (bare hands), I'd argue until the suspect is within 10 yards, he's not yet a threat to your life. Normally I would side with a generalization that "warning shots" are a bad idea. But as with most issues, there must be exceptions.
Consider if you will, had he shot and killed the suspect from 15 yards out, and the suspect was unarmed. Would he have more or less explaining to do than he did with his warning shot?
Personally, I'd have called the police and set up an ambush to protect the structure with my family in it. If the suspects got away with a few things, I'd be pissed but non confrontational. If they approached my house with apparent malintent, there would be no warning shots and I would defend with aggressive violence.
“warning shots —
The firing of shots or delivery of ordnance by personnel or weapons systems in the vicinity of a person, vessel, or aircraft as a signal to immediately cease activity. Warning shots are one measure to convince a potentially hostile force to withdraw or cease its threatening actions.” (Joint Pub 1-02)
“No tolerance” for warning shots simplifies things for the legal bureaucracy. If it’s illegal per se there’s not much, if any, defense against firing a warning shot. If it’s illegal per se, whether or not one should have been fired instead of simply shooting someone is not a legal issue.
What a waste of a perfectly good bullet; and one hooligan/scum still on the street.
Yet. He probably will be eventually.
/johnny
Ifa burglar jumps through a screen and comes at me and I have a shotgun, he won’t get a warning shot, he will be holding his intestines in with both hands.
In the legislative process, unscientific polls conducted by major local media outlets are often quoted as rationale to support or refute specific legislation. There is a current poll on the Denver Post asking:
http://www.denverpost.com/
“Do you think Florida and 21 other states with “stand your ground” self-defense laws should repeal those laws?”
Yes (REPEAL Stand Your Ground)
NO (DON’T REPEAL Stand Your Ground)
The poll can be found about 1/3 the way down on the main page on the right hand side sandwiched between several ads.
I consider what you plan on doing as a warning shot.
Those who are smart will consider it a warning not to do that kind of thing themselves.
but...but...but isn’t that what the vp told us to do??
“Do you know anyone in Law Enforcement or who teaches self defense, who recommends firing a warning shot?”
In Law Enforcement? How about the Coast Guard who will fire a shot across the bow, which is a type of warning shot.
Never admit to having fired a warning shot- just say you think you missed.
It’s gettin’ hard for these guys to make a livin’.
There is NO correlation between the Coast Guard reponsiblities and protocol and a private citizen defending his life, family, or property.
Be that as it may, they are in Law Enforcement and they fire warning shots.
Further more, warning shots are:
“The firing of shots or delivery of ordnance by personnel or weapons systems in the vicinity of a person, vessel, or aircraft as a signal to immediately cease activity. Warning shots are one measure to convince a potentially hostile force to withdraw or cease its threatening actions.” (Joint Pub 1-02)”
A private citizen might well desire to signal an aggressor to immediately cease activity or to convince an aggressor to withdraw or cease threatening action.
Of course, in spite of the desires of such a private citizen, doing so is illegal in a lot of places and the private citizen may be subject to arrest for doing so.
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