[quote]batman730 wrote:
[quote]Jackie_Jacked wrote:
[quote]Alpha F wrote:
[quote]batman730 wrote:
Alright, I am regretting the shoot through the door comment. I fear I may have run my mouth without fully engaging my brain. However my thought process was this: my wife and daughter are barricaded in a locked room behind the bed and an intruder tries to open the door. My wife loudly announces “I have a gun and I’ll shoot you if you come in here”. She has relinquished the element of surprise and given away her location, but this should dissuade a burglar who is not looking for a confrontation, which is the most likely scenario. Instead of leaving, the guy persists to try to kick down the door. I can see a benefit (if she is certain of her backdrop) to her firing 2-3 through the door where a person is likely to be, as opposed to waiting until the door gives way and she finds that, shit, she forgot to rack a round because she was in such a panic to get the kids, or shit, she has a malfunction, or shit, there’s more than one bad guy, or shit, she hits the guy but it doesn’t stop him, or whatever else goes wrong in a close quarter gun fight. This is not optimal, of course, and I would feel better if she could see her target and surroundings and had sight picture (which is itself unlikely under stress) and visual confirmation of the threat etc, but I also feel good about her maintaining control of the space and IMO, the intact or semi-intact door helps her to do that.
I also think it’s likely that shots being fired will cause the bad guy to get out of Dodge even if they miss, although I would prefer that they hit. Furthermore, I am alright with her assuming that someone who is trying to kick down her bedroom door after she has announced herself is determined to do her harm to do her poses a credible threat to both her and or daughter. There are potential legal problems here, I realize.
I’m not saying I’m right, I was just explaining my thinking. Like I said, I kinda wish I’d kept my mouth shut. If I was talking out my arse (which is highly likely), I apologize.
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I thought it was excellent you did not hold back.
Not only do we have a chance to see how we individually react to each scenario, we get that scenario challenged by others and learn the reasons behind our gut reactions.
I did think maybe you were trying to use the closed door as a replacement for your wanting to be there and protect them by being a door between your wife and daughter and danger.
Perhaps it was a man’s way of wanting to still be a protector even when absent - I don’t know.
Regardless, your male protective instinct for your wife and child has very strongly come across and they are be lucky to have you.
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Absolutely!
Interesting take on that post and I’m sure that you’re most accurate. He’s a good guy.[/quote]
Thanks to you both for your kind remarks.
Regarding your assessment on my reasoning, Alpha F: I expect you are fairly accurate, although I would never have consciously thought of it in those terms.
Furthermore, we live in Canada and our self defence laws don’t allow for you to shoot an intruder simply for being in your home. You must be able to believably articulate that you had reasonable grounds to perceive that the person posed an immediate threat of grievous bodily injury or death to either yourself or someone under your protection.
In other words they must know that you are there and be actively aggressive toward you, preferably (but not necessarily) with a weapon. No Castle Doctrine here. Our firearm storage laws aren’t necessarily all that conducive to mounting a quick armed response either, but that’s a whole other thing.
In most cases, given the difference in our physical size, strength and background it would be easier for my wife to argue this than it would be for me, but you always take a legal chance when you use force, especially lethal force. Of course, if you hesitate too long, you take a potentially bigger chance with your physical safety and that of your family. There are no easy answers.
The best defence in the home is probably target hardening your residence to the point where it becomes unappealing to criminals in the first place. Criminals are generally lazy and tend to choose targets of opportunity. Of course, that isn’t really the in the context of this discussion and is nowhere near as much fun as girls with guns and sometimes spears.
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The Canadian storage laws are ridiculous. You’re reduced to displaying them more than having a form of self-defense. The only respectable reason in Canada to own a firearm is if you are in law enforcement or you hunt…anything else and you must be a bad person up to no good. You’re forced to rely on police. What if you don’t live in the city though and you have to wait half an hour for someone to show up?
I would think that making sure your home is secure would very much be within context of the discussion, actually. You shouldn’t have to but really, we do.
