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Originally Posted by Scutter01  While those are all good answers, I think since she posted this in the Women's forum, Spasmo is really looking to hear what women would do. There's no doubt in my mind that most women have a different mindset than men. I'd be interested in their responses as well.
(Pami, I'm not glossing over your response.) |
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Originally Posted by spasmo In my martial arts training, I'm taught that I need to know what I want the outcome to be before it even begins. I always go for the maiming part in my head but always have this fear in the back of my mind that 1) I can get sued which maybe I can't (after reading the posts) or 2) he'll come back if he can and then catch me when I'm off guard. |
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Originally Posted by spasmo If a BG was in your house or even anywhere else but threatening you, would you shoot to kill or to wound? I think about this all the time. I am not sure how I could live with taking someone's life. But if you just maimed him, he'd probably turn around and sue since that's the state of mind a lot of people have now a days. If he were actually hurting my daughter though or if I thought she were in danger, I probably would shoot to kill and not hesitate. At least I hope I wouldn't hesitate. |
I was on the fence whether to post or not, but keeping in mind the above posts, I hope I will not cross my boundaries.
I do not know of any instructors that teach a co-ed. class with standards for men and standards for women. In classes that I have attended, the speech on mindset has always been the same regardless of the sexes present.
Honestly, there is no doubt in my mind that
spasmo would press the trigger as many times as necessary if she were home alone and her children's lives was threatened. When at home, flight is usually not an option and fight is the only thing left.
Long before my wife took the Intro to the Defensive Pistol--which is the best pistol class you can get for the money--we had an incident at our house. She positioned herself tactically to protect the children's bedroom and there is no doubt in my mind that the poor SOB that would have crossed her lane of fire would have been ventilated. Her words to the 911 operator were, "I have a gun and I know how to use it." When I got home a few minutes later, she put the pistol down and had a huge adrenaline dump, crying, shaking, etc. Despite the breakdown and the "whatifs" that went through her mind after the fact, she was set rock-steady to defend our kids.
So,
spasmo, I think it's good that you ask these questions. Since you were taught to know the outcome before acting, use that to your advantage. Your outcome: stop the threat as quickly as possible for the sake of your children. If it makes you feel better, pray really hard that the BG will live.
In all seriousness, you are not the aggressor, you are the peacemaker. Put yourself in that mindset. If your kids were to get a cut or puncture from a rusty nail, you would disinfect the wound despite their pleas to stop because it burns. You don't want to hurt them, you want to save them from an infection. Same with stopping a violent attack on your family. You don't want to hurt the BG, you want to save your children.
Although I agree with almost everything that
4sarge said on this subject, I would say that you might consider to carry a firearm anyway. If you see the evil that might be falling on your loved ones, you would most likely use it and you would do so, in Sheriff Campbell's words, with righteous indignation.