Share your personal or thought-out scenarios

[Borock]

Recent scenario (the INGO member's girl friend had or was calling 911)

This morning I read a thread about a perp who drove by someone who had witnessed a break-in. The witness had his firearm in hand by the street when the perp raced by in his truck. The first thought that crossed my mind was-shoot the radiator so he couldn't get far? Following one of the 4 rules of firearm handling, probably no one would be in the line of fire (the truck surrounding the radiator would stop bullets missing the target). The likelihood of hitting the tires of a fast moving vehicle at close range is 1-difficult and 2-potentially dangerous (ricocheting bullets).

Since I personally wouldn't be in serious danger (reason for shooting a person), are there going to be any legal problems for me by shooting the radiator or at least shooting the body so the police could identify the vehicle?

 

[Stschil]

If this was merely a break-in and the vehicle was merely speeding by, firing at the vehicle that has posed no threat to you personally would be setting yourself up for a heap of trouble. IMHO you'd have a very hard time justifying threat of your own life or the life of another party at that point.

 

[rbMPSH12]

Also you'd likely have to prove somehow that you were trying to shoot the radiator and not shooting at the guy and accidentally hitting the radiator. I'm sure a prosecutor would love to make it look like you were trying to shoot a guy who was driving away and not a threat to you.

 

[Yup!]

You are responsible for all of your bullets. They all need to remain in your gun, unless you are justified in using deadly force. There is no instance that allows you to shoot the tires, radiator or some thing other than shooting to stop the threat. If you think you can shoot the tires, you should also be able to shoot the driver.

If the guy is driving towards you, and you can not move out of the way, you could be justified in using deadly force, shooting the radiator at this point shows that the driver wasn't as serious of a threat as you indicated. Either your life is in imminent danger or it's not. Purposely shooting the tires and radiator tells says you were not in imminent danger.

Your scenario is similar to firing a warning shot, you can't do it.

Hollywood and real life are two very different places. Movie sets have a whole different set of laws, trying to use them off the set is not a good idea. Even in Hollywood they don't shoot the radiators, it just looks that way because of special effects.

 

[The Bubba Effect]

Don't shoot unless you are willing to kill. If I shot someone's radiator as they were fleeing the scene of a crime, my 85 year old dad would beat me unconscious when he found out. He was always emphatic about using firearms in social situations. Don't pull the gun out unless you are willing to shoot. Don't shoot unless you are willing to kill. If you pull that gun, the situation can escalate in fractions of a second to someone being dead (you, the fleeing criminal, little johnny riding his tricycle down the street, who knows).

It's fair that you asked the question. I'm not jumping on you for posing it. Others should not jump on you either.

I actually commend you for posting your thoughts and thinking things out before hand.

I do want to be clear that I think it is something you should not do and clear as to my reasons why.